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Jun. 2nd, 2015
A windy dull overcast day and hence my plans are changed. I will still travel to Faversham and Ashford but will probably add Canterbury into the mix. It is very windy as well.
Posted off some sales from Ebay and Discogs this morning so not all lost in the mist of time.
Last night i listened to a quiz on Radio 4 and played some classical music on the laptop with headphones attached and then soem Daft Punk from their "Homework" CD.
Meanwhile, a piece from Felix Mendelssohn and "Hebrides Overture" as conducted by the London Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado.
Enjoy.
Posted off some sales from Ebay and Discogs this morning so not all lost in the mist of time.
Last night i listened to a quiz on Radio 4 and played some classical music on the laptop with headphones attached and then soem Daft Punk from their "Homework" CD.
Meanwhile, a piece from Felix Mendelssohn and "Hebrides Overture" as conducted by the London Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado.
Enjoy.
Poem of The Week
Jun. 2nd, 2015 11:05 amSince my bro ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coming42 gave me a biography of the man, here is a poem by Philip Larkin.
An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin
Side by side, their faces blurred,
The earl and countess lie in stone,
Their proper habits vaguely shown
As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
And that faint hint of the absurd–
The little dogs under their feet.
Such plainess of the pre-baroque
Hardly involves the eye, until
It meets his left hand gauntlet, still
Clasped empty in the other; and
One sees, with sharp tender shock,
His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.
They would not think to lie so long.
Such faithfulness in effigy
Was just a detail friends could see:
A sculptor’s sweet comissioned grace
Thrown off in helping to prolong
The Latin names around the base.
They would not guess how early in
Their supine stationary voyage
Their air would change to soundless damage,
Turn the old tenantry away;
How soon succeeding eyes begin
To look, not read. Rigidly they
Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths
Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light
Each summer thronged the grass. A bright
Litter of birdcalls strewed the same
Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths
The endless altered people came,
Washing at their identity.
Now, helpless in the hollow of
An unarmorial age, a trough
Of smoke in slow suspended skeins
Above their scrap of history,
Only an attitude remains:
Time has transfigured them into
Untruth. The stone finality
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.
This is the last poem in his 1964 book The Whitsun Weddings, which I imagine is still available somewhere.
This is the final poem in The Whitsun Weddings and apparently it’s rather jaded (Wikipedia has a few wonderful quotes describing Larkin as “the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket” with “a very English, glum accuracy”). I suppose so, I suppose you could say that about “Aubade” as well (whereas I find “Aubade” completely devastating and wholly restoring: it has that quality of the best of poetry that precisely captures your own feelings and describes them so well that you no longer feel alone). But I find “An Arundel Tomb” quite lovely, although Larkin’s cynicism certainly comes across. “The stone finality/They hardly meant”, he insists.
But he can’t help himself with that lovely last four lines.I think that’s what really charms me: you have such a good idea of what Larkin wants you to think (“Oh, those cynical folks who made that tomb and wanted their names to be remembered, but really this is all that remains of them: their hands clasped, a last romantic gesture by rich people to make themselves look good dead”), or what, perhaps, the poem wants to think; but you equally can’t help being moved by the image it presents, feeling the “sharp tender shock” of their attitude. The tomb, he says, in spite of itself, presents us with this idyllic, almost soppy romantic notion of love lasting; yet because the poem reflects the tomb (or Larkin’s experience) so well, it does the same, against its better (or more curmudgeonly) judgment.
More interesting thoughts here -
( More here .. )
I shall relish reading the biography.
coming42 gave me a biography of the man, here is a poem by Philip Larkin.An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin
Side by side, their faces blurred,
The earl and countess lie in stone,
Their proper habits vaguely shown
As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
And that faint hint of the absurd–
The little dogs under their feet.
Such plainess of the pre-baroque
Hardly involves the eye, until
It meets his left hand gauntlet, still
Clasped empty in the other; and
One sees, with sharp tender shock,
His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.
They would not think to lie so long.
Such faithfulness in effigy
Was just a detail friends could see:
A sculptor’s sweet comissioned grace
Thrown off in helping to prolong
The Latin names around the base.
They would not guess how early in
Their supine stationary voyage
Their air would change to soundless damage,
Turn the old tenantry away;
How soon succeeding eyes begin
To look, not read. Rigidly they
Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths
Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light
Each summer thronged the grass. A bright
Litter of birdcalls strewed the same
Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths
The endless altered people came,
Washing at their identity.
Now, helpless in the hollow of
An unarmorial age, a trough
Of smoke in slow suspended skeins
Above their scrap of history,
Only an attitude remains:
Time has transfigured them into
Untruth. The stone finality
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.
This is the last poem in his 1964 book The Whitsun Weddings, which I imagine is still available somewhere.
This is the final poem in The Whitsun Weddings and apparently it’s rather jaded (Wikipedia has a few wonderful quotes describing Larkin as “the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket” with “a very English, glum accuracy”). I suppose so, I suppose you could say that about “Aubade” as well (whereas I find “Aubade” completely devastating and wholly restoring: it has that quality of the best of poetry that precisely captures your own feelings and describes them so well that you no longer feel alone). But I find “An Arundel Tomb” quite lovely, although Larkin’s cynicism certainly comes across. “The stone finality/They hardly meant”, he insists.
But he can’t help himself with that lovely last four lines.I think that’s what really charms me: you have such a good idea of what Larkin wants you to think (“Oh, those cynical folks who made that tomb and wanted their names to be remembered, but really this is all that remains of them: their hands clasped, a last romantic gesture by rich people to make themselves look good dead”), or what, perhaps, the poem wants to think; but you equally can’t help being moved by the image it presents, feeling the “sharp tender shock” of their attitude. The tomb, he says, in spite of itself, presents us with this idyllic, almost soppy romantic notion of love lasting; yet because the poem reflects the tomb (or Larkin’s experience) so well, it does the same, against its better (or more curmudgeonly) judgment.
More interesting thoughts here -
( More here .. )
I shall relish reading the biography.
Faversham Ashford and Bluewater Visits
Jun. 2nd, 2015 09:55 pmAfter a really crappy morning weather wise the late afternoon was alot better with the sun coming out. I did my visits in Faversham and Ashford. I had a call form one of my companies to see if i could do a visit i planned to do on Friday today with the fee doubled as they needed it done quickly. So i accepted and went over to Bluewater.
I was not going to turn it down. So, tomorrow i will be off early to Sussex to visit the towns of Bexhill and Eastbourne now that Stagecoach is running a regular bus service from Ashford through to Hastings.
I picked up some cheap paperbacks as well when i was in Faversham and Ashford.
I was not going to turn it down. So, tomorrow i will be off early to Sussex to visit the towns of Bexhill and Eastbourne now that Stagecoach is running a regular bus service from Ashford through to Hastings.
I picked up some cheap paperbacks as well when i was in Faversham and Ashford.
Jean Baudrillard "The Perfect Crime" (Verso Radical Thinkers)
Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) was a French philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer most associated with the “Postmodern” movement.
Though Simulacra has acquired Baudrillard his most cultural currency, this book in fact is the most eloquent (and witty) and well argued, filled with trenchant wit and sly insights. Baudrillard is the best cultural critic to come out of France in the last century, and this book will prove to be the greatest sample of his thought. Covering topics as disparate as Andy Warhol and Yugoslavia, Baudrillard examines the implosion of reality in the contemporary global world, exploring the moral implications of the age of information. Those who seek to discredit Baudrillard as a stylish postmodernist will have difficulty dismissing this eloquent and disturbing text
Not one of Baudrillard’s “major works,” this book still is filled with many of Baudrillard’s perceptive and sometimes acerbic comments on society. However, i still recommend it.
Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) was a French philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer most associated with the “Postmodern” movement.
Though Simulacra has acquired Baudrillard his most cultural currency, this book in fact is the most eloquent (and witty) and well argued, filled with trenchant wit and sly insights. Baudrillard is the best cultural critic to come out of France in the last century, and this book will prove to be the greatest sample of his thought. Covering topics as disparate as Andy Warhol and Yugoslavia, Baudrillard examines the implosion of reality in the contemporary global world, exploring the moral implications of the age of information. Those who seek to discredit Baudrillard as a stylish postmodernist will have difficulty dismissing this eloquent and disturbing text
Not one of Baudrillard’s “major works,” this book still is filled with many of Baudrillard’s perceptive and sometimes acerbic comments on society. However, i still recommend it.
Tuesday Music Selection - House
Jun. 2nd, 2015 11:21 pmWell listed 99 items on Ebay now, so it is time for a musical interlude.
I fancy some quality house beats -
Metro - Brownstone Express
Larry Heard - Missing You
Lil Louis & The World - Do U Luv Me
And finally, classic go go beat -
Rare Essence - Body Moves
Enjoy!!
I fancy some quality house beats -
Metro - Brownstone Express
Larry Heard - Missing You
Lil Louis & The World - Do U Luv Me
And finally, classic go go beat -
Rare Essence - Body Moves
Enjoy!!
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