Entry 6: To Daffodils by Robert Herrick

These colorful flowers are native to Northern Europe, where they have been cultivated for centuries.Several characteristics distinguish daffodils. The first is the flowers, which have a trumpet-shaped central portion surrounded by a halo of petals and a delicate aroma. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-daffodils.htm)

FAIR daffodils, we weep to see

You haste away so soon;

As yet the early-rising sun

Has not attain'd his noon.

Stay, stay

Until the hasting day

Has run

But to the evensong;

And, having pray'd together, we

Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as you,

We have as short a spring;

As quick a growth to meet decay,

As you, or anything.

We die

As your hours do, and dry

Away

Like to the summer's rain;

Or as the pearls of morning's dew,

Ne'er to be found again.

Entry 5: Daybreak by John Donne

STAY, O sweet, and do not rise!
The light that shines come from thine eyes;
The day breaks not: it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
Stay! or else my joys will die
And perish in their infancy.

Entry 4: Sonnet X - John Donne (from The Holy Sonnets)

The following Sonnet comes from a collection called The Holy Sonnets by John Donne (1572-1631). Donne wrote the Holy Sonnets during a specific phase in his life. He was struggling with many different things. He struggled for a period of time with the decision of whether or not to convert to Anglicanism. Then he had to struggle with the grief caused by the death of his wife. Read the following poem, do not pay any attention to its structure, tryto focus on its meaning.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;

For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,

Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then ?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.

Entry 3: Sonnet 116 - William Shakespeare

The following Sonnet has bee written by England´s most prolific writer, William Shakespeare. Although its english can be slightly different from the one we speak today, it can still be appreciated due to its beauty and gentleness. Write all your ideas and impression.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Entry 2: What is Literature?

Will you endeavour to write a definition of your own of Literature? What is literature, in your own words?

Welcome

Welcome to Introdution to Literature JIM 2009. Please, do introduce yourselves, your activities, names, and what you expect of this course. Keep posted!