Archive for the ‘education’ Category
Poet Longfellow!
Speaking of poetry and Longfellow, as a kid, I was once considered a poet by an admirer. Here’s a rough paraphrase of their comment: “Ron, you’re a poet but don’t know it. But your feet sure do show it. They’re Longfellows!”
On a more serious note, one of my sons, Geoffrey, attended a medium sized Christian prep school called Minnehaha Academy. As you may surmise, it’s located near Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis Minnesota. The falls is in Minnehaha Park, a large city park on the shores of the Mississippi River. The park includes picnic areas, trails, sculpture and the 53 foot falls, just off of Hiawatha Ave (Route 55). Although Longfellow never visited the spot, Minnehaha Falls is the waterfall of his Song of Hiawatha.
By the way, when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow turned 70 on February 27, 1877, the USA celebrated the day, hosting parades across the land in his honor and sending “salutations and friendly greetings from far and near.” Had he the constitution of Methuselah, this year he would have celebrated his 200th birthday with the writing of another amazing poem.
In his day, Longfellow was a star. More than 50,000 bought The Song of Hiawatha. His friend Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “No other poet has anything like your vogue.” People from all walks of life would knock on the door of his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to ask for autographs.
“A Psalm of Life” is one of Longfellow’s best-known works. It captures the kind of poetic spirit that will continually make him one of America’s favorite poets
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act–act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poet Longfellow!
Speaking of poetry and Longfellow, as a kid, I was once considered a poet by an admirer. Here’s a rough paraphrase of their comment: “Ron, you’re a poet but don’t know it. But your feet sure do show it. They’re Longfellows!”
On a more serious note, one of my sons, Geoffrey, attended a medium sized Christian prep school called Minnehaha Academy. As you may surmise, it’s located near Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis Minnesota. The falls is in Minnehaha Park, a large city park on the shores of the Mississippi River. The park includes picnic areas, trails, sculpture and the 53 foot falls, just off of Hiawatha Ave (Route 55). Although Longfellow never visited the spot, Minnehaha Falls is the waterfall of his Song of Hiawatha.
By the way, when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow turned 70 on February 27, 1877, the USA celebrated the day, hosting parades across the land in his honor and sending “salutations and friendly greetings from far and near.” Had he the constitution of Methuselah, this year he would have celebrated his 200th birthday with the writing of another amazing poem.
In his day, Longfellow was a star. More than 50,000 bought The Song of Hiawatha. His friend Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “No other poet has anything like your vogue.” People from all walks of life would knock on the door of his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to ask for autographs.
“A Psalm of Life” is one of Longfellow’s best-known works. It captures the kind of poetic spirit that will continually make him one of America’s favorite poets
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act–act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Word of the Year!
‘Plutoed’ Chosen As ’06 Word of the Year!
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Pluto is finally getting some respect – not from
astronomers, but from wordsmiths.“Plutoed” was chosen 2006’s Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting Friday.
To “pluto” is “to demote or devalue someone or something,” much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto didn’t meet its definition of a planet.
“Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name,” said society president Cleveland Evans. “We may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection with the former planet.” […]
FYI: Friends, our solar system has eight planets, not nine as you’ve been told all your life. On second thought, maybe it has twelve. Actually, scientists can’t agree, even after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) – the folks who officially keep track of celestial bodies – ruled in August 2006 that tiny Pluto isn’t a planet after all.
Yet for the time being Pluto has been plutoed!
enjoy using the word, revdrron
Word of the Year!
‘Plutoed’ Chosen As ’06 Word of the Year!
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Pluto is finally getting some respect – not from
astronomers, but from wordsmiths.“Plutoed” was chosen 2006’s Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting Friday.
To “pluto” is “to demote or devalue someone or something,” much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto didn’t meet its definition of a planet.
“Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name,” said society president Cleveland Evans. “We may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection with the former planet.” […]
FYI: Friends, our solar system has eight planets, not nine as you’ve been told all your life. On second thought, maybe it has twelve. Actually, scientists can’t agree, even after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) – the folks who officially keep track of celestial bodies – ruled in August 2006 that tiny Pluto isn’t a planet after all.
Yet for the time being Pluto has been plutoed!
enjoy using the word, revdrron
Back to school!
The focus is on the liberal arts. First the “trivium” of grammar (including Latin) , rhetoric (with an emphasis on letter writing), and dialectic (logic and reasoning). Then the “quadrivium” of arithmetic, history, science, and music.
This course of study could be arduous for my daughter who spent her grammar school years in a French Immersion school. She is a high energy gal and bound to become bored and impatient. She is not alone in this matter. It is a time honored experience. The story goes that a number of students evidently grew impatient toward the end of the day during medieval school days as well. It seems there was a law on the books in Padua that prohibited students from pounding on their desks to force the teacher to dismiss class early.
Nevertheless, despite the rigors and boredom of formal education, many new students are flocking to this charter school. Also, my daughter’s classical curriculum may once again transform my own educational horizon. Vicariously, I’m feeling a pinch of educational excitement, thanks partly to the challenge of learning Latin and reading Homer again.
Want to learn more?
Explore the medieval curriculum
Back to school!
The focus is on the liberal arts. First the “trivium” of grammar (including Latin) , rhetoric (with an emphasis on letter writing), and dialectic (logic and reasoning). Then the “quadrivium” of arithmetic, history, science, and music.
This course of study could be arduous for my daughter who spent her grammar school years in a French Immersion school. She is a high energy gal and bound to become bored and impatient. She is not alone in this matter. It is a time honored experience. The story goes that a number of students evidently grew impatient toward the end of the day during medieval school days as well. It seems there was a law on the books in Padua that prohibited students from pounding on their desks to force the teacher to dismiss class early.
Nevertheless, despite the rigors and boredom of formal education, many new students are flocking to this charter school. Also, my daughter’s classical curriculum may once again transform my own educational horizon. Vicariously, I’m feeling a pinch of educational excitement, thanks partly to the challenge of learning Latin and reading Homer again.
Want to learn more?
Explore the medieval curriculum
revdrron 