Love is the mother of poetry

To follow our pleasant discussion about the necessity of poetry with Sue a while ago here is a piece from the film “How the West was Won.”

Linus is a man who has spent his whole life in forests with bears and beasts, but when the time comes even he has to resort to poetry to reveal his love for a girl. Just see:

"Eve... Eve, you make me feel like a man standing on a narrow ledge... ...comin' face to face with a grizzly bear. There just ain't no ignorin' the situation."

Proposition

Sue, I think it would be a wonderful idea to pick up good films for our classes and then discuss its language. To make the film more useful we can later swim deeper and discuss its plot and our own interpretation of the film's meaning. We can also choose short stories that are available on the internet, a piece of poetry or a newspaper article for this same purpose.

Would you perhaps be able to find articles from important, daily American newspapers?

T

This and That

Zhivago is a wonderful movie with many plots, sub-plots, and subjective human reactions that intrigue us and make us think long after the movie is over. For example, I am intrigued with Zhivao's brother--hard, directed tool of the establishment, yet there is a sympathetic and caring note in him that extends beyond the hardness of the system. How deep does that kindness run, one wonders and who would it encompass? More on this later.

Today my mind was considering some of the more modern expressions that young Americans use. With your classes starting, I know you will have a lot of young people who might be interested.

I can think of two:

1. "She's a really nice person." Not!! The not completely negates the preceding sentence.
2. Everything is 'cool' man. Trans: Everything is great, friend.

Smiles yet again

Despite the agony going on in Dr. Zhivago, the film is not completely void of hopes and happiness -- just as life itself with all its miseries. Every now and then in the film the famous, charming music flows in the air with something nice and pleasant emerging from it: smiles on some lips or the petals of many flowers after an icy winter! I am glad that David Lean or Boris pasternak for that matter do not suffocate us in agonies.

Henry David Thoreau and Boris Pasternak both witnessed a revolution in their countries. A very fundamental question is that why and how one brought so many miseries to humanity while the other created a "relatively free country!"

I love the film Dr. Zhivago. Thank you Faranak for giving me the film. I appreciate your kindness. I had been looking for this film for ages.

T

You are the one

Hi Sue,

Does your time allow you to tell the meaning of the expression: "You are the one"? In the context I heard it, it seems to mean "you are too clever, you are mischivous" or something like that.

Thanks.

Ali

The Rope

The story tells about a mountain climber who wanted to climb the highest mountain.
He decided to climb the mountain alone. The night fell heavily in the heights of the mountain and the man could not see anything. As he was climbing,only a few feet away from the top of the mountain, he slipped and fell into the air. All of a sudden he felt the rope tied to pulled his waist and pulled him very hard. His body was hanging the air... . Only the rope was holding him. And in that moment of stillness he had no other choice but to scream: "Help me God!"
All of a sudden, a deep voice coming from the sky answered: "What do you want me to do?"
"Save me God!"
"Do you really think I can save you?"
"Of course I believe you can."
"Then cut the rope tied to your waist of..."
There was a moment of silence...
And the man decided to hold the rope with all his strength.
The rescue team tells that the next day a climbers was found dead and frozen. His body hanging from a rope, his hands holding tight to it, Only three feet away from the ground.
And you? How attached are you to your rope? Will you let it go?
Don't even doubt one thing from God. Don't never should say that He has forgotten you.
Don't even think that He dose not take care of you. Remember that he is always holding you with His hand.
perhaps you heard and read it. I like this story, What do you think about this?

Bahman's Writing

Dear Sue,
Nice to hear from you again. Thank you for correcting my letter. I’m sorry for my mistakes. I found difference in my Oxford Dictionary.
Arak is a city in Iran. Iraq is a country Asia. Arak is a city in center of Iran. It is a land with warm climate. We have a lake in our village. It is very very salty. When you swim in this you will not go under the water. One is like a ball that he will come on the water.
It is very interesting. You cannot go under the water. I will go to my village in end of the week.
Take care,
Bahman

The American Experiment:

Americans declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776, and what followed was the American Revolutionary War and our attempt to create a Democratic Republic. Since our nation is so new, our effort has played out on the pages of recorded history, leaving our stains there for all to see, and sometimes hiding our dreams.

In 1997 Paul Johnson, a British historian, wrote "A History of the American People", and dedicated his book to "The American People: strong, outspoken, intense in their convictions, sometimes wrong-headed but always generous and brave, with a passion for justice."

Generalities like this never hit a mark, in my opinion, but I do see America as a work toward a democratic ideal which may, or may not come to fruition. Our Declaration of Independence, written on July 4, 1776 when we declared our freedom from Great Britain, says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 234 years later, the dream still lives. Inalienable means that these rights cannot be given or transferred to any one else. They belong to every individual. It also means that if I want these rights for myself, I must allow them for others. I doubt if our Utopian idea will become a reality in my lifetime, but I firmly believe that it is a goal worth cherishing.

Bahman's Writings

Dear Sue,
Nice to hear from you again. Ali told me my mistakes in last letter.
Soccer is a game that that in this players play by two teams of 11 players, using a round ball whick players kick up and down the playing field. Teams try to kick the ball into the other team’s goal.
Rugby is a game by two teams of 13 or 15 players, using an oval ball which may be kicked of carried. Teams try to put the ball over the other team’s line. Hope this helps.
I had no class in last week because I was in Arak. I try to write more.
Take care,
Bahman

Atonement?

Have you ever read a book that your mind's eye cannot dismiss? Ian McEwan wrote Atonement in 200l, and I have found it unforgettable. Atonement is the story set in the English countryside and the main character, Briony, is, at the start of the story, a young girl of 13. She has a childish crush on a servant's son, Robbie, who, in turn, is in love with Briony's older sister, Cecilia. Briony's jealousy leads her to tell a vicious lie about Robbie which leads to his arrest and a choice between jail and the army.

He and Cecilia, although much in love, never see one another after this, and he dies a terrible death at Dunkirk prior to WWII. Cecilia is killed in a London bombing incident, and so, although she wishes to atone, or make amends, for her lie, Briony is unable to do so, and she knows that her selfish action as a young woman absolutely ruined the lives of two young people. In the end, Briony becomes a writer, and writes a story in which the two do not die, but come together in love and happiness.

Atonement is a simple story of human jealousy later regretted, and we forgive Briony saying, "She was only a child!" "She didn't know what she was doing!" True, but what has haunted me from the time I read this, (and later saw the movie in 2007) is the undeniable fact that sometimes we cannot atone for wrongs we have committed even though we might want to do so. Writing a story in which everything comes out roses just doesn't make up for the wrong done. Our actions can be indelible on the lives of those around us.