Poetry Friday: The Raven

Since today is Halloween, I thought this was appropriate. And we just covered Poe last week in my American Lit class, so it was on my mind. I wouldn't be surprised if several people turn this one in, but there you go. This is a great one to read aloud, I love the alliteration. Happy Halloween everyone!

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.`
'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what threat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?
'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

Poetry Friday: Excelsior

Believe it or not, I'm spending most of the day today grading papers. So I came across a paper on this poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Excelsior is Latin for "ever upward." So as I move ever upward through the stack of papers and grades, I hope you enjoy this poem.

"Excelsior" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
Excelsior!

In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
Excelsior!

"Try not the Pass!" the old man said:
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!
And loud that clarion voice replied,
Excelsior!

"Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest
Thy weary head upon this breast!"
A tear stood in his bright blue eye, B
ut still he answered, with a sigh,
Excelsior!

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche!"
This was the peasant's last Good-night,
A voice replied, far up the height,
Excelsior!

At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,
Excelsior!

A traveller, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
Excelsior!

I'm Gone

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know I'll be away from my blog (and the internet) for a few days. I'm going on an internship expedition with my school so I hopefully actually get a job when I graduate....

Anyway, don't forget, Cybils nominations end soon!

Slight Political Diversion

I try to avoid discussing politics on this blog, but I am going to make an exception in this case. For those of you who don't want to go into this, you are welcome to come back later.

For everyone who is a California resident, chances are that you have heard of Proposition 8. Some of you may have noticed the link in my sidebar, www.protectmarriage.com, that deals with this very issue. I believe in the divine inspiration that marraige is meant to be between a man and a woman, and that changing this definition will have serious consquences on the rights of freedom of speech and freedom of association.

Please understand that I do not support this measure as a means of discriminating against same-sex couples. What every person chooses to believe is thier own right, even if I myself do not believe in it. I completely support these couple having full econmic benefits of a married couple. But I do not support the change of the definition of marriage.

For those of you who would like to understand more about my feelings on this matter, you can see a video put out to members of my church that describes it much more eloquently than I. I will be voting Yes on Proposition 8, because I feel it is the morally right action to take. This is a matter in which I believe strongly. The important thing is that you vote, that you make your voice be heard.

Please feel free to comment, but I want to post this reminder. I do not tolerate swearing or name calling on in any comments on any of my posts. If you disagree and wish to post about it, that is fine, but do it in a respectful manner. I will delete comments with inappropriate material if I have to. Please keep it respectful folks. That's all I ask.

You Know I Have To Post This...

I can't believe that I'm the first person to post this, so my blog reader must be having issues again. Anyway, in the rare chance you haven't seen the Twilight trailer that came out today yet, here's your chance. This one will load much faster than the one on the offical site.



*EDIT* Okay, I fixed the link now. Enjoy

Reflections on Cybils Nominations

As you may know, the Cybils nominations are now open until October 15th. Since I'm on the panel this year, I pay a little more attention to the process than most people. It's been interesting to watch the process, although granted I'm paying more attention to the Fantasy panel, since that's the one I'm on.

In the past days I have noticed few things I'm surprised to see. First of all, we've gotten way more nominations for ineligible books this time around than previous year. I've noticed a lot more self-published titles too, though this is good since I like seeing every book get its chance.

That being said, there are a few books that I'm surprised haven't been nominated. Based on some of the reviews I've read around, I expected a few titles to be on there that aren't there yet. These include Cybele's Secret, The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin", The 39 Clues (The Maze of Bones, Book 1), and The Quest Begins (Seekers, Book 1) as well some others. It will be interesting to see if any of those end up on the list by October 15th...

Speaking of Nominations...

Thanks to TadMack over at Finding Wonderland for the laugh. And you know, Einstein has great advice. You should listen to him...

Don't Forget to Nominate!

If you haven't already, head over to the Cybils to nominate your favorite books. There's just a few rules you need to keep in mind:

1. One nomination per person per category
2. Books must be first published in 2008
3. Bilingual books are okay, as long as one of the languages is English
4. A book only needs to be nominated once

Nominations are only open until October 15th, so make sure you head over there and get it done right away. Remember, the number of nominations for one book doesn't matter. So if you're favorite book has been nominated already, choose something else. You can get more of your favorites nominated that way. :-)

I made it!

Yay! I'm on the Cybils Science Fiction and Fantasy panel. I'll be honest, I was afraid I might not make it this year. There's a lot more writers and librarians and "experts" out there now, and I'm still just little old me. :-) But I am truly excited, I get to work with some excellent bloggers, a lot of who's blogs I read quite frequently already! I'm so excited to work with all of you! Here's the complete panel:

Laini Taylor Growing Wings
Charlotte Taylor Charlotte's Library
Alyssa Feller The Shady Glade (YAY!)
Em Em's Bookshelf
Lynette The Puck in the Midden
Tizrah Price The Compulsive Reader
Amanda Blau Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Judges:
Tasha Saecker Kids Lit
Anne Boles Levy The Cybils
Erin Miss Erin
Eisha Prather Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Tanita Davis Finding Wonderland, Readers' Rants

Reminder: Watch tonight!

Sorry I didn't post this earlier! Don't forget to watch the Shadow in the North on Masterpiece Mystery! tonight. I'll be posting a recap later, and I want someone to know what I'm talking about. :-)

Off Topic

Not much time to blog at the moment. I have three papers staring me down right now that are due on Monday. But I figured I'd share this cute little thought with you:

Why can't I get one of these in the mail?

I'll try to be back soon. I've got big plans for the blog (including about 30 posts in draft) I just need to find time to work on it!

Poetry Friday: Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

So as I mentioned last week, I had the oppertunity to go to a concert of one of my favorite groups, Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. Although I knew most of the songs they did, there was one in particular from their new CD that struck me. So here's my entry for Poetry Friday:

"All I Need" by Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband
I've been to new york city central park
then headed out to upstate lake champlain
crossed up to montreal and heard a band playing mandolins
while we were standing in the rain
I've seen castle walls and waterfalls
and bridges spanning over Venetian waterways
backpack summer drifting through the mountains
filled with European hostel stays

but all I need is you, here, falling in my arms
and me, there, subject to your charms
and I don't know if I have ever felt this way before
all I need is you

I've sailed out in the San Francisco Bay
And I've seen fireworks light up the night
I've Eaten dinner with good friends
Authentic Mexican patio dining in the moonlight
I've Spent days skiing sunny powdered peaks
And hiking up to Zions where the angels land
I've Dropped off cliffs into the crystal blue
And I've set up tents on golden sand

but all I need is you, here, falling in my arms
and me, there, subject to your charms
and I don't know if I have ever felt this way before
all I need is you

I've been all over the rocky mountains
Splashed in England's Hyde Park fountains
Seen Denali rising up at three A.M.
Watched the wind blow through the red wood forest
Heard the tabernacle chorus
singing songs like angels do in heaven

but all I need is you, here, falling in my arms
and me, there, subject to your charms
and I don't know if I have ever felt this way before
all I need is you

Of course, the lyrics are great, but it is the music combined with the lyrics that make the song so wonderful. I was able to find a sample of the song so you can get an idea of how it sounds:

Of course, you can buy the whole CD from Amazon.com too:

I may come back to Ryan Shupe later. It really is a cool band. You should check it out.

The Ruby in the Smoke

If I had been thinking, I would have posted about this earlier so I could get some comments. Hopefully, some of you were lucky enough to catch the Masterpiece Mystery! adaptation of The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman.

I never really liked the His Dark Materials books, and I say that fully prepared to now receive a beating from literature lovers everywhere. But I loved the Sally Lockheart Mysteries. Sally, Jim, Adelaide, and Frederick remain some of my favorite literary characters. So I was ecstatic when I heard that Masterpiece made a movie out of the first book.

I loved the movie. Loved it. I wish it could have been a little longer, but other than that I don't have any complaints. It has been about six years since I read the book, which turned out really great for me, since I remembered enough details to know the ending, but not how the action arrived at that point. The soundtrack was amazing, and the acting was terrific. And now I'm going to go all girly on you by saying this: Frederick is totally swoon-worthy. But in all seriousness, the action drew me in like crazy. I'm going to have to go back and read the book now, but I hope it won't ruin how much I liked the movie.

If you want the chance to see the movie, The Ruby in the Smoke is available on Amazon.com right now. And tune in next Sunday, because they're doing The Shadow in the North, which honestly was my favorite book in the trilogy (Though The Tin Princess was my favorite. But that's technically a "companion book").

If you really want a taste of the movie, you can look it up on YouTube. I'm not going to post it because of copyright issues. So you can see it there. But you didn't hear that from me!

Kid Lit Conference

So I was going to participate in Poetry Friday today, but I had a huge paper get shunted onto me. Don't you just love college (just one more semester, just one more semester, just one more semester...) I don't have time to create the post I wanted to, so it will just have to wait until next week.

In other news, if you're going to be at the Children's and Young Adult Literature conference in Rexburg, ID tomorrow, let me know. I'd love to meet my readers in person, and I'll be there.

Graphic Designer needed

Anyone know where I can get a logo made? I don't have a big budget, so it needs to be relatively cheap. Any ideas?

National Book Festival

Hey readers! I had this emailed to me today, so I figured I'd pass it on. If you live in the area, go check it out!

My name is Allegra Poggio and I’m getting in touch with you on behalf of the Library of Congress and its upcoming, eighth annual National Book Festival. It’s a great opportunity to meet in-person and interact with some of the nation’s best-selling authors, illustrators and poets, both at the event and online. This year, the festival is providing several online resources that are great for educational purposes!

This free event, featuring over 70 award-winning authors, attracts over 100,000 book lovers of all ages to the National Mall in Washington, DC to celebrate the joys of reading and lifelong literacy.

Sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, this year the Festival will take place rain or shine Saturday, September 27th 2008 from 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on The National Mall (Between 3rd and 7thstreets) in Washington, DC. Additional details on the festival are housed here: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest.

Authors, illustrators and poets will interact with festival-goers at seven themed pavilions such as the Children pavilion. The Children’s pavilion will feature several participating authors, including Doreen Cronin & Besty Lewin, who will sign books and give readings from their works.

In addition to the DC festivities, the Library is offering a variety of ways for people around the country to participate in the event online:

-The National Book Festival Young Readers’ Online Toolkit, features information about National Book Festival authors who write for children and teens, podcasts of their readings, teaching tools and activities for kids. This resource shows educators, parents and children how they can host their own book festival.
-Online chats hosted by washingtonpost.com featuring a select group of Festival authors. These live text-based discussions will take place throughout September leading up to the Festival at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/liveonline/index.html, where participants can submit questions and comments any time before or during the live chat.
-Podcasts, also available on iTunes, featuring interviews with some of the award-winning authors participating in the 2008 National Book Festival.

For additional details about participating authors, illustrators and poets please visit, www.loc.gov/bookfest.

And the Winners Are...

The winners of the comment contest are...

Ms. Yingling, Robin_Titan and Becky (Of Becky's Book Reivews). Congrats to the winners! Email me at shadyglade (AT) mail (DOT) com with your top 4 picks from my bookmooch inventory and I'll get you your prize right away!

Thank you to everyone who entered. And don't stop leaving comments now the contest is over. I still love comments. :-)

One more day...

So I'm tallying up the entries for the comment contest. Look for a post tomorrow to see who won!

Until then, I'll be back soon.

I'm Back

Well, if you've been paying attention to this blog, you will recognize the fact that I didn't exactly keep up with it like I mentioned in my last few posts. In fact, my blogiversary was earlier this week, and I'm sure you were expecting a post then

So this is what happened. While travelling back to Idaho to go to school for my last semester, I was involved in a very bad car accident. I rolled my car, pretty much totaled it, and landed myself a brief hospital visit. But don't worry, I'm doing okay. Surprisingly well, actually. Always wear your seat belt! It's what saved my life.

Anyway, I'm back and read to jump in again. I'm going to start tallying up comments for the contest, and I'll be announcing winners soon. Stay tuned!

An Update on Review Policy

One thing I’ve noticed lately in the blogosphere is that the number people receiving ever increasing amounts of review copies is rising. Or at least the number of posts about the subject is rising. Which is great for me, since I thought I was the only one facing this problem. Every day a new book (or two) lands on my doorstep, and I have had to endure endless teasing from my family because of it.

But this isn’t just about me complaining that I have too many books. The problem is, I simply don’t have time to read all of those books. And let’s face it, I don’t really want to either. Even in a perfect world where I would have unlimited time for reading everything I wanted, not every book will appeal to every person.

So I’m starting a new page rule. I’m going through all my books and giving away a great deal of them that I think that I will never read. So if you aren’t hooked up to Bookmooch, now would be a good time to do that. :-) I am also starting a 50 page rule. If a book doesn’t grab me by 50 pages in, I’m going to put it down and move onto something else. I love reading, and especially reviwing and blogging about my books, but this is a volunteer hobby, not a full time job.

Believe it or not, this was actually a hard decision for me to make. I have a lot of authors contact me personally looking for reviews for their books, and it’s hard for me to tell them no. So to combat this, I’ve decided to start a new section for the blog. It’s going to be called the book feature. These will be book I have not read (or didn’t finish), but still want to get the word out about so people can give them a chance. These posts will usually consist of a short plot summary (usually from the book itself or Amazon.com), a picture of the cover, and a link(s) to where you can find your own copy. Since I haven’t read these, I won’t be putting any comments in the posts about the book, but simply give them their time in the spotlight.

So there you go. I hope to get started on those soon. And if you’d like to skip over them, dear readers, that’s fine too. I’m just trying to find a way to give every book a chance. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean someone will. Don’t worry, I’ll still be doing regular reviews, and I’ll try not to make the features overpower the reviews.
I’d love to hear what you think about the new system. Anyone else come up with a good solution to this problem?