ACT 4 This act seems to be more dramatic in nature as compared to the earlier acts, resembling more of a tragedy than a comedy. You can see the idea of French pride, culture coming out in the food and the song, you can see the unifying nature of it, probably to rile up the […]
IB
ACT III
ACT III Ragueneau wife runs away with musketeer Cyrano talks to Roxanne, fishes for compliments, she falls for it, ego boosted De Guiche heavily tricked by Roxanne, playing a back stabbing game. Tender Passion – Place of poetry i guess Christian refuses Cyrano’s help Roxanne demanding, Cyrano speaks in Christians place, Christian and Roxanne kiss, […]
A guide to life: The Odyssey
Is the book a series of impossible but inevitable choices? The Odyssey, a 3000-year-old epic poem, belonging to an epoch unimaginable by us today, is a story that conveys a certain truth about life that somehow holds true today. Even with the frequent appearances of gods, sirens, cyclops and the likes, Odysseus’s journey is filled […]
Book 23-24
Book 24 Summary: Hermes guides suitors to fields of asphodel Achilles and Agamemnon simp for each other Meets Laertes, tortures father Ithacan’s plot against him (suitors Fathers) Gods interfere Notes: Finally, Penelope gets some recognition by Agamemnon, even though it was completely fueled by the fact her actions were opposite to his own wife. Odysseus’s […]
Book 17-18
One of the main ideas that I feel was repeatedly introduced in these two books was the idea of hospitality, and how it is important to treat people with respect regardless of their material wealth and appearance, as you never know their true nature. It reminds me of the age old saying, ‘never judge a […]
On first looking into CAT 3
This is my renewed rewritten and reviewed rendition of CAT 3, ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer” On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer BY JOHN KEATS Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;Round many western islands have I beenWhich bards in fealty to Apollo hold.Oft of one wide […]
Wild Geese (Mary Oliver, 2004)
You do not have to be good.You do not have to walk on your kneesfor a hundred miles through the desert repenting.You only have to let the soft animal of your bodylove what it loves.Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.Meanwhile the world goes on.Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles […]
Shimmerwise
on new year’s eve
we make midnight a maquette of the year:
frostlight glinting off snow to solemnize
the vows we offer to ourselves in near
silence: the competition shimmerwise
of champagne and chandeliers to attract
laughter and cheers: the glow from the fireplace
reflecting the burning intra-red pact
between beloveds: we cosset the space
of a fey hour, anxious gods molding our
hoped-for adams with this temporal clay:
each of us edacious for shining or
rash enough to think sacrifice will stay
this fugacious time: while stillness suspends
vitality in balance, as passions
struggle with passions for sway, the mind wends
towards what’s to come: a callithump of fashions,
ersatz smiles, crowded days: a bloodless cut
that severs soul from bone: a long aching
quiet in which we will hear nothing but
the clean crack of our promises breaking.
abab rhyme scheme, suggesting the cyclical nature of our behaviour in this time period, an anticipated change in habit that has no result, until this change is anticipated again
Usage of plosives (tt) etc, cold, sharp, piercing feeling to the poem, reinforced by natural elements ‘snow’ ‘frostlight’
A feeling of detachment, a timelessness, effervescence almost experienced by many, brought about by the sounds and nature of the words champagne, chandeliers, and the word ‘shimmerwise’
The idea of anticpated change resulting in nil is reinforced here.
‘as passions struggle with passions for sway, the mind wends’ : this line acts to hint at the futility of this attempt at change, the word ‘wend’ suggesting the slow bend taking place in the mind, not towards change but rather towards ‘ersatz smiles’, ersatz indicating the inferior substitute our passion has dissolve to, which leads to the eventual triumph of the loop, as suggested in the last line
what I LIKED about this poem
Tempus Fugit:
Fleeing time; The whole poem feels like a description of the fragile moment of suspension from the reality we feel on new years eve, as alluded to in the lines
‘bloodless cut that severs soul from bone’
‘this fugacious time: while stillness suspends
Everything about this poem feels sharp, but only subtly so. Moreover, the idea of ‘sweetbitter’ we explored with Sappho is glaringly present. Theres an elegance to it, the sense of trance, never-ending time that slowly lulls you to a dizzy mellowed euphoria, until the drowsy elation is broken by the slow but sharp snap back to reality. It reminded me of my New Years Eve in many ways, the irrational elation that came along with the promise of a new start, a night with no tangible real consequence, a painkiller that relieves one of all stress, anxiety, and tension about the future past and present. That was the sweet, the bitter part is slow and creeping, the sudden realisation that timelessness is in fact unachievable. Suddenly, the music doesn’t taste as good, the laughter starts to die, and while we naturally blame it on our energy being spent during those two three hours of constant movement, that bitter taste of saltwater punctures our senses as reality drags us back to shore.
Kahaani Initial Reflection (CAS)
Brief: Kahaani is an Indian Dance show which supports the NGO Voice of World in Kolkata. This show aims to raise awareness and funds to support this NGO. Kolkata GC works with an organisation called ‘Voice of World,’ which is located in the city of Kolkata, India. Voice of World takes care of mentally and […]
(Sappho) Paper one practice : Feedback/Reflection
The word CAT had been prowling around the crevices of my mind for a week, but, as one does, I left my ‘preparation’ for the last day. Unfortunately, this was not a result of bad time management, but rather a result of no time left to manage. As I sat in my seat staring at […]