Tina Turner says, “What’s love got to do with it?” The Beatles say “All we need is love.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning was in love when she wrote “Sonnets from the Portuguese.” To her fiancé. Love does strange things to us. It makes us say and do things we wouldn’t normally do. In this poem, Browning expresses her love and desire for the man she would later call her husband.
Browning writes how love can make you strong against the world.
When our two souls stand erect and strong stong,
Face to face,silent,drawing nigh and nigher
Until the lengthening wings break into fire
At either curved point, what bitter wrong
Can earth do to us (line 1 - 5)
Love is a powerful force against the world. When you love someone and they love you, there is almost a feeling of invincibility. I can relate to that feeling. In section 43 she relives his kisses to her and how loved she felt. After the kiss to her forehead she says “That was the chrism of love, which love’s own crown / With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.” (line 10 & 11) The final part of the poem is the most emotional and powerful. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” (line 1). You can feel the depth of the emotion in her words. It is so beautiful. It is almost as if the climax of this poem comes at the end. She tells him she will love him all her life and if God permits it, she will love him after that. “ – and, if God choose, / I shall but love thee better after death.” (line 14)
Love is so beautiful and those of us who have it are lucky. We are even more fortunate if we are filled up with it. The love for a child can do this. I love and adore my husband. He is my best friend and someone I am so lucky to be able to spend my life. As a mother my heart swells to bursting over my son. He is my only child and I am so blessed to have a child like him. When so much is wrong with the world, I look at him as my glimmer of hope. He already makes this world a better place for being in it. I hope that everyone in the world finds love. Love makes us stronger and keeps us together when the world tries to destroy us.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Thomas Carlyle Labour, Know Thy Work
Thomas Carlyle provided us with many pieces of literature that held life lessons within them. One such piece that spoke volumes to me was Labour Know Thy Work. He speaks of work as having the ability to transform a person. As I read I could imagine a man becoming a man with “The blessed glow of Labour in him.” It was as if Labour being capitalized makes it almost like a being of power to come and fill up a man who works.
The first sentence caught my attention. “For there is a perennial nobleness, and even sacredness, in Work.” The next sentence explains that a man is never without hope if he works hard. “There is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works.” (Paragraph 1). This is so true. Don’t we feel wonderful after a long days work? Carlyle goes on in the third paragraph to explain what the benefits of working can bring. “A man perfects himself by working. Foul jungles are cleared away, fair seedfields rise instead and stately cities; an withal the man himself first ceases to be a jungle and foul unwholesome desert thereby.” I believe Carlyle is saying word cleanses the soul of a man. Once cleansed the man begins to grow into something beautiful and strong like a stately city. Carlyle sums up his “Gospel” on work by saying “Doubt of whatever kind, can be ended by Action alone.”
How clear does this ring true for us today? This could easily have been written and published today for our generation. This piece truly spoke to me about someone in my family. This person is 25 years old. He has no full time job. He works just enough to pay his $300 rent each month. The rest of his money comes from his mother who has been forced to live with us. She is unable to pay both of their bills. With his lack of a job, he has all the time in the world to go to outdoor concerts in other states with his friends. We have not been on a vacation in five years. It really upsets me that we all have to pay a price for his lack of motivation. Carlyle said, “Idleness alone is there perpetual despair.” This was written for my family member. How can anyone feel good about themselves without hard work and meeting goals. I want to scream and shout sometimes because he is so inconsiderate. Hard work is something I believe in. It is why I am working so hard to finish my degree to become a teacher. When I work hard and can see my results, I am proud. I hope this generation will continue working hard to make our world a better place, instead of acting like my family member who has no real place in this world.
The first sentence caught my attention. “For there is a perennial nobleness, and even sacredness, in Work.” The next sentence explains that a man is never without hope if he works hard. “There is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works.” (Paragraph 1). This is so true. Don’t we feel wonderful after a long days work? Carlyle goes on in the third paragraph to explain what the benefits of working can bring. “A man perfects himself by working. Foul jungles are cleared away, fair seedfields rise instead and stately cities; an withal the man himself first ceases to be a jungle and foul unwholesome desert thereby.” I believe Carlyle is saying word cleanses the soul of a man. Once cleansed the man begins to grow into something beautiful and strong like a stately city. Carlyle sums up his “Gospel” on work by saying “Doubt of whatever kind, can be ended by Action alone.”
How clear does this ring true for us today? This could easily have been written and published today for our generation. This piece truly spoke to me about someone in my family. This person is 25 years old. He has no full time job. He works just enough to pay his $300 rent each month. The rest of his money comes from his mother who has been forced to live with us. She is unable to pay both of their bills. With his lack of a job, he has all the time in the world to go to outdoor concerts in other states with his friends. We have not been on a vacation in five years. It really upsets me that we all have to pay a price for his lack of motivation. Carlyle said, “Idleness alone is there perpetual despair.” This was written for my family member. How can anyone feel good about themselves without hard work and meeting goals. I want to scream and shout sometimes because he is so inconsiderate. Hard work is something I believe in. It is why I am working so hard to finish my degree to become a teacher. When I work hard and can see my results, I am proud. I hope this generation will continue working hard to make our world a better place, instead of acting like my family member who has no real place in this world.
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