Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", Graphite. 2012

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on this day (February 27) in 1807. This a graphite mini (3.5 X 5in, 8.9 X 12.7cm) portrait of him in honour of his birthday.

“He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.” Paul Revere’s Ride

C.nick

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Robert Burns

I just finished my Burns Night project, so I am all set for tomorrow. It’s a sidewalk chalk drawing of Robert Burns, under it is the last verse of “Scots Wha Hae”:

“Lay the proud usurper low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty’s in every blow!-
         Let us do, or die!”

C.nick Arach

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
    Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
    A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunt about thy shape
    Of deities or mortals, or of both,
        In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
    What men or gods are these?  What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit?  What struggle to escape?
        What pipes and timbrels?  What wild ecstasy?
                                                                Ode on a Grecian Urn— John Keats

So what are the two best known lines of this poem?

Beowulf

  (Beowulf: Wyrd's Call, C.nick Arach, 2011)

"The hoard-guard heard a human voice;
his rage was enkindled. No respite now
for pact of peace! The poison-breath
of that foul worm first came forth from the cave,
hot reek-of-fight: the rocks resounded.
Stout by the stone-way his shield he raised,
lord of the Geats, against the loathed-one;
while with courage keen that coiled foe
came seeking strife. The sturdy king
had drawn his sword, not dull of edge,
heirloom old; and each of the two
felt fear of his foe, though fierce their mood.
Stoutly stood with his shield high-raised
the warrior king, as the worm now coiled
together amain: the mailed-one waited."   -Beowulf

Beowulf has been a favourite of mine ever since I was ten, for me at that age the story held adventures (with dismeberent) and interesting words (like Gloaming), I was pretty much in a sadistic literati barbarian child's heaven. Coming back to the poem as I grew older I became drawn to how the Beowulf poem deals with death, the inevitability of it, and how the poem shows that the dragon was alive as well and that two lives were lost. I am also fond of Wiglaf alluding to Beowulf's bravery might also be stubborn pride.

"At the mandate of one, oft warriors many
sorrow must suffer; and so must we.
The people's-shepherd showed not aught
of care for our counsel, king beloved!
That guardian of gold he should grapple not, urged we,
but let him lie where he long had been
in his earth-hall waiting the end of the world,
the hest of heaven.-This hoard is ours
but grievously gotten; too grim the fate
which thither carried our king and lord."  -Beowulf

C.nick Arach