Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

It was a dark and stormy night when Mary Shelley, "saw--with shut eyes, but acute mental vision. . .the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion,"* and rose to write Frankenstein.

Now in public domain, Frankenstein is classic literature, and still a great read. If you'd like to read it online in formatted text, (as prepared for you by Dorothy Cady), click the following link.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

*Photo and quote from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_birth.html.

Writing Poetry

Poetry is more than just something you read when you're happy, or sad, or bored. (Okay. Maybe a lot of people don't read poetry when they're bored, but they could.) Poetry is also something you can write. "No way!" you say. But you can. There are lots of types of poems. (You probably find yourself rhyming sentences now and then, even if you don't mean to.)

After reading poets like Yeats, poetry can be a bit intimidating. But did you know that even limericks are poetry (although some would disagree). Here is a limerick posted at poetry-0nline.org.

There are many websites about poetry, and those that give you advice about writing it as well. Http://www.poetry-online.org does both.

Here is the limerick I want to leave you with this time. Read it and enjoy it for what it is...a little something to keep away the boredom. No. No. No. It's a poem, and one to make you laugh as well.

*****

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, 'It is just as I feared!

Two Owls and a Hen,

Four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!'

*****

...........

(Limerick from: http://www.poetry-online.org/limericks.htm)

(Photo from http://free.prohosting.com/~billdaly/laugh2.gif)

William Butler Yeats Podcast

William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Did you know that William Butler Yeats wrote not only poetry, but also non-fiction, fiction, plays, and short stories? Some poets write only poetry, but Yeats was particularly versatile. (If you’d like to see a detailed list, you can access it from this Web site: http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/.)

But this blog is about Yeats’ poem, “The Two Trees,” which you can read at the following Web site (or listen to my podcast, the link for which is at the end of this post): http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/420338

As I read this poem, which is quite visual—something I like, it seemed to me that Yeats was saying that most things start out pure and lovely (love especially), but that the evil around it withers and crushes it. What do you think? What does this poem say to you?

If you are interested, you can also click the poems' title below or copy and paste the link to listen to my Podcast of this poem:

The Two Trees
Podcast by Dorothy Cady

http://www.mediamax.com/dcady1/Hosted/Podcasts/TheTwoTreeByYeats.mp3