Tears of the Stars

Tears of the Stars
A reflection on beauty found in the heavens

These diamonds glistening clear above thee
Shatter below and burst in tears of light.
Guiding beam this humble traveler sees;
Take flight again dear heart of mine, take flight.

This mist departs and leaves a blinding hole
A glimmer and a gleam of soaring love.
Rising again it lifts thy singing soul.
We travel below, it travels above.

‘Twas these bold arrows led the men of old,
‘Tis these that lift us in our dark disguise.
Men who traveled through ancient lonely cold,
Their starlight plays softly upon our eyes.

Through night chased in with such cold radiance,
With warmth these eyes of thine are made to dance.

-Abby Elisabeth M.

Disclaimers:

First of all I must say that although I love to write, I officially do not love to write poetry.
Secondly, Elizabeth, if you ever mention the lit. mag. to one of our professor's again...
Thirdly, this is brutal. For those of you who like poetry, I apoligize, but Kilgore said it was not optional, so I gave it my best shot.
Fourthly, Edmund Spenser (and his hundreds of rhyming lines) has risen significantly in my respect.
Fifthly, Ok! I'll admit it was fun.

With this ring, I thee control.

In a recent class, after reading "The Fourme of Solempnizacion of Matrimonye" there was a discussion in class over the significance/meaning of the wedding ring. I thought I'd take a stab and give my own opinion.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries women were generally regarded as the weaker sex and were given the perhaps unappreciated tasks of bearing children, keeping the house, mending the lines, cooking...
A woman was not considered an equal to man and, with the exception of the good Queen, had few legal rights.

The wedding band, an unending line or circle representing eternity, was given only to the women in the marriage ceremonies performed according to the ceremony of the Book of Common Prayer. And while the ring has evolved as a symbol of love worn by both sexes, it originally stood for something quite different.

As a rancher brands a cow, a pet lover collars its dog, and a clothing company marks its products, a married woman bore the mark of her husband- the gold band around her finger. The band signaled to lusting onlookers that she belonged to another man and it reminded her daily of the commitment she bored to her husband. It was a sign of his ownership of her, and his right to her possessions as well as her body.

For a lighter opinion "The History Of .net" points out other purposes for the wedding band- a symbol of the man's trust of the woman, a proof to other women that she laid claim on the man's heart, or simply a token of true love. Though the wedding ring may have begun as a symbol of ownership, it has become something more- a sign of love.

Note: some information taken from "The History Of" at http://www.thehistoryof.net/history-of-the-wedding-ring.html

The Life of England

The "Ordre for the Administracion of the Lordes Supper or Holy Communion" and the "Fourme of Solempnizacion of Matrimonye" give us a glimpse into the religious lives led by the people of England. As Prof. Kilgore mentioned, the church was a huge part of their lives. But what about the other part?

Now that we're over a month in I've finally picked my Biblio/research topic: The everyday lives of the common Enligshman, perhaps focusing on Raphael Holinshed's Holinshed Chronicles. Should be interesting!

Hum, more rice!

Well I was going through "edit posts" and found that blogspot thinks I had done 14 or 15 blogs, a number I'm nowhere near. So I had to delete all the convenient drafts that they had saved for me along the way.

I also deleted the post about Free Rice, so here we go!

If you haven't already heard of it (which I'm sure you have), there is a nifty site out there called 'Free Rice'.

Free Rice is a website that works with the U.N. World Food Program to end world hunger. They have set up a vocabulary game that you can play and each time you get a word right, the UN donates 20 grains of rice to impoverished nations.

Down at the bottom right corner it shows a vocabulary level which seems to grow slowly and fall quickly...

It's fun, it's addicting, and it works to end world hunger. What could be better?

Who knows, you may pick up some new intelligent words to wow Prof. Kilgore in your next blog post or paper. Enjoy.

Renaissance Woman

"...being resolved in the midst and heat of the battle to live and die amongst you all, to lay down for my God and for my kingdom and for my people mine honor and my blood even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too."

I'm sorry, did someone say that women did not have a renaissance? Are we forgetting that Queen Elizabeth was one of England's greatest monarchs? Not held back by the fact that she was a "feeble" woman, Elizabeth ruled the British with a resolution as good, if not better, than her male counterparts. As a women in the sixteenth century she was up against unending criticism from those did not see a member of the weaker sex as fit for such a position of royalty and power. Her speech to the troops, however, is inspiring and shows the fiery spirit she was made of and the determination she was capable of.

After reading her verses to "Wat" Ralegh we see even more of her spirit. Not to be outdone by a man, she haughtily claims that she can withstand the tides of fortune, saying:

"Fortune, I know, sometime doth conquer kings,
And rules and reigns on earth and earthly things,
But never think Fortune can bear the sway
If virtue watch..."

(That's my emphasis on kings...)

Ralegh, who exchanged verses with the Queen and was well acquainted with her spirit, wrote "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." The nymph, the speaker in the poem, has an attitude simlar to that of "what has love got to do with it?" She replies to each of the shepherd's offerings and shows how they will all pass away in the end. With a somewhat pessimistic view she tells him that material objects are not enough to convince her to love him.

"But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and by thy love."

Just as love will fade with time and a marriage without commitment will not last, the
trappings and trifles that the shepherd have offered to his love will not last and are not enough to tie her heart to him.

Love is in the Heir

The love letters that Henry VIII sent to Anne Boleyn are interesting, to say the least. How eerie that the same man who later orders her beheaded is lavishly singing her praises in love letters. He continually makes claims that he will love her forever, making statements such as “written by the hand of him who is and always will be yours." But then again, what lover does not make these claims? Somehow I do not think that “Darling, I will love you until I find a woman who can give me the son I need” would go over well.

Yet even if his heart was not truly filled with “un-ending” passion, I think that the letters do show a genuine love. Henry was the king of England and had he simply wanted to fill a sexual desire he could have chosen from a host of women, simply giving the word and ordering them to be his mistresses.

In the fifth letter Henry VIII tells Anne that “...henceforward my heart shall be dedicated to you alone. I wish my person was so too. God can do it, if He pleases, to whom I pray every day for that end, hoping that at length my prayers will be heard.”
If these words were simply empty promises, there would have been no point in uttering them? I believe that this letter shows that he truly loved Anne Boleyn and also that he realized that although his heart was reserved for her, his body could not be. The position he held may not have prevented him from experiencing emotions as a normal man but it also placed him in a precarious situation. As head of the state it was his duty to produce a male heir. The daily prayers he makes reference to may very well include pleas for a son.

The extent of Henry VIII's love is evident in his future actions. No matter how he felt towards Anne Boleyn, his dedication to the precedents of male heirs overcame him.
Still, the man who wrote these letters was a man in love...

Speaking Through the Written Word

When I finished reading Book 1 of "The Book of the Courtier" it struck me as odd (and somewhat humorous) that the group spent a good deal of time debating over the language that a Courtier both speaks and writes with. The gentlemen went back and forth offering ideas of word usage that a perfect Courtier might employ.

The way a man speaks and carries himself are often the most evident in first impressions. How often do we unconsciously discriminate against others due to their speech? And then there is the question of the written word and spoken. Should a Courtier speak the same way he talks, or is he allowed more freedom to use intellectually stimulating words when he writes?
I love how Count Ludovico says it.

For it is my opinion that writing is simply a form of speaking which endures even after it is uttered, the image, as it were, or better, the soul of our words.

When we speak, the words we say are soon forgotten or lost, drifting away not long after they are spoken. Words written, however, are not so easily erased. They are more pervasive, lasting until that which they are written on is destroyed. I agree that care should be taken to the words and language used in writing, and since we are able to study works long after they are written, complexity can be apprectiated.
I do not think that this is an excuse for slackness in speech. While speech should lack some of the complexity of writing, a level of intelligence and grace should be maintained.
Words may quickly be forgotten when they are spoken, yet they leave a mark in the minds of those listening.

Seeking Perfection

In The Book of the Courtier, Count Ludovico says:

“.. I will say that in all things it is so difficult to know what true perfection is that it is well-nigh impossible; and this is due to the diversity of our judgments…Still I do think that there is a perfection for everything, even though it be hidden, and I do not claim to have this knowledge, I can only praise the manner of Courtier that I most esteem, and can approve of what seems to me to be nearest the right, according to my poor judgment; (22)”

Perfection. A recurring theme, yet a different approach. Sir Thomas More showed us through Utopia the blueprint for a perfect society. But was it really perfection? Discussions in class and the posts we read in our classmates blogs show the varying reactions that More's ideal country has stirred up. Here, in The Book of the Courtier, Count Ludovico offers his opinion, which may be the key to unlocking both the perfection of Utopia and the perfection of our courtier. Ludovico obviously believes the adage "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" or "perfection is in the eyes of the admirer."

Why are we so concerned about perfection? Why is that we find ambitions and blueprints of the perfect human, the perfect city, the perfect kingdom scattered throughout our literary history?

Is it that our faults abound so much that we cannot help but dream of perfection?

Without faults, we would not know perfection, and through our faults we recognize the perfect attributes of others that we desire for ourselves. As the Count points out and as our class has demonstrated, it is nearly impossible to come up with one definition of a perfect kingdom, or even man. To even agree on the smallest details in a perfect description is difficult enough and to limit man to simply one model of perfection limits the possibilities that man and his intelligence can dream of.

Without an aim for perfection, we have no direction, no high mark to set our standards on. Although we know it is unattainable, perfection sets us on the path of success.

Confucius said “If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's ok. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot."

Baldesar Castiglione agrees with Confucius, stating in his letter to the Bishop of Viseu,

“And if, for all that, they are unable to attain to that perfection, such as it is, that I have tried to express, the one who comes the nearest to it will be the most perfect; as when many archers shoot at a target and none of them hits the bull’s eye, the one who comes the closest is surely better than all the rest. (7)”

Even if we do not intend to reach this seemingly unattainable goal, the point is not whether or not we actually got there, the most important thing is that we tried. We aimed for the highest mark and though we fell short, the journey along the way has moved us beyond anything we could have imagined had we not at least shot for something.