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Friday, September 21, 2007

Poetry Friday

Here's a possible cure for the AYP Blues in my Monday Poetry Stretch poem. I'm not sure, however, that the politicians would go for this as a proposed solution for NCLB...


The Tables Turned
by William Wordsworth

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.


I found this poem at Poetryfoundation.org.
Round-up this week is at ReadWriteBelieve.

6 comments:

  1. "a heart that watches and receives." Lovely, and oh, so unstandardized.

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  2. Oh, beautiful last two lines.

    And I do wish someone had warned me about 'growing double' a little earlier on! ;)

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  3. "I'm not sure, however, that the politicians would go for this as a proposed solution for NCLB..."
    ***

    And that's the rub, isn't it? ... Such a lack of vision regarding what constitutes a complete and genuine education ....

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  4. Anonymous12:58 PM

    Oh, this got me right in the gut at the end. I'm going back to read it aloud now. Thank you...

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  5. Anonymous5:06 PM

    Sounds like the perfect poem for the Beach School of my imagination!

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  6. Oh yes! I had to get up and walk out of the library to stroll the woods and fields this week. Lovely poem!

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