October 17

Wednesday October 17, 2007 6:00 am Lennox Head, NSW Australia

A. Morning Musings

6:00 am

There is a real fog bank off the coast this morning.

I will be trying a new venture today. We will be going on a hike in the forest with the intent of drawing something. So far my specialty is sharks, so this should be fun. It will certainly be new. I will take my camera and binoculars in case bird watching turns out to be a better idea.

I have four books left to read that I would categorize as Literature:

In Search of Lost Time: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust
- This is volume 6 of the seven volume series.
The Nelson Introduction to Literature (2004). Edited by All Valleau & Jack Finnbogason
- A collection of poems, essays and short stories.
Collected Poems by Les Murray (2007)
Dylan on Dylan
- A collection of interviews with Bob Dylan.

Of the list, I will try the Nelson Introduction to Literature and see how that goes.

Immediate	Description	Time
Literature	The Nelson Introduction to Literature	2 hr
Drawing	Try drawing while on a hike in the forest	2 hr

C. Actual Learning Activities

5:00 PM

We are back from a wonderful trip to Minyon Falls with friends. I had my first experience at trying to draw something from reality. Very difficult, but genuinely enjoyable. I have a long way to go, but it is an early step.

Here are a few images of the trip:

Having had my first look at "The Nelson Introduction to Literature", I am glad that I am no longer a student. I have skimmed the first hundred pages of poetry, reading a number of the poems carefully and very superficially skimming a number of others. I was surprised that I did not enjoy most of those of the famous English poets. However here is a list of the poems that I truly enjoyed:

Anonymous. Sir Patrick Spens.
Anonymous. The Three Ravens.
Robert Herrick (England 1591 - 1674). Delight in Disorder.
William Blake (England 1757 - 1827) The Chimney Sweeper 1789
Percy Bysshe Shelley (England 1792 - 1822) Ozymandius
John Keats (England 1795 - 1821) Ode on a Grecian Urn
Sojourner Truth (USA 1797 - 1883) Ain't I a Woman?
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (England 1809 - 1892) The Lady of Shalott
Walt Whitman (USA 1819 - 1892) A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim
Emily Dickinson (USA 1830 - 1886) 1129 "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant"
D. C. Scott (Canada 1862 - 1947) The Forsaken
Robert Frost (USA 1874 - 1963) Neither Out Far nor in Deep
William Carlos Williams (USA 1883 - 1963) The Last Words of My English Grandmother
E. J. Pratt (Canada 1882 - 1964) The Prize Cat
F. R. Scott (Canada 1899 - 1985) Part V Fort Providence & National Identity
Lanston Hughes (USA 1902 - 1967) Theme for English B

And all of these poems were reread while making these notes and listening to Joan Baez sing English ballads on my iPod. Heaven.