04/10 Notes

‧UNIT THEME: Ages and Stages of Life

  This unit gives two perspectives on different stages of life. One is a poem about youth, and the other is an examination of aging at a time when people are living longer.

Poem

‧Metaphorically speaking: Not having real existence but representing some truth about a situation or other subject.

‧Ode to the west wind

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

 

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

 

The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

 

Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

With living hues and odours plain and hill:

 

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!

 

II

Thou on whose stream, ‘mid the steep sky’s commotion,

Loose clouds like Earth’s decaying leaves are shed,

Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,

 

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread

On the blue surface of thine airy surge,

Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

 

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge

Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,

The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge

 

Of the dying year, to which this closing night

Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre

Vaulted with all thy congregated might

 

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere

Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear!

 

III

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams

The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,

Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,

 

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,

And saw in sleep old palaces and towers

Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,

 

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers

So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou

For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers

 

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below

The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear

The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

 

Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,

And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!

 

IV

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

 

The impulse of thy strength, only less free

Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even

I were as in my boyhood, and could be

 

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,

As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed

Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne’er have striven

 

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.

Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!

I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

 

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed

One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

 

V

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:

What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

 

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

 

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!

And, by the incantation of this verse,

 

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

Be through my lips to unawakened Earth

 

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Song

‧Aphrodite's Child - Rain & Tears

Lyrics:

Rain and tears are the same

But in the sun you've got to play the game

When you cry in winter time

You can pretend it's nothing but the rain

 

How many times I've seen

Tears coming from your blue eyes

Rain and tears are the same

But in the sun you've got to play the game

 

Give me an uncertain love

I need an uncertain love

 

Rain and tears in the sun

But in your heart you feel the rainbow waves

 

Rain or tears both are shown

For in my heart there'll never be a sun

Rain and tears are the same

But in the sun you've got to play the game

 

Quotes

‧Life is a game

“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” 

──The Catcher in the Rye: Chapters 1–2

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Words of a day

04/06

‧barbed (adj.) [bɑrbd]

a.       having a sharp point that curves backwards

b.      unkind and criticizing

e.g.: She made some rather barbed comments about my lifestyle.

‧philosophical (adj.) [͵fɪləˋsɑfɪk!]

a.       relating to the study or writing of philosophy

‧superintend (v.) [͵supərɪnˋtɛnd]

a.       to be in charge of something

e.g.: Her job is to superintend the production process.

‧surpassing (adj.) [sɚˋpæsɪŋ]

a.       extremely great

‧strive (v.) [straɪv]

a.       to try very hard to do something or to make something happen, especially for a long time or against difficulties

04/07

‧rebellious (adj.) [rɪˋbɛljəs]

a.       If a group of people are rebellious, they oppose the ideas of the people in authority and plan to change the system, often using force

b.      If someone is rebellious, they are difficult to control and do not behave in the way that is expected

e.g.: Her teachers regard her as a rebellious, trouble-making girl.

‧bewilderd (adj.) [bɪˋwɪldɚd]

a.       to confuse someone

e.g.: Arriving in a strange city at night, I felt alone and bewildered.

‧fog (n.) [fɑg]

a.       a weather condition in which very small drops of water come together to form a thick cloud close to the land or seaocean, making it difficult to see

e.g.: Dense fog has made driving conditions dangerous.

b.      a confused or uncertain state, usually mentally or emotionally

e.g.: I went home in a fog of disbelief.

‧oubliettes (n.) [ˏublɪ`ɛt]

a.       a small room or prison in an old castle where prisoners were kept

‧pin (n.) [pɪn]

a.       a small thin piece of metal with a point at one end, especially used for temporarily holding pieces of cloth together

e.g.: I'll keep the trouser patch in place with pins while I sew it on.

b.      a thin piece of metal

c.       a decorative object, used as jewellery

04/08

‧interrogation (v.) [ɪn͵tɛrəˋgeʃən]

a.       to ask someone a lot of questions for a long time in order to get information, sometimes using threats or violence

e.g.: Thousands of dissidents have been interrogated or imprisoned in recent weeks.

‧menacing (adj.) [ˋmɛnɪsɪŋ]

a.       making you think that someone is going to do something bad:

b.      a menacing look/gesture

‧obnoxious (adj.) [əbˋnɑkʃəs]

a.       very unpleasant or rude

‧portentous (adj.) [porˋtɛntəs]

a.       too serious and trying to be

e.g.: The problem with the book is that it sometimes descends into portentous philosophizing. very important

b.      Portentous events, statements, or signs are important because they show that something unpleasant is very likely to happen

e.g.: The report contains numerous portentous references to a future environmental calamity.

‧armoured (adj.) [`ɑrmɚd]

a.       protected by a strong covering, or using military vehicles protected by strong covering

04/09

‧battalion (n.) [bəˋtæljən]

a.       a military unit consisting of three or more companies

‧besiege (v.) [bɪˋsidʒ]

a.       to surround a place, especially with an army, to prevent people or supplies getting in or out

e.g.: The town had been besieged for two months but still resisted the aggressors.

b.      When someone is besieged, a lot of people surround them

e.g.: When the pop star tried to leave her hotel, she was besieged by waiting journalists and fans.

c.       to make many requests or complaints about something

e.g.: After showing the controversial documentary, the channel was besieged with phone calls from angry viewers.

‧documentary (n.) [͵dɑkjəˋmɛntərɪ]

a.       a film or television or radio programme that gives facts and information about a subject

e.g.: The documentary took a fresh look at the life of Darwin.

‧guise (n.) [ gaɪz ]

a.       the appearance of someone or something, especially when intended to deceive

e.g.: The men who arrived in the guise of drug dealers were actually undercover police officers.

‧accent (n.) [`æksɛnt ]

a.       the way in which people in a particular area, country, or social group pronounce word

e.g.: He's got a strong southern/Boston accent.

b.      a mark written or printed over a letter to show you how to pronounce it

e.g.: There's an acute accent on the e of "café".

c.       a special emphasis given to a particular syllable in a word, word in a sentence, or note in a set of musical notes

e.g.: The accent falls on the final syllable.

d.      great importance is given to a particular thing or quality

e.g.: This season the accent is definitely on long, flowing, romantic clothes.

04/10

‧gratifying (adj.) [ˋgrætə͵faɪɪŋ]

a.       pleasing and satisfying

e.g.: It must be very gratifying to see all your children grown up and happy.

‧junction (n.) [`dʒʌŋkʃən]

a.       a place where things, especially roads or railways, come together

e.g.: You should slow down as you approach the junction.

‧tiresome (adj.) [ˋtaɪrsəm]

a.       annoying and making you lose patience

e.g.: I find it very tiresome doing the same job day after day.

‧perplex (v.) [ pɚ`plɛkst]

a.       to confuse and worry someone slightly by being difficult to understand or solve

e.g.: The disease has continued to perplex doctors.