First, re: Keats: his letter addresses something that I've been wondering about "genius." I'm reminded of this popular quotation from Ulysses: "A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery." If Genius (I love that it's capitalized) is some sort of spectral or seraphic presence independent of mind, then it seems to visit or attach itself to only a few people every generation. Why is it so selective? This is a superstitious explanation for "genius," of course, and we know statistically that genius IQs really are rare. But I've been seeing this wonderful psychyoga instructor who is also a clairvoyant, and she insists that "everyone has genius inside them." This could be New Age, kumbaya claptrap, but I think she's right; therefore, Joyce (perhaps unwittingly) is talking about everyone (my professor used to say, "Love your mistakes!" at the end of every class). But how do people access genius so quickly (precocity/child prodigies) and so easily (the daily, random assemblage of great poems)?
Back to your poem: "if what one writes is an oracle / it may does it heal" is the line that made me suspicious of your motives, but I believe you when you say that you wrote this poem during that prolific eighty-day period. I like the momentary back-and-forth with yourself ("does it") and am reminded of Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art," where a stern voice interrupts parenthetically and forces her to complete the poem ("(Write it)"). A prophesy can be a comfort, but I think you're talking about self-delusion. "Not post- but meta-myth- / ic" refers to someone, perhaps an egoistic self-deluder, who has not permanently dispelled his myths ("post-mythic") but is aware of them and incessantly refers to them ...
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...ucky enough that the "good Genius presides over you," then you're probably obligated to take the work seriously. When one of my classmates became interested in poetry, her gift for it was obvious; the poems were exquisite, but gravely serious. At the mic during a poetry reading, she closed her eyes, affected an I'm-a-future-poet-leaureate voice, and said things like, "Desert is just one letter away from something sweet." I kept hearing the Joker say, "Why so serious?" That question inspired my dash-of-serious, otherwise looney nonsense poems. (One of my professors told me that literary critics generally try to "impose sense" on nonsense literature, which is irritating; can't nonsense have its own integrity?) I'm not saying that my poems are funny; they're probably excruciatingly stupid. But I can't write a poem with a straight face. (The good Idiot presides over me!)
Richard Florida also goes on to say that creativity is energy-absorbing, tiring work. To come to think of it, it can be very laborious. My husband likes to design clothing, and sometimes he stares into space for hours daydreaming. Suddenly, he’d sprint into the bedroom, grab his notebook and start drawing. He could eat up a whole pencil, eraser and all, for that one drawing. Beads of sweat would form on his brow, and the nerve in the middle of his forehead would protrude. And I’d know to keep our daughter away and leave him at peace. You see, I think my husband is creative. He’s got a great sense of humor, and he’s an artist.
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
When I was little I believed that one day I was going to be a doctor, but certain people told me that was not likely, that I was going to end up like another statistic. Due to me being very young and insecure because I let that dream of mine rot, I believed that I was never going to make it into college or even medical school at that. I first read this poem in my English class a few years ago and it inspired. This poem allowed me to come to the understanding that I could do anything I set my mind to. One of the things I most enjoy about poetry that it is a spectrum, there are many ways it can be interpreted and understood. Although this poem talks about the negatives of what happens when a person lets their dreams go, I only saw positives as to why I should never give myself the right to give up my
William Butler Yeats One of Ireland's finest writers, William Butler Yeats served a long apprenticeship in the arts before his genius was fully developed. He did some of his greatest work after he was fifty. Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865. His father was a lawyer-turned-Irish painter. In 1867 the family followed him to London and settled in Bedford Park.
His anecdotes presented in the article are appropriate in terms of his subject and claims. The author responds back to the naysayers by saying that people only look at the test scores earned in school, but not the actual talent. He says, “Our culture- in Cartesian fashion- separates the body from the mind, so that, for example we assume that the use of tool does not involve abstraction. We reinforce this notion by defining intelligence solely on grades in school and number on IQ tests. And we employ social biases pertaining to a person’s place on the occupational ladder” (279). The author says that instead of looking at people’s talent we judge them by their grades in school or their IQ score, and we also employ them based on these numbers. People learn more each time they perform a task. He talks about blue collared individuals developing multi-tasking and creativity skills as they perform the task they are asked to
Isaacson and Dweck begin and would agree with a similar base that intelligence, to a `certain point, is innate upon those who society sees as intelligent. Isaacson proves his viewpoint by exploring the mind of Steve Jobs, someone that most would consider to be the pinnacle of intelligence, and stating that “His imaginative leaps were instinctive, unexpected, and at times magical. They were sparked by intuition, not analytic rigor” (Isaacson 3). By emphasizing
Genius is still a poplar creation myth that is being followed and taught in the current culture of today. The Genius myth begins like this; in the beginning God a spirit who is neither male nor female created the universe. At this time Earth was a void and was formless, covered in total darkness. Earth was also covered in a raging ocean and
Guzman, Jennifer de. Personal. Writing Therapy. “The Mirror of Grief: The Epic of Gilgamesh and Ecclesiastes” 28 December 2010. . 13 March 2013
A study of William Butler Yeats is not complete without a study of William Blake, just as a study of Blake is greatly aided by a study of Yeats. The two poets are inexorably tied together. Yeats, aided by his study of Blake, was able to find a clearer poetic voice. Yeats had a respect for and an understanding of Blake's work that was in Yeats' time without parallel. Yeats first read Blake at the age of 15 or 16 when his father gave him Blake to read. Yeats writes in his essay "William Blake and the Imagination" that "...when one reads Blake, it is as though the spray of an inexhaustible fountain of beauty was blown into our faces (Yeats, Essays xxx)." Yeats believed Blake to be a genius and he never wavered in his opinion. It is his respect for Blake that caused him to study and emulate Blake. He tried to tie Blake closer to himself by stressing Blake's rumored Irish ancestry. He strove to understand Blake more clearly than anyone had before him, and he succeeded. As with other pursuits Yeats held nothing back. He immersed himself fully in Blake's writings. As with many of his mental pursuits he deepened his understanding of the subject by writing about it.
William Butler Yeats was born on June thirteenth, eighteen sixty-five, at ten-forty pm, in Sandymount, Dublin (Foster, 13). He grew up lanky, untidy, slightly myopic, and extremely thin. He had black hair, high cheek bones, olive skin, and slanting eyes (Foster, 34). It was presumed he was Tubercular. As a child he was ridiculed, mainly because of his Irish heritage (Foster, 16). He accomplished many things in his life time.
This is in such a tone, that it is suggesting that a higher being is
First, however, one must have a clear notion of what is meant by giftedness. Only the top 2-5 % of children in the world are truly gifted. These children are precocious, self-instructing, can intuit solutions without resorting to logical, linear steps, and have an incredible interest in an area or more that they focus so intently on, that they may lose sense of the outside world (3). Early reading and development of abstract thought are typical characteristics as well. The acceleration of ment...
Time is an ever constant moving aspect of life. It can build one up and tear one down
a more personal level. However, it is only one's past, present and the attitude with which he or she looks upon the future that determines the shade of light in which the poem will be seen. (pg 621)
In his poem "The Second Coming," William Butler Yeats expresses that the endured disastrous behaviors of humankind will result in the beginning of a new age that is gloomy, fearful, and controlled by chaos. The poem provides as a warning of what may lie ahead if we do not change the direction society continues to take.