it's official

i'm a nerd.

maybe that's not news to you, but i can't fight it any longer.

what lead to this realization?
british literature is my favorite class right now (although, i am loving all my classes... and interestingly enough, the one i was most excited about, journalism, has been the biggest let down. i don't feel like there is any room for creativity in news journalism... we are required to use a news voice... and, well, if we all use news voice, then there is no uniqueness whatsoever)
anyway. let me emphasize that. british. literature. english. poetry.
John Donne, William Shakespeare, Philip Sidney, George Herbert, Robert Herrick, Andrew Marvell... and so on.

what in the world? i, the one who dry heaved at the thought of reading Grapes of Wrath and the Great Gatsby am now enthralled by sonnets and metaphysical conceits... stuff written 500 years ago is making sense to me, capturing my attention, and making me think.
I've been finding that the poetry section we are in appeals to me a lot because i am a sucker for clever, thoughtful, profound, persuasive, and relevant prose--me, a rhetoric major? nah, really? i know. shocking.
similarly, i am particularly fond of certain songs these days. you know how much i like lyrics; i often post lyrics to songs that have really caught my eye.
i guess poetry of the 1500s is the equivalent to those songs i love.

and this is even nerdier... because it is that time of year (thought i disagree... it is way too soon to be that time of year), people are curious as to what you fancy in regards to a certain holiday and the tradition of wrapped up items under trees. when all i've managed to even consider suggesting so far is purely books, mainly of the fine literature and poetry variety, i've pounded the gavel, case closed--sentenced to a life sentence, guilty of being a nerd.
that's okay. i've come to accept it.

the particular group of poets we are studying right now (metaphysical and cavalier) are from a time period that really emphasized carpe diem. yes, anyone who has seen Dead Poet's Society (which, i currently really really want to see) knows that the Latin translates into "seize the day." i always thought it was cliche, but reading the works of poets like Herbert and Donne and Herrick bring the concept into a whole new light.

i read this particular poem last night, and i am going to post it.
and i have a feeling there will be quite a bit more. but i promise i will post them fairly spread out--i don't want this blog to turn into english homework... i just want to put up some stuff i've grown to appreciate.

so, my first selection comes from Robert Herrick.
(and keep in mind, "virgins" is translated in that time as "unmarried women")
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye Rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a flying:
And this same flower that smiles to day,
Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,         
The higher he’s a getting;
The sooner will his Race be run,
And nearer he’s to Setting.

That age is best, which is the first,
When Youth and Blood are warmer;            
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,           
You may forever tarry.

Well, whaddya think?

oh. and an explanation of last night's title: I shall smell of the lamp.
"To smell of the lamp" is a proverbial expression for a laborious literary production. it can be good and bad... i'm not so sure where i was going with it, but i felt like it worked.

well, tis all for now.
go read some poetry or something.