Sunday, June 19, 2011

BW25: X is for Xanadu

Courtesy of ZedZap

Hello my darlins.  Happy Father's Day to all the dads.   I have fried my brain this week working on the last paper due for my humanities class.  Instead of a final we had to write a project paper and my subject was George Bernard Shaw.  Interesting, scary, dude.  I am now technically done with all my classes to earn my Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts through Excelsior College.   Officially I have to wait for my advisor to review everything and send out my graduation application packet, which will take a couple months.   So, I will leave you with a poem to mull over and think about, while my brain recovers.


Xanadu - Kubla Khan

by 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 



In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
*******************************************
Link to your most current read. Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you have multiple reviews, then type in (multi) after your name and link to your general blog url.


If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.


5 comments:

  1. I can't believe we're almost at the half-way point!

    I have enjoyed the challenge of reading a book each week (beyond what I read my daughters as part of homeschooling).

    It's been such a introduction to books I would not normally have read. Seeing the links to books that others have read as part of the challenge has definitely lengthened my "Books I Want to Read" list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I seem to be experiencing trouble with Mister Linky. I've tried several times but my posts go away after the page is refreshed.

    The Grand Design: http://jmusings.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/the-grand-design-by-stephen-hawking/

    God and Stephen Hawking: http://jmusings.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/god-and-stephen-hawking-by-john-c-lennox/

    ReplyDelete
  3. I forgot to put the name of my book review in with my name above... #12 Debbie's Digest... I read "The King Will Make A Way."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Robin,

    My blog address changed quite a while ago; could you change the url in your sidebar?

    The blog is Tea Time with Annie Kate, and the new url is http://anniekateshomeschoolreviews.com/

    Thanks so much!

    I'm planning a blog break soon, and hope to read a dozen books! :)

    Annie Kate

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your kind comments.