tangled up in blue
03.28.05 @ 9:59 p.m.
I know I am the eighty-bazillionth person to realize that they love Bob Dylan, and I'm going to make a conscious effort not to be tiresome. Plus, I'm only at "hey, cool," not the levels of "OMG I WORSHIP THEE" that characterizes my Townshend-love.'
None the less, I was listening to Blood on the Tracks and thinking it was sad and beautiful this afternoon. I'm going to end up getting all melancholy about what is considered the ultimate breakup album, and I haven't even broken up with anybody. "Tangled Up In Blue" has the potential to be the most lovely-sad thing ever.
And I don't want to be that person who posts nothing but song lyrics in their journal. And I'm not going to do it, but I'm afraid I am not so resistant to the temptation of Lord Byron.
I am going to post Byron. You will read it. You will like it, damn it.
When we two parted 1
When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.2
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow�
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
The vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame;
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.3
They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me�
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:�
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.4
In secret we met�
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee!�
With silence and tears.(1815)
That's lovely, absolutely lovely, but I will acknowledge a likely bias considering the era of this poem. Byron was considered a rake, a reprobate, and both his actions and Lady Caroline Lamb's pursuit of him are well enough known that they are constantly mentioned in stories set in the Regency.
I don't know, perhaps I'm in a mood to be melancholy or at least to appreciate things produced in that state.
I did my book shopping for two of my classes today, except a copy of As I Lay Dying for Intro, and tomorrow I'll get my Geology packet and try to figure out what I'm going to do about the books for Women's Movement, since they likely didn't get ordered. These, however, are the many, many books for my Detective Fiction class:
Because I bought the second volume of the Norton Anthology of English Literature today (that is to say volumes 2A, 2B and 2C), I also ended up with a second copy of the Media Companion. During my studying, I flipped through it rather than read the introduction to the Romantic Period (which you'd think I'd be interested in, as the Romantic period sprawls on either side and through my beloved Regency (which runs from 1811-1820)) and became fascinated with this portrait:
Why am I fascinated with it? This could be a portrait of my much-admired and Who-loving advisor. I mean, not exactly, but vaguely. Enough to entertain giggly thoughts of immortality.
Short analysis of classes: Detective fiction may actually be fun, Boren doesn't seem so bizarre as last year, but it is only the first day. The instructor for Intro 3 is unnecessarily shouty, and while that made many students laugh, it made me perhaps more nervous than I already am about life in general. I would like to start sitting near Samantha, Raoul and a tall fellow named Zach whom I recognize though I don't know from where and whom I've taken an unaccountable liking to. My Geology teacher introduced his class as "Rocks for Jocks part three, Palentology for Poets" as his class is notorious for attracting the not particuarly science-inclined, rather like the Astronomy classes, though with less quantum theory. He seems like an amusing man, Australian, and won my good will by frankly telling us that we really don't need to buy the book and shouldn't bother unless it gives us a sense of security.
Previously
fuck it @ 08.01.05
fanciful imaginary sea voyages to come @ 07.20.05
*dies* @ 07.19.05
more ootp @ 07.17.05
harry potter: driving our children into devil worship @ 07.17.05
