Here's something you might be interested in.
I hate to return to A Sea Symphony so soon but it came up in a way I wasn't expecting.
I received a text from a friend who explained her day and the two personal catastrophes it contained.
I sent her an email.
The email was a cut and paste of On the Beach at Night Alone by, you guessed it, Whitman.
I only knew of this poem because Vaughan Williams used it in A Sea Symphony.
In some situations, we have no words of comfort, no wisdom to impart, and "just listening" just isn't enough. At these moments, the immortals come to us.
We are never alone. We are more connected than at any other point in our existence. With just a few key strokes, we can listen to music that has inspired and consoled countless souls through the ages.
We need not own a book of poetry in order to read poetry at any moment.
When has there been a time that I could find a poem, copy it, send it, and have my friend read it within minutes? How is this not the best of times?
I did call my friend later and we were able to talk about the poem and context and the vast similitude. We let Vaughan Williams and Whitman guide us in our conversation and I think our friendship grew.
Vaughan Williams doesn't use the full text of the poem so I've included it below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1JUyhzh3WM
On the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future.
A vast similitude interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
All distances of place however wide,
All distances of time, all inanimate forms,
All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or in different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,
All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,
All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd,
And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.
I hate to return to A Sea Symphony so soon but it came up in a way I wasn't expecting.
I received a text from a friend who explained her day and the two personal catastrophes it contained.
I sent her an email.
The email was a cut and paste of On the Beach at Night Alone by, you guessed it, Whitman.
I only knew of this poem because Vaughan Williams used it in A Sea Symphony.
In some situations, we have no words of comfort, no wisdom to impart, and "just listening" just isn't enough. At these moments, the immortals come to us.
We are never alone. We are more connected than at any other point in our existence. With just a few key strokes, we can listen to music that has inspired and consoled countless souls through the ages.
We need not own a book of poetry in order to read poetry at any moment.
When has there been a time that I could find a poem, copy it, send it, and have my friend read it within minutes? How is this not the best of times?
I did call my friend later and we were able to talk about the poem and context and the vast similitude. We let Vaughan Williams and Whitman guide us in our conversation and I think our friendship grew.
Vaughan Williams doesn't use the full text of the poem so I've included it below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1JUyhzh3WM
On the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future.
A vast similitude interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
All distances of place however wide,
All distances of time, all inanimate forms,
All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or in different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,
All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,
All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd,
And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.