Sunday 27 March 2011

Ode to a Nightingale

Ode to a Nightingale
original manuscript of Ode to a Nightingale in John Keats's handwriting; click here to view all four pages
This ode was written in May 1819 and first published in the Annals of the Fine Arts in July 1819.  Interestingly, in both the original draft and in its first publication, it is titled 'Ode to the Nightingale'.  The title was altered by Keats's publishers.  Twenty years after the poet's death, Joseph Severn painted the famous portrait 'Keats listening to a nightingale on Hampstead Heath'.
Critics generally agree that Nightingale was the second of the five 'great odes' of 1819 and its themes are reflected in its 'twin' ode, 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'.  Keats's friend and roommate, Charles Brown, described the composition of this beautiful work as follows:
'In the spring of 1819 a nightingale had built her nest near my house.  Keats felt a tranquil and continual joy in her song; and one morning he took his chair from the breakfast-table to the grass plot under a plum-tree, where he sat for two or three hours.  When he came into the house, I perceived he had some scraps of paper in his hand, and these he was quietly thrusting behind the books.  On inquiry, I found these scraps, four or five in number, contained his poetic feeling on the song of our nightingale.  The writing was not well legible; and it was difficult to arrange the stanzas on so many scraps.  With his assistance I succeeded, and this was his 'Ode to a Nightingale', a poem which has been the delight of everyone.'
Brown's account was dismissed as 'pure delusion' by Charles Wentworth Dilke, the co-owner of Wentworth Place who visited Brown and Keats regularly.  After reading the above account in Milnes's 1848 biography of Keats, Dilke noted in the margin, 'We do not usually thrust waste paper behind books'.
It should be noted that Brown wrote his account almost twenty years after the event.  Some critics believe he may have confused the compositions of 'Ode on Indolence' and 'Ode to a Nightingale'.  The original manuscript of 'Indolence' is lost and the order of its stanzas remains doubtful (note Brown's memory of arranging stanzas.)
The manuscript is actually on two sheets of paper, not 'four or five' as Brown recalled, and the stanzas are in relative order.  But the work was written hastily on scrap paper.  It is clear that Keats did not anticipate writing such a lengthy poem when he took just two sheets of paper into the garden, - and he did not dare interrupt his writing to fetch more later.

 

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
    But being too happy in thine happiness, -
        That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
                In some melodious plot
    Of beechen green and shadows numberless,
        Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
    Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
    Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
    Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
        With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
                And purple-stained mouth;
    That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
        And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
    What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
    Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
    Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
        Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
                And leaden-eyed despairs,
    Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
        Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
    Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
    Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
    And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
        Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;
                But here there is no light,
    Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
        Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
    Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
    Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
    White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
        Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
                And mid-May's eldest child,
    The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
        The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
    I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
    To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
    To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
        While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
                In such an ecstasy!
    Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain -
        To thy high requiem become a sod.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
    No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
    In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
    Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
        She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
                The same that oft-times hath
    Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
        Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
    To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
    As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
    Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
        Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
                In the next valley-glades:
    Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
        Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep?

Sunday 20 March 2011

Nourish my Soul

Yesterday at Steiner House I listened to a shower of words and most of them went through my brain and out again and the magic happened...words started floating around me and their meaning playing with my heart...then my hand put words on paper...words that came from beyond the rainbow, meanings that came from the centre of the Universe and thoughts that came from other from other realms....
and questions....


What is Sacred Space?
What is Home-making?
What is Beauty, Warmth,
Nourishment?

Dreams of deep sleep
While deeply drinking in
The Soul of Things
The Soul,
A breath of Living Spirit
Existing for the purpose
Of recognizing The Eternal

Nourishing my soul
needing Truth, Goodness and Love

Beauty I create
in Life
I flow,
I grow

For all of us who want to create, love, nourish, grow, change...


Home
is what we know,
what we are,
what we make,
what we have.

Home is

our Soul

Looking after our Home nourishes our Soul

I Create my environment
I am an Artist
I am
me



Time
More time
Respect
What is Mine
Breath in the Sun
Being at One
With the Divine

Space
Sacred Space
All around Me
And within Me
I flow
I flow
I create
Order
Move
Very
Slow

Rhythm
The Pulse of Life
Living
in Time
and Space


Warmth and Beauty

                                                
Home
is what we know,
what we are,
what we make,
what we have.

Home is

our Soul

Moments
Precious moments
Little drops
Suspended in Time and Space

Time can be still
When imprinted
In my memory
For me to find
Again and again
I hold the moments
I create the moment
I create Time




Nourishment
Truth
Goodness
Love



Sense of Life
Sense of Movement
Balance
Warmth
Word
Thought
Ego

These are our Seven Senses
We need to nourish
Home...
What is Home?
I am at home in this place
My place of Birth
Yet, never actually lived there
Only visited
Yet
I am perfectly at home
in Bergamo


Home is what I create and what I bring with me
My touch
What I know
How I am
I can create home anywhere I like!
At Church of Ascension I set up for the Parent and Child group Session
The first thing is to make children and parents feel at home

A homely atmosphere is more than just pink cloths
Is a place where one feels nourished
It's a place of beauty


each one of us is touched
a sensorial journey



Beauty
Art
Colour
Environment
Joy
Love
Respect
Wonder
Life
Movement
Flow
Space
Sound
Scent
Feeling


Moments
Precious moments
Little drops
Suspended in Time and Space

Time can be still
When imprinted
In my memory
For me to find
Again and again
I hold the moments
I create the moment
I create Time

Creat time for making things just for the sake of making them!
Hand work for decoration is part of my life
I don't have to make things only because they are useful!

Element of surprise is vital in everyday life
celebration mark the annual rhythms
Seasons are marked with what we bring inside our homes on our nature tables and colours displayed in the house
The weather and nature outside and our moods...
The mood we bring home and create with colours...this is my bedroom...I like water/sea colours...


Now Spring colours come inside the house too...

A wall covered in wool in a tapestry shop in Rome, near Piazza navona...amazing shower of colours



Images that stay in our memory...but what about the mood and the smell of that shop?



CLARITY
Seeing
What I cannot see
Yet
Having a feeling
Of the moment

Pausing

Reflecting
Like colours, like light
On water
Fluid Thoughts
Where Time
is a Space
With the Whole
Contained
Inside and Out

Comes the picture
As in a dream
Where Reality
Is Clarity

Clarity
Clear Thinking
Light on Shadow

Susannah
19th and 20th march 2011




Spring , Spring, Spring!

http://ourdayourjourney.blogspot.com/2009/02/spring-songs-verses-and-fingerplay-for.html


go to this amazing blog to find lovely spring verses...and much more!




What a beautiful sunny day yesterday!
I was by Baker Street, at Steiner House
 for my First Three Years of life Course
and during my lunch break went for a stroll in Regent's Park...
This is what I saw:

Sun beams!

Crocus Crocus open up
Catch a Sun beam in your cup!
Daffodils and Birds....Herons and Geese and Ducks...

Green green grass...

Willows by the stream
Sun shine Sun bright
Spring is here and now

And this is what was in our room's nature table:






































Saturday 19 March 2011

Food for Health and Vitality


Food for health and vitality


Choose foods that live and grow
Choose food that is beautiful and colourful
Choose food that grows near you: local
Choose food that is fresh and seasonal
Choose food that you like and enjoy eating
Eat food with pleasure
Eat food and respect its energies
Eat the food that gives you good energy
Eat food and say thank you to nature
Eat food that is natural: organic
Eat when hungry
Eat slowly and chew well
Eat a variety of foods of all types
and not the same every day and every week.
Eat what you need for the day
Eat what you need and don’t over eat!
Eat for your body and for your soul/spirit
Eat in company if you can
Even if it is only the radio!
Enjoy your life and respect your body.



Susannah




















All above cooked with love by me!
x Susannah

Thursday 17 March 2011

Spring cleaning our bodies

Springtime is an upward energy providing a natural time of cleansing. It is the time of the year when people have more colds, flues and allergies as the body naturally tries to cleanse itself. I suggest allowing this cleansing process to take its natural course. I believe that suppressing it with drugs not only makes lots of money for doctors and pharmaceutical companies, but also deprives the body of a natural healing, eventually resulting in a worsened condition.
The liver and gallbladder in our bodies are the organs most strongly influenced by the upward spring energies. If one were to superimpose the circle of five (5) transformations onto the human body, the liver and gall bladder, which are just under the right rib cage, would be represented by the upward spring energy located at the upper portion of the circle.
We often hear of liver cleansing and liver purifying. This is easily accomplished by eating lots of sprouts and greens, which are most beneficial. You take in the energy of the sprouting plants, a manifestation of the rising energy of the earth in the springtime, and you will purify.
The purification process involves cleaning the fatty, oily, and heavy stagnant foods of winter from our bodies. Feelings of short temperedness and anger during the winter are signs of an imbalance of the liver. Frequent complaining are signs of an imbalance of the gall bladder. We are generally stiffer and move less. Even though we need the extra fat for insulation against the cold in winter, we do not need the excess. Excess usually gets stored in the liver, usually in the form of toxins, manifesting psychologically as anger and a short temper. In health, the liver is strong and vital, manifesting as patience and endurance. As we cleanse in spring with the energy of food such as dandelions, chives and scallions, we rid the body of the unwanted fats, toxins and compacted or contracted foods. Springtime is a beginning time for activation, for movement of the life force called “chi”, “ki” or “prana.”
The following predominantly upward earth energy foods help to release the stagnation we experience during the winter season and to enhance the activation needed during the spring season:
• Grains planted in late fall and harvested in the spring, such as soft spring wheat or barley, are energetically beneficial.
• Sour foods or naturally fermented foods that break down and decompose through bacteria are in effect taking advantage of the earth's rising energy and can thereby give us more vitality. These include foods like sauerkraut, quick pickled vegetables, rice vinegar and umeboshi plum.
• Newly formed greens like watercress and especially the tops of mustard greens, lamb's quarters, dandelion greens and daikon greens are vibrant in the spring. Definitely such energetic plants are beneficial.
• Sprouts, such as mung beans, alfalfa sprouts and broccoli sprouts, have a rising energy which helps us to cleanse.
• Seaweeds flowing upward in the inter-tidal pool, such as wakame and dulse, not only give us various macro and micro trace elements but also terrific flexibility.
• Sweeteners such as Maple Syrup produced from the upward movement of sap in the maple trees is best during the springtime.
As for Cooking: Light cooking, Sautéing, Blanching or Quick Boiling of leafy green vegetables with sprouts is the way to go in the spring. Try these beneficial dishes.
Nabe Cooking: This dish is always a hit as a part of our ongoing Friday Night Dinners. In a decorative Japanese ceramic or metal Nabe pot or plain old large pot with a cover, add the following:
2 –3 cups of fresh water,
A 4 inch piece of wakame seaweed,
4 chopped-up shitake mushrooms
A good dash of Nama Shoyu, a quality soy sauce.
Note: To keep the liquid in the pot hot, use a small butane burner stove.
Now chop thinly or leave whole 5- 6 of any the following foods:
Alfalfa Sprouts
Broccoli Sprouts
Chives
Flowers of broccoli
Flowers of cauliflower
Mustard greens
Scallions
Dandelion Greens
Mung Bean Sprouts
Julienne sliced Carrots
Kale
Leeks
Mushrooms
Small slivers of Napa
Deep-fried Tempeh
Snow peas
Chinese Cabbage
Green Head Cabbage
Sugar snap-peas.
Small Cubes of Tofu
Thinly sliced Squash Etc. etc.
Very fine slices of seitan
Watercress
(My sister Laura)


Arrange these on a large platter with thongs or chopsticks for dinner friends to use as they dip the choice foods into the Nabe Pot of boiling hot broth. You can't get anything more freshly cooked! A terrific vitality will be received from the freshness of the upward food and the rising energy of the steam.

Sunday 13 March 2011

Spring Energy

This is one of my paintings...it's quite raw...and needs to be framed...I painted it quickly to capture the upward shooting Spring Energy...the light in the middle which is the source of life, the beginning of something new shooting up, the seed of life, the Divine force in all plants...you may find your own meaning and words...
This painting is watercolors on paper...it is on top of my bookshelves...I will frame it one day...
a lot of my favourite paintings got sold years ago in Italy, they were mainly acrylics on canvas...
I miss them...but I am sure somebody is still enjoying them...

SPRING IS COMING

We planted the seed while the tears of our grief soaked the ground
The sky lost its sun, and the world lost its green to lifeless brown
Now the chilling wind has turned the earth hard as stone
And silently seed rise beneath ice and snow

And my heart's heavy now
But I'm not letting go of this hope I have that tells me

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And all we've been hoping and longing for soon will appear
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
It won't be long now, it's just about here


Hear the birds start to sing
Feel the life in the breeze
Watch the ice melt away
The kids are coming out to play

Feel the sun on your skin
Growing strong and warm again
Watch the ground: there's something moving
Something is breaking through

New life is breaking through

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And all we've been hoping and longing for soon will appear
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And it won't be long now, it's just about here

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
(Out of these ashes, beauty will rise)
And all we've been hoping and longing for soon will appear
(Sorrow will be turned to joy)
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
(All we hoped for soon will appear)
It won't be long now, it's just about here
(Out of the dark clouds, beauty will shine)
(All above in heaven, rejoice)
(Spring is coming soon)
(Spring is coming soon)
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/spring-is-coming-lyrics-steven-curtis-chapman.html ]

 

Spring Flavours

Morgana and little friends preparing the pancake mix...first the eggs...ooops! mind the shell pieces!







Whisking ...

Pancake is nearly ready...just need to flip it over on to the other side!
I like my Pancake Hat!


















A nice memory...pancake day...now glad is over and eating rice and greens!

Today I made jasmine fragrant rice, coriander and tamari sauce, lentils and tofu and butternut squash stew with shallots and cumin...and a bit of avocado on the side...
yummy!
Now that Spring is here the body is ready to get rid of excess and imputiries...the liver needs more attention. This is why pancake day is celebrated...Fat Tuesday- Mardi Gras, is the last day of Carnival.
Excess is the theme at carnival...but from Ash Wednesday all that is now a memory! Lent  begins a new period leading to Easter...now it is all about sacrifice, simplicity and getting rid of excessess...in our bodies, minds and all around us...declutter, organize and simplify are my commands...Now the hard bit is that habits have been established a while ago are difficult to stop! So I am not going to get frustrated or upset or angry at myself if I can't do it all at once...perhaps taking things gradually is the best approach.

The Crocuses and the Daffodils in the Royal Standard in Blackheath...a pretty sight.
I go past these at least three times a week...
Spring walks are the best way to get connected with nature and the season...
The best way to get slowly ready for the Joy at Easter Time...
Sleep and regenerating my body...
scrubbing, detoxing, relaxing, refuelling, and getting rid of the past to look into the future with positive
thoughts and a clear mind...at least that is my aim...!










Meanwhile...I dream of Sunshine and Sicilian lemons....
Oh how I miss them!