Entry 6: Routine

Routine

The soft cushions, the warm blanket,
The eternal bliss of needed rest
Then the sound, that shatters the silence,
I rise, awake, begin to dress


The blurry vision, the shuffled footsteps,
That sleepy, dreary, groggy time
Mechanically I make transition,
to consciousness, rise and shine!


Now aware of my surroundings,
I make a meal, begin to dine
Crunching on my breakfast cereal,
And wish for more of such sleep divine


Now off to learn, to work, to play,
Work your bones until the core
But when I return from tiring day,
The night will welcome me once more...


This poem was inspired by the C418 song "kopfmusik"
http://c418.bandcamp.com/track/kopfmusik

Entry 5: Military Media

The portrayal of soldiers, war, and the military has always been distorted by the media. Be it the time of cannons and sabres, bolt-actions and trenches, or APCs and air strikes, somehow the media has skewed our views of "national defense." In 1854 war was viewed with glory, in 1920 war was cast in shadow. In this response I will consider the poem "Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

In 1854, Tennyson wrote his poem "Charge of the light Brigade," immediately after reading an account of the battle of balaclava in The Times. In his poem he praises the Light Brigade, shown in the last stanza,

"When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made,

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred."

Despite the fact that the soldiers had known that an officer had made a mistake, since charging the guns was obviously a suicide charge, the Light Brigade charged anyways, true to their orders. This is represented in stanza two,

"...Someone had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred."

What had happened was Captain Louis Edward Nolan was one in a chain of messengers sent to carry orders from Army Commander Lord Raglan. The message read "Lord Raglan wishes the Cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Troop Horse Artillery may accompany. French Cavalry is on your left. Immediate." In this Lord Raglan had meant the cavalry to rout the Russians attempting to evacuate valuable guns from a fortification, however Captain Nolan interpreted "guns" as an artillery line straight ahead of them. Even though they charged straight into a situation from which they knew very well to be suicide, on misread orders, they did so regardless. I think this was brave and that is why Tennyson praised these soldiers; because despite the horrors of war they had the courage to fight on. I can connect this to my own realization of the defintion of courage in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, where Atticus states "It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." These soldiers knew they were "licked," but they began anyway and saw it through no matter what. This is why Tennyson praised them, and why I think they were deserving of praise.

Overall I think that the times back then were very different. Though war was still horrible and tragic, war was seen by the public as honourable, courageous and brave. I also think that it's true, wars were more honourable back then, there was nothing like the atrocities of poisonous gas in WWI, the holocaust in WWII, or "agent orange" in the Vietnam War. Soldiers even wore more colourful and dress-type uniforms back then. However, war is still death, no matter what the time period or the circumstances.

Entry 4: Where I'm From

I am from Terminals, from Microsoft, from Dihydrogen Oxide

I am from the Red-Brick Bungalo, the Wood-Walled Palisade, the Barn-Shaped Roof

I am from Fresh Mint and Sour Apple. From Boughs well-worn by childish hands

I am from Crepes every Sunday, from Wilderness Pilgrimages

From Paul and Kathy and Karl

I am from the Broken Pieces of Cracked Families

From the Phoenix to Rise from the Ashes of Shattered Lives

I am from Learn from our Mistakes, from History repeats Itself

I am from Light my candles in a daze

Cause I've found god

I am from the Mosaic of Ingenuity, Creativity, and Endless Distractions

From Tragedy, and Triumph

I am from the Clashing Waves of Nature and Industry

I am from Čechy and Alba, from Pork and Pilsner, Neeps and Tatties

I am from the Digit lost to Submarine Curiosities, from Candle-Cooked Camping Rations

I am from Linux

From Servers

From the archive of backed-up digital memories

In which this poem too will surely reside

Entry 3: Worth a thousand words, you say?

In response to Tennyson's poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade," I drew a portrait of a cavalry soldier charging, his sabre in the air.

I drew this scene because It represents to me the honour and courage that those 627 soldiers must have upheld to charge straight into firing cannons. I drew it such because the portrait of the Cossack was inspiring of the very same courage and honour, and the border I drew to look like something out of a tapestry or poster, which is also a way to honour a person or story. The cannons on the side also represent Tennyson's third stanza, "Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them." Finally, the banner at the bottom quotes the last line of the poem, "Noble Six Hundred."

Entry 2: The Corvus Corax

I find it astounding that the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe is still relevant and popular in the modern day, despite it's age. This poem is probably still read today because of how it uses repetition, imagery, and symbolism so effectively.

The repetition is shown numerous times in the poem, such as "Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore. Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore." Poe uses this repetition to protract the happenings in the plot and literally add suspense to a piece of writing!

The imagery in the poem was created by not only his descriptive writing, but Poe's use of metaphoric adjectives, the kind that can relate to an object. For example, "ebony bird." Ebony not only describes the color of the raven, but also allows the reader to relate to the object of ebony, further immersing the reader into the piece.

Finally, the use of symbolism in the poem, of the raven, is malevolent in it's own right. Ravens, although remarkably intelligent creatures, are often mistaken for crows, birds which are seen as synonymous with death. Thus both creatures have taken on the role of being ominous overseers, foreshadowing ill fate. Even when I see such a bird while walking home from school I become anxious, let alone in a setting such as in my own house!

All of these elements of suspense (through repetition), descriptive writing and symbolism are still effective and used in modern writing and media, which I think shows that Poe was ahead of his time, or at least was brilliant enough to use these elements to create a dark, macabre, and ominous mood, which is so poignant it is still felt by readers today.

Entry 1.5: Oh, I guess you want some sort of poetic response, don't you?

Well, since you did imply the use of some poem coupled with related imagery,

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Even though this has nothing to do with the title of my blog, this is my favourite poem, and to comply with step three, a small paragraph.

This poem is my favorite because I can connect with it so deeply. Every verse of it can show an event in which the speaker could imply an event and a lesson he learned from it. For example, "Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools"
This could refer to an experience where he lost everything and he had to start again, whether in a relationship, a business developement, or even a simple DIY project. From each verse I see a lesson which I have learned, and a reminder of how a pushed through those difficulties to where I am today.
However my most poignant connection is the last verse, where it identifies the speaker as a parent. This I find so deep because I have a very strong relationship with my father, and every time I read this poem I imagine my father as the narrator, so I can learn from his mistakes.
Overall I love this poem and it shows to me that spirit of "if [so many great men and women] could to it, I can too!"

I chose this portrait of Ted Roosevelt because he to me represents the determination displayed by this poem. He continually struggled through the turns of his life, losing vision in one eye, running for president, and almost getting assassinated! His accomplishments and his legacy embody this poem, and inspire me to persevere through life (and talk softly and carry a big stick, of course).

(Also, for your enjoyment, a picture of a duck)

Entry 1: So I guess you're probably wondering what an antiphon is...

The title of this my blog does not necessarily refer to any specific poem, since poetry is unfortunately rather insignificant in terms of my repertoire of literature. However I do find it rather clever, despite that I invented it by retrieving a thesaurus and locating words synonymous with "response" and "poetry."
To fully understand it, however, you must first understand responsory music.
Responsory music is a form of choir singing where a single or small group of chorists sing a verse and the rest of the choir or large group responds with a refrain or chorus. This must be understood because the first part of my title, "Antiphon", refers to the refrain or response of the majority of the chorus in responsory music.
However, the word antiphon can be adapted (if the Online Free Dictionary is to be believed) to mean "response." Thus, we understand the first part of my title to mean response.
The latter piece is rather simple. Since poems often must rhyme, and rhyming words seems to take a dominant role in poetry, I utilized "Rhyme" instead of poetry to add a bit more variety to my word choice. Also "Antiphon of Rhyme" sounds far more intriguing than "Antiphon to Poetry," I think.