Shelley - Poetry

It's been a while since I mentioned this and (who knows?) there might be new readers stumbling across this.  The Poetry series is basically me reading the poems from a book called 'The 100 Best Poems of All Time', edited by Leslie Pockell.  The aim of the series is to try and improve my ignorance in matters poetical.  You can read more of the posts by clicking the 'Poetry' tag at the bottom.

The next poem is a familiar one.  It's 'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sand stretch far away.

A powerful poem, well deserving of its fame.  "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"  What a line! I'd never noticed, until I typed it just now, how much impact the next line has too.  Nothing beside remains. Whatever fame and power Ozymandias had is gone, scoured away by sand and time.
This falls well in line with Marcus Aurelius, too.

Within a very little while, thou wilt be either ashes, or a sceletum [skeleton]; and a name perchance; and perchance, not so much as a name. And what is that but an empty sound, and a rebounding echo?

Everything ends and is eroded by the world.  And no boast sounds more hollow than one that has totally been defeated by history.

Great Quotes - Marcus Aurelius

Not to belabor the idea that Marcus Aurelius gave great quotes, but I've run across another good example.  The article is about an author named Jessica Francis Kane, who clipped an inspirational quote back when, and it's helped her writing.  The quote:

Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?' You would be ashamed to confess it! And then remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present, and the power of this is much diminished if you take it in isolation and call your mind to task if it thinks that it cannot stand up to it when taken on its own.

 She focuses hard on the question in the middle: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?'.  There are very few activities in life that really fit that category, especially in writing.  More often, we get pulled from a task because our mind wanders or because something else simply seems more appealing.  Here is what she says:

Sometimes I thought surviving on peanut butter and ramen noodles might be it. Other times I thought about how Marcus Aurelius's concerns and mine differed, but I was inspired by the idea that the spirit of them, separated by so many centuries, was similar. His words helped me get to the desk, and stay there, during all the years it took me to write my first good story. Writing is hard, but is it unbearable? Who would say that it is? Even asking the question, I'm reminded of the one exclamation in the passage: "You would be ashamed to confess it!" His words helped me navigate rejection, which is certainly no fun, but if you ask yourself if it's unbearable, you find yourself preparing the next self-addressed stamped envelope pretty quickly. 

 Yet another lesson I want to somehow give to my children.  And it wouldn't hurt if I fully learned it myself...

Find Your Nature - Marcus Aurelius

Another theme that runs through 'Meditations' is that of one's own nature.

Why should any of these things that happen externally, so much distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing, and cease roving and wandering to and fro. Thou must also take heed of another kind of wander, for they are idle in their actions, who toil and labor, in this life, and have no certain scope to which to direct all their motions, and desires.

I love the idea to 'give leisure to learn some good thing'.  One problem that I've had all of my life is that I'm torn between half a dozen good ideas and have trouble committing to any of them.  If I'd followed this advice, I would have settled on something early and driven towards it.  I can only imagine this would have made me happier.  (Yes, I still can follow this advice, and will!, but it looks different when one is nearly forty.)

These things thou must always have in mind: What is the nature of the universe, and what is mine - in particular: This unto that what relation it hath: what kind of part, of what kind of universe it is: And that there is nobdy that can hinder thee, but that thou mayest always both do and speak those things which are agreeable to that nature, whereof thou art a part.

What is your nature?  Once you find that, you can find how it relates to the nature of the universe and then you're all set.  But be careful out there:

Never esteem of anything as profitable, which shall ever constrain thee either to break thy faith, or to lose thy modesty; to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to dessemble, to lust after anything, that requireth the secret of walls or veils.

Stay true to your nature!  Don't sacrifice your morals for a quick buck.  And don't do anything that you'd be ashamed to talk about in public.  And keep the proper attitude towards death:

Let death surprise rue when it will, and where it will, I maybe a happy man, nevertheless. For he is a happy man, who in his lifetime dealeth unto himself a happy lot and portion. A happy lot and portion is, good inclinations of the soul, good desires, good actions.

Oh, and one more related quote.  Seriously, a page a day calendar for Marcus Aurelius is a no brainer.  If I did needlepoint, I'd make a wall hanging of this next one for my kids.

The art of true living in this world is more like a wrestler's, than a dancer's practice. For in this they both agree, to teach a man whatsoever falls upon him, that he may be ready for it, and that nothing may cast him down.

Marcus Aurelius (and the stoics) had a certain and firm view of how to live.  It's not an easy path, but it's respectable.  Find your nature, keep things in perspective and be ready for the falls.

Lord Byron - Poetry

I've heard of Lord Byron before (I believe that people sometimes refer to his time as the 'Byronic age') but before tonight, I couldn't have tied him to a single poem.  My fault of course.  As I've mentioned, I'm ignorant, too ignorant on poetry.  This poem is simply called 'She Walks in Beauty'.

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear the dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

That opening line is a killer.  Serious advice to anyone reading this that wants to do some wooing, memorize that first stanza and look for an opening.  I have a vague memory that this poem was used for just that purpose in 'Dead Poet's Society'.
The poem works both in terms of style and message.  It reminds me of Shakespeare's love sonnets and that's about as high a praise as can be given.  An excellent poem.

Readings for August

We've got two pieces for August:


Hobbes: Leviathan (Part 1) link
Milton: Areopagitica link

I first heard of Milton's work here, and after rewatching it, I'm quite excited now to read it.

Death - Marcus Aurelius

One of the themes that Marcus Aurelius returned to again and again was death.  He cautioned people that death will continually wipe the slate clean:

In sum, remember this, that within a very little while, both thou and he shall both be dead, and after a  little while more, not so much as your names and memories shall be remaining. 

Don't worry too much, time will move on.  (Or as Heinlein said, "Time wounds all heels".)  Aurelius also said that you shouldn't worry too much about the prospect of death:

Not as though thou hadst thousands of years to live. Death hangs over thee: whilest yet thou livest, whilest though mayest, be good.

Which doesn't mean that you shouldn't prepare:

Thou art now ready to die, and yet hast thou not attained to that perfect simplicity: thou art yet subject to many troubles and perturbations; not yet free from all fear and suspicion of external accidents; nor yet either so meekly disposed towards all men, as thou shouldest; or so affected as one, whose only study and only wisdom is, to be just in all his actions.

Sometimes he's a little bit bleak:

Within a very little while, thou wilt be either ashes, or a sceletum [skeleton]; and a name perchance; and perchance, not so much as a name. And what is that but an empty sound, and a rebounding echo?

If I had a bunch of money that I didn't know what to do with, I'd put that last quote on a billboard in Hollywood.  At one point, while reading this, I though to myself that Stoicism seems like an old man's philosophy.  Clearly there was lots of thought of death, and how people should prepare for it.  It's easy to think of Marcus Aurelius sitting at a campfire while on campaign and contemplating death. 

Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

'Meditations' is split into twelve books, each one again split into numbered sections.  The overall length is fairly short but it took some time for me to get through it.  After twenty or so of the sections, I found it hard to concentrate on more.  I was too busy chewing on what had already been written.  I could only do about half of a 'book' at a time.  If I read it again, I'd rather do so over a much longer period of time.  If anyone reading this is thinking of working the way through the list, I'd suggest tackling 'Meditations' bit by bit while reading through the earlier pieces of the second year.
Is it good?  In some ways it's fantastic.  It would be easy to take parts of Marcus Aurelius and form a pretty good motivational course.  He writes about how:

"...to endure labor; nor to need many things; when I have anything to do it myself rather than by others; not to meddle with many businesses; and not easily to admit of any slander."

Which all seems pretty useful.  He was, of course, one of the most prominent speakers of the Stoic philosophy.  (There's a pretty good post on the differences between the Stoics and the Epicureans here.)  It's not always a comfortable philosophy but cultures that have employed it have been wildly successful.  I'm thinking mostly of the Romans and the English empires.) 
The books themselves repeat several themes over and over.  I'll cover some of them in the next couple of weeks.  I didn't find all of these things convincing, but there is a ton of wisdom in 'Meditations'.  All in all, it's a wildly quotable book.  You could easily make a 'Meditations' page a day calendar, but I don't know if it would sell today.
More to come!