K.D. Dowdall's Blog, page 46
January 28, 2018
THOUGHTS ON POETRY
[image error]What is poetry and its place in the human psyche? Poetry and prose, I believe, magically transports the reader to visualize vividly a very personal place in time, bringing to life every possible emotion seared into the psyche that the reader may have experienced in real life, wished for, dreamed of, or feared.
This is what makes poetry so emotionally beautiful and painfully true. We get it and it can be transforming. But, where does poetry fit in, in the whole scheme of our human experience. Poetry reflects our romantic inclinations, our troubled history, our social truths, politics, and the most beautiful of all philosophies – who and what are we anyway, in the scope of all there is under Heaven and Earth.
Poetry is romantic. The great writer and poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley said, “Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, which consumes the scabbard that would contain it.” It is, also, I believe, as Robert Frost wrote, “when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”
Poetry is more than a history of human desires. “Hence poetry”, wrote Aristotle, “is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.”
Poetry is often compared to the ultimate in what is truth. “Poetry”, wrote Joseph Roux, “is truth in its Sunday clothes.” Leonardo da Vinci, believed that, “Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.” John Ciardi wrote, “Poetry lies its way to the truth.”
Poetry is political. “All poets, all writers are political”, writes Sonia Sanchez, “they either maintain the status quo, or they say, ’Something’s wrong, let’s change it for the better.”
Poetry is also philosophical. John Lennon believed that, “my role in society, or any artist or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”
However, even though all the above quotes bare witness to the impact of poetry and prose on the human psyche, yet, no one has described and defined poetry and prose as beautifully as William Shakespeare, who wrote that poetry is, “The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven; and as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name; such tricks hath strong imagination.”
Poetry and prose, I believe, represent the wonder of human imagination and all that lies between heaven and earth as we struggle to understand what it means to be human in a world that is constantly changing the definition of what is humanity and what it is not.
by K. D. Dowdall
January 28th, 2018
January 27, 2018
A Good Review is Hard to Find – Part 3
For writers, this is a great post and for those who want to understand the writing process please read. !
Liz Leighton Writing Adventures
I apologize for taking so long to get to part 3. Part 4 will be posted by Jan.30th or sooner.
In 1917 The Inland Press printed “Mark Twain’s 3 Rules For Writing.” The article said the first was write. The second was write and the third was write. One of the most well-known quotes on writing by Stephen King is this one. “If you want to be a good writer you must do two things above all else: read a lot and write a lot.”
This is good advice and a great foundation but it is practically impossible to become a great writer in a vacuum. At some point, we all need feedback on our writing because it’s difficult to look at our own work objectively.
Too many times I have read writers lamenting the difficulty of getting thorough, in-depth, thoughtful, and helpful reviews. Many of these writers send out…
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Writing: 7 Ways to Cure the Dumbs
This is a Ping Back… I’m trying to stay up with new jargon. I love this post, because I can relate in a big way. Reading this post was meant to be for me and 7 is my lucky number. So, I am going to follow all 7 of these great suggestions and report back to J. A. Allen. Thank you J. A.
Recently I’ve been experiencing a pretty extreme case of the dumbs. 
People battling the dumbs often have a difficult time performing ordinary tasks: like replying to emails, speaking in full sentences, or remembering that their spouse asked them to pick up that thing at that place for an immediately forgotten but very, very important reason.
Writing has been painful this month. And, when I say painful, I mean that writing has been like pulling teeth. If the teeth were attached to my eyeballs, and my eyeballs were on fire, and I was being dipped slowly into piranha infested lava.
Despite the leaps and bounds made in today’s technological age, the dumbs are hitting people harder than ever. Information is readily available. Forget the name of your hellion’s teacher? Look it up on the school website. Want to learn how to cook the perfect scrambles eggs? Watch a Gordon Ramsey…
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January 26, 2018
Submit A Guest Post!
Didi’s Guest Post is a wonderful way to share your writing and promote your work!
I’m so excited to be accepting guest posts! My door is officially open. If you’re a writer who has anything helpful to share about your personal journey and/or career, be it encouragement or even writing tips and tricks, then please… be my guest!
I’m also a big fan of general inspiration! If your story tugs at my heart strings and contains a message that can be helpful and inspiring to the readers of this blog, then please allow me to share it!
Submit your post pitch as well as a short sample to my CONTACT page.
All guest posts that are selected and featured are encouraged to contain purchase links and promos to personal works at the bottom of posts!!! Once live, each post will be neatly organized and linked in on the main ‘Guest Post’ page, as well as findable in the drop down below it.
January 25, 2018
January 24, 2018
Quotations From Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
I always love to read quotes from William Shakespeare and A Midsummer Night’s Dream has some of the most notable, among so many extraordinary quotes in Shakespeare’s body of work, and his work is beyond description. Thank you Prof. Charles
French for sharing.
charles french words reading and writing
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is one of my favorite plays, and I have had a life long connection with this work. I have read it, seen numerous productions, acted in it, directed it, studied it in college and graduate school, written about it, delivered a conference paper on it, and taught the play in college at the Wescoe School of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. So, you can see that I have had quite a relationship with this wonderful play.
As a simple tribute to Shakespeare and this play, I offer a few quotations from A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
“Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand,
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover’s fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
…
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Taken By The Wind
What a beautiful message! by Kathy Lauren Miller
https://aviewtoabook.com/2018/01/24/taken-by-the-wind/
All those yesterdays
Taken by the wind
The relentless, unceasing wind
Of passing days
They slip through my fingers
Even as I struggle,
My fists clenched with nothing but air
Yet, there is a-stillness
In my mind
A gathering place
That no wind can breach
For all my yesterdays
And my tomorrows,
There, for safekeeping.
January 23, 2018
THE GIRL IN THE TOWER by Katherine Arden
The Girl in the Tower sounds delightful and a lovely fairy tale read. I am looking forward to reading it.
Firstly I wish to thank Katie Sunley of Penguin Random House for inviting me to read the second book in this amazing series.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingale continues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.
Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with…
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January 22, 2018
Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives – Winter Wonderland Finally by Aurora Jean Alexander
What a lovely winter poem/prose by Aurora Jean Alexander! http://www.aurorajeanalexander.com
See this now on
https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/smorgasbord-posts-from-your-archives-winter-wonderland-finally-by-aurora-jean-alexander
Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life
It is actually nearly four weeks since Christmas but this poem from Aurora Jean Alexander from this time last year is very topical for many of you.
Picture courtesy of: http://www.christmas-wallpapers.co.uk/winter-wonderland/fantasy-winter-wonderland
Winter Wonderland Finally by Aurora Jean Alexander
It was Christmas, three weeks ago,
the grass was green, there was no snow.
The skies were blue, it was too warm
Green Christmas? Here? This needs alarm.
**
New Year came -no flakes in sight
The sun had fun, the sky was bright.
But unexpected, it took us off guard
we woke up to a white yard.
**
Even though it’s freezing cold
I still will say – and I am bold
Sometimes I like the soft white mass
It can be fun – and it’s got class.
**
Snowy bushes and white trees
are surrounding the lake that will go freeze.
In such a time I love a forest walk
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In a Distracted World, Solitude Is a Competitive Advantage
In time of great upheaval, sometimes solitude is really important, especially or writers. https://kopitiambot.com/2018/01/22/in-a-distracted-world-solitude-is-a-competitive-advantage/
(Source: hbr.org)
Technology has undoubtedly ushered in progress in a myriad of ways. But this same force has also led to work environments that inundate people with a relentless stream of emails, meetings, and distractions. A significant volume of research has outlined the problem with this onslaught of information: Studies show that when we’re constantly distracted, performance decreases. Having the discipline to step back from the noise of the world is essential. To stay focused at work, build periods of solitude into your schedule, as you would for a meeting or an appointment. Use some of that time to reflect on your top priorities. Don’t fill your schedule with so many commitments that you consistently prioritize urgent tasks over important ones. Starve your distractions by logging out of social media accounts and blocking certain websites during work hours. Finally, create a “stop doing” list to help provide clarity on…
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