A Poem.... by Matthew Arnold "Dover Beach"

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)

Dover Beach

THE sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the Straits;—on the French coast, the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the ebb meets the moon-blanch'd sand,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The sea of faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd;
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating to the breath
Of the night-wind down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.


_____________________________________________________________
what do you think? It is an amazing poem...

Naughty Old Women

Midnight Mystery Lady

written 03-19-08



Midnight Mystery Lady

Her midnight black hair billows all around
Her angelic face with its angular
Perfection.

She sweeps through the lands which have a
Poverty stricken population and weeps
For her people.
Knowing that she can not do very much
For them.

But as she flies over the land full of the
Spoiled and wealthy,
The land of those who only truly care for
Themselves-
She stays and keens for its people knowing
That these are the only people whom she can
Not help at all.

Her loving hands care for the sick and those
Who can not help themselves...
Her eyes give strength to the weak and dying
So that they may move on...to either peace
Or life.

She is the helper,
But she can help only those who
Will accept it.

She is the mystery behind
The veil, the masterpiece that has
Yet to be given a name.
But there she is...
_____________________________________________________

what do you think?

Some thing to get us even more ready for spring

The feel and look of things has taken on the air of spring.
The sky is blue, the wind light, new life budding everywhere
That I look.

Blossoms on the tree:
All with poise and grace,
But each color and shape unique in its own way.

The clouds are graceful and pure white-
Not in anyway ominous and gray,
Not in anyway sad or angry,
But happy and joyful!

The sound of life is there somewhere,
But not in full swing, yet.
It is like that of a grandfather clock that needs to be wound every night
So that in the morning the time is right and no one is put off to a late start.
The clock of the season is being wound, correctly but, slowly and it will come...

The Subject

This post is for the poll.
So that you can talk about which one you like the best, if you want to, or ask others
which one they think they like the best, if you can't make up your mind.
But I think that you should be able to, I'm not that good.
I will try to extend the poll so that it can go longer, also I made the poll so that you can choose more than one answer when voting. When it ends which I will try to make the end of this month, I will choose the one with the most votes, so please vote so I can choose. The contest is actually something that I got through an email. Here are some pointers that the Editors gave- When Reviewing Poetry . . .-:

* Establish a specific writing style (i.e. rhymed verse, blank verse, etc.)
* Use vivid imagery and be descriptive throughout the poem
* Use poetic elements
(i.e. metaphor, simile, tone, emotions, etc.)

* Avoid using clichés
* Be original

So I hope that will help you if you need some help if you can't form a decisive opinion by yourself, which is me most of the time.






Ok here is a change of pace, what if I submitted it to a magazine, what do you think of that instead? It might get into the magazine, but it might not. Although, it is still the same with the contest thing. Feed back, what do you think? Should I do that instead? One more thing the magazine has contests too. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction...
All sorts of genre.

One more thing does any one have any more ideas for a title for my story, I might submit that too. But you have to have a title for the manuscript.

One New Poem

The pale moonlight shines down through the branches,
And illuminates my path.
The sky is clear, the stars shine with brilliance
On this wintry eve,
No snow has fallen, no no snow will fall,
As I walk along this lonely path,
I look up to see a tree with the light shine down
through it highlighting either life or death,
Full branches or bare.

The lonely branches scream out for spring
Calling, waiting for it to come,
So that they can burst with new life.
Spring is in bloom,
Just like a perfectly timeless rose,
Blooming to show its serene beauty to all,
But never wilting, never taking its life cycle
Fully.
The birds call out from the branches,
Whistling a pretty melody
That blends together into the
Song of nature that we hear
And sometimes long for when
Life gets busy, Too busy.

Suddenly a cold chill brings me back to reality,
Spring has not yet bloomed like that timeless rose.
It is still winter,
The chill reaches to us,
And the wind rustles the branches of bare trees.
Spring will still come,
All life takes its course.
The seasons must do so also.