Poetry For The Soul - Journal Page

Hi!

It's time for a Sunday blog post. Aaaah....Sundays.... Coffee, some Youtube, then some tidying.

I've been trying to clear some space recently - which needs to be done. I'm an inveterate collector, so my shelves are stacked with STUFF; ornaments, crystals, sea shells, fossils, action figures, and other assorted collectables. Then there are OH so many DVDs, graphic novels, books... It's a lifetime's collection, added to which are inherited items and ALLmy art supplies. Well, obviously, the art supplies are going NOwhere, but it seems it's harder than I imagined to choose what to part with and what to keep.

I think I can be hard-hearted with a lot of things, but my BIG problem is MY BOOKS! Trying to separate them into 'save' and 'sell' is like Sophie's Choice! I've managed to re-home only 6 small paperbacks - and that's only because they were duplicate purchases...I'm useless, basically. I've identified two book categories that will remain untouched - my art reference books (which are just too beautiful to give up) and, the biggie - my poetry books! I do love poetry, and just looking at them wasted half a day when they tempted me into reading page after page,allowing the words to swirl and spin in my head and my heart.

My love of poetry inspired my journal page today. Sitting with my books around me and their beautiful verses spiralling around me I felt truly peaceful, transported to a calmer place, serene and safe. Hopefully my page illustrates that feeling:

 I added verses from some of my favourite poems and poets, words that have had significance at various points in my life.

Inspiration Avenue have recently hosted a challenge to produce artwork that reflects the things you find in your Grandmother's attic, with some truly stunning entries from VERY talented people.  I've been so busy that I've not had a chance to enter the challenge in time, but in working on this page I was reminded of summer holidays and weekends at my grandparents' house, sitting at the table with an open poetry book, copying the verses and illustrating them, for hour after hour after hour. Such a happy memory, and working on this page brought that all back wondefully.

If you are interested in any of the poems used in the page above, here's a list for you to Google! -

'From A Full Heart' - A. A. Milne
'Kubla Khan' - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
'The Tiger' - William Blake
'The Highwayman' - Alfred Noyes
'Ozymandias' - Percy Bysshe Shelley
'Autumn Journal' - Louise MacNeice
'The Quangle Wangle's Hat' - Edward Lear
'Sonnet XXIX' - William Shakespeare
'Gus, The Theatre Cat' - T. S. Eliot
'The Lady Of Shalott' - Lord Alfred Tennyson
'Invictus' - William Ernest Henley

All of these should be read at least once by everyone - they're beautiful. I hope you DO read and enjoy them...maybe they'll inspire some art for you?

I leave you with the poem 'Invictus'. I was moved by this when I read it aged nine years, and it has more impact every time I re-read it. Thank you for visting - hope you liked the post. If you like what you see, please join my blog, and leave a comment if you like, as I LOVE to hear what you say. Love and hugs -there's a Monday a-comin'! Here's to a good one! - Shroo :) xxx

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley