Hmmm, Wordsworth
So, I'm not finding Wordsworth to be quite as immediately lovable as Keats. I'm a couple books into The Prelude (1805) and I'm feeling kind of eh about it. Maybe part of why it was so easy to fall for Keats is that Edward Hirsch's introduction to his poems is really informative, but also so admiring and exuberant that I couldn't wait to get cracking after reading it. The person who wrote the introduction to my volume of Wordsworth does not have Hirsch's joyous enthusiasm. It's super dry, academic writing and it makes me appreciate how lucky I was to start with Keats and Hirsch.
Then too, with reading so much depends on my own mood as well. I'm hoping to get a couple of uninterrupted hours to myself this weekend, and that I'll be mostly awake and really able to concentrate. That might do the trick. But right now I'm having a bit of trouble getting my footing.
In other news, I found a book of Billy Collins poetry. In my house! I have no idea how it got here. It appeared like magic and I'm so grateful for it. I can sneak a few lines of Billy Collins when I'm supposed to be doing something else and it resonates, it's not work. The language stays with me and then I have something to ponder while I go about the more mundane tasks of the day. And in this found volume, there is a even a poem called Lines Written Over Three Thousand Miles from Tintern Abbey which seems to poke a little fun at old Wordsworth.
Don't you just love it when books appear magically? That used to happen to me all the time.
Posted by: Melissa Donovan | June 12, 2008 at 11:36 AM
It's the first time it's happened to me! It's fantastic :).
Posted by: Greer | June 12, 2008 at 04:26 PM
I LOVE Billy Collins!
I think Wordsworth and Keats are, by nature, the way you are feeling about them. I guess I've always felt like WW was about writing poetry as a way of life, and he would put his stuff down whether you liked it or not.
Keats, though I'm sure I'm not as familiar as you are, always struck me as being the vessel for the poetry that was just itching to get out into the world. There's an eagerness there, maybe, that I think WW lacks. Or perhaps the eagerness of Keats is a more accessible eagerness.
Posted by: James! | June 12, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Hi James! I am just getting into Billy Collins. I read 'On Turning Ten' in an anthology a few weeks ago, that was my first poem by him. It really struck a chord. So far I've loved everything I've read in the book I found, which is called 'Sailing Alone Around the Room'.
I think you are right about Keats, anyway Hirsch says something similar about him being a vessel so you are in very esteemed company :). One thing that impresses me so much about WW is his connection to nature and that is keeping me going even though I don't think I understand everything else that is going on... YET.
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting, James. It's so exciting for me to be able to discuss all this!
Posted by: Greer | June 13, 2008 at 08:10 AM
What a great discovery! I love, love Billy Collins' poetry. I only have one of his books but I did get it autographed when I saw him at a poetry reading earlier this year. It was incredible.
Posted by: iliana | June 16, 2008 at 08:24 AM
Hi Iliana, I was very excited when I found it. I haven't been to any poetry readings yet but I'm hoping to change that and he would be top of my list to see.
Posted by: Greer | June 16, 2008 at 03:20 PM
Like I said before I found it to be a slow one to get into. The real exciting crux of The Prelude is his first-hand experiences of the French Revolution, which comes later. It does pick up and is worth sticking with through the difficult opening.
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 20, 2008 at 08:14 AM
And yes, the 1805 one is the one I would've recommended had I been about.
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 20, 2008 at 08:17 AM
It's nice to see you, Eiron!! I'm glad I at least figured out the right one to read. I'm looking forward to the French Revolution part a lot. I did think it started to pick up a bit in Book 3 about Cambridge, so that's good. I'm sure once I've got through the whole thing I'll be able to go back to the beginning and get more out of those first parts.
I'm glad you stopped by and I hope your computer woes are getting sorted out :).
Posted by: Greer | June 21, 2008 at 02:27 PM
Surely but slowly seems to be the modus operandi at present. The sound, arguably the most important part of my computer, is still causing problems but I'm hoping the change of motherboard will have that problem licked. In the meantime I'm working my way through James Joyce's Ulysses. I'm at the brothel chapter, so taking a breather first before getting into it, as it's the most epic portion.
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 22, 2008 at 04:57 PM
Hi Eiron, I read about half of Ulysses several years ago and I really kick myself now for not finishing it as I will have to start from the beginning again. I had read Dubliners and then Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and then I started Ulysses- maybe I just ran out of steam :).
I also wanted to tell you that House of Leaves finally came from the library and I had a look through and read some of the first chapter. I decided that it was too much for me to take on right now what with all the poetry but it looks so, so interesting and I will definitely read it at some point. I'm really glad you told me about it- it wasn't on my radar at all.
Good luck with the new motherboard!
Posted by: Greer | June 23, 2008 at 02:34 PM
I am considering applying my system to picking what I read next, though it'd take a bit of figuring out. I have so many things I want to read. I just recently went through my own library and rid myself of the things that I knew I'd never read - the whimsical buys of yesteryears that don't seem such a good idea any longer and the things that don't look like they were ever mine but seem to have found a place for themselves on my horridly disorganised shelves. As it is, Ulysses will keep me plenty busy for now and I'm always glad to hear of something that might pique my admittedly slightly loopy interest.
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 23, 2008 at 04:09 PM
Eiron, I love your system as it unfolds in your blog but I could never use it to select what I would read or listen too next, just for myself. It's too much of an emotional decision for me. Is that 'cause I'm a girl ;)?
Weeding the shelves is always good, as are loopy interests!
Posted by: Greer | June 24, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Nah. It's probably because you've not cracked completely yet. I tend to make my emotional decisions in the bookshop and then get myself overwrought with choosing which of my new darlings to favour over the others. I think having an arbitrary system to assist those decisions can only be a good thing where I am concerned. I keep promising myself I'll only buy a book once I've read three to stop my shelves filling up faster than I can get through them. Thus far I've not been so successful. Four new books today; still not through 'Ulysses'...
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 24, 2008 at 01:52 PM
Well, I have the same problem with getting books faster than I can read them. I recently bought three more myself, even though I am only in Cambridge and the Alps right now in The Prelude. Though one was the rest of Wordsworth's poetry, which I plan to read next, so that was absolutely necessary :).
Posted by: Greer | June 24, 2008 at 08:56 PM
I finally got a T.S. Eliot poetry collection. I also got some tragically old travel guides, one being a local rambling guide from around 94 years ago and another - arguably my favourite - being Arnold Bennett's "Your United States", his first impressions of American life which is partly interesting as a snapshot of a certain class at a certain time, but rather more so is it hilariously outdated.
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 26, 2008 at 07:40 PM
For some reason, I really like reading outdated travel information like the books you describe. What is it with that? They sound like great finds, you must have nice used book shop nearby :).
Posted by: Greer | June 27, 2008 at 02:45 PM
It is nostalgic. A travel guide by Lonely Planet (The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel) details several "Travel Experiments" invented by the French organisation Latourex, one of which is "Comparative Anachronistic Tourism", the visiting of a town using information found in such an outdated travel guide. It is an experiment I am keen to try out for myself. In fact, I should like to try all of their experiments, once time and finance allow me such freedom.
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 28, 2008 at 01:33 PM
I'd never heard of the 'Experimental Travel' book but I found the website. There are a lot of interesting ideas. I like reading old travel guides but I never thought of actually traveling with one. It would also be a fun thing to do at home, go through the city with an old guide... I guess it's because those books are so very specific and practical, they give a good feel for what daily life might have been like at the time.
Posted by: Greer | June 28, 2008 at 09:21 PM
One of the ideas you might like is Opus Touristicus. Essentially the idea would be to undertake a journey inspired by a work, such as a film, book, poem, song... anything that offers you a brief of sorts within it. There are a couple of variations on this one.
If you don't wish to leave your armchair you can take a round-the-world tour on your bookshelf. You can either take the express tour, opening a book and reading until it names another country, then reading a book set in that country and so on until you get back home, or you can read a book by an author of your own country, and then hop country to country until you've completed a tour. Then, of course, you can go round again.
Posted by: Eiron Page | June 30, 2008 at 06:56 PM
I think that art inspires travel quite a lot, I'm thinking of people wanting to see the Paris of Amelie or things like that. Or even Keats going to visit Robert Burns's place.
I like the idea for armchair travel because it isn't possible for me to travel as much as I'd like in real life right now :).
Posted by: Greer | July 01, 2008 at 04:01 PM
I don't think anyone can ever travel as much as they like. There's always something more to do or discover. There is no end to the possibilities of human experience, but that doesn't mean it's unlimited, sadly. But you can either sit around moping that you can't get what you want, or start realising there's far more than one all-encompassing target to life. Keep those goals, sure, but don't lose focus of the little things. Here ends that peculiar moment of amateur philosophy, more than teetering - more taking a flying leap - over the edge of asinine self-help.
I've Alain de Botton's 'The Art of Travel' high on my reading pile. I tend to do most of my travelling in my head or by the works of others, as detailed above. That way you have access to a level of time travel, too. Travelling is all well and good when you can do it, but I can always find something to do at home.
Posted by: Eiron Page | July 01, 2008 at 04:31 PM
I read 'The Art of Travel' a while back and if I'm remembering correctly (no guarantees), one of the things he brings up is how planning for trips is a big part of the fun of travel. I agree with that whether or not he actually says it in the book, and that's something we can do anytime. I always save articles and things about places I want to visit, so if I somehow get to go I will be prepared, and also it's enjoyable in itself.
I really love his book, 'How Proust Can Change Your Life', have you read that one?
How's Ulysses coming?
Posted by: Greer | July 02, 2008 at 02:37 PM
This is the first one of his I have acquired. Ulysses is coming along. Really hope to have it finished soon. Going out tomorrow, away from the distractions of being at home, and plan to get a whole lot of reading done. Then I can be "one of those people who's read Ulysses" too.
Posted by: Eiron Page | July 02, 2008 at 04:42 PM