Reading the classics

chelseachained said:
You took my breath away with that one Lady Aria, I see a "Hardy" week ahead of me.
Thank you for sharing that one.

Read Tess D'uberville or Far from the Madding Crowd...Thomas Hardy is one of the best writer that ever lived :heart:
 
More Hardy

LadyAria said:
Read Tess D'uberville or Far from the Madding Crowd...Thomas Hardy is one of the best writer that ever lived :heart:


Amen: Lady Aria :rose: :heart:

Other favorites:
The Mayor of Casterbridge----central event: a man who takes his wife to an agriculture faire in Dorset and sells her as property.

The Return of the Native---haunting images--of a truly stark nature :rose:
 
Emily Dickinson

Much Madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness-
"Tis the Mayority
in this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -

1862
 
handled with a chain?

babiesmiles said:
Emily Dickinson

Much Madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness-
"Tis the Mayority
in this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -

1862
Hmmm brings other things to mind smiles
thank you for contributing that piece,
I have taken Lady Aria's suggestion and am engrossed in Tess...so many good suggestions ...so little time
 
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.

Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass darkly, but then, face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
 
My favorite Corinthians

alice_underneath said:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.

Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass darkly, but then, face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
Thank you for posting that, it is my favorite version. There are so many renditions, but i enjoy this one the most.
 
Excerpt from the prisoner Emily Bronte

He comes with western winds, with evening's wandering airs,
With that clear dusk of heaven that brings the thickest stars.
Winds take a pensive tone, and stars a tender fire,
And visions rise, and change, that kill me with desire.

"Desire for nothing known in my maturer years,
When Joy grew mad with awe, at counting future tears.
When, if my spirit's sky was full of flashes warm,
I knew not whence they came, from sun or thunder-storm.

"But, first, a hush of peace--a soundless calm descends;
The struggle of distress, and fierce impatience ends;
Mute music soothes my breast--unuttered harmony,
That I could never dream, till Earth was lost to me.

"Then dawns the Invisible; the Unseen its truth reveals;
My outward sense is gone, my inward essence feels:
Its wings are almost free--its home, its harbour found,
Measuring the gulph, it stoops and dares the final bound,

"Oh I dreadful is the check--intense the agony--
When the ear begins to hear, and the eye begins to see;
When the pulse begins to throb, the brain to think again;
The soul to feel the flesh, and the flesh to feel the chain.

"Yet I would lose no sting, would wish no torture less;
The more that anguish racks, the earlier it will bless;
And robed in fires of hell, or bright with heavenly shine,
If it but herald death, the vision is divine!"
 
Forgive me if it is not a classic but I love this contemporary writer 's poems.

Conversation

by Annie Finch

Delve for me, delve down, delve past your body, crowned
by its hidden stem, into shadowy alarm;
you will not vanish past our dark-shed charm,
throat over throat, ankle to ankle, bound
in our different arches, summer-nicked and browned
interlocking rings in the chain of wrist and arm."
"Lie for me, lie, and I will feel you turn.
Mark out the summer's bending time. Yes, learn
to cradle the concrete ground to softness. Stay.
Measure me past my stem, though your shadows churn;
Close yourself over; encompass me like clay."
 
Five Flights Up

In my view, you can make what you will of poetry really - far more so than much prose. For instance this innocuous piece might become a completely different kettle of fish, were you to focus on the word 'owner'...

Five Flights Up - Elizabeth Bishop

Still dark.
The unknown bird sits on his usual branch.
The little dog next door barks in his sleep
inquiringly, just once.
Perhaps in his sleep, too, the bird inquires
once or twice, quavering.
Questions---if that is what they are---
answered directly, simply,
by day itself.

Enormous morning, ponderous, meticulous;
gray light streaking each bare branch,
each single twig, along one side,
making another tree, of glassy veins...
The bird still sits there. Now he seems to yawn.

The little black dog runs in his yard.
His owner's voice arises, stern,
"You ought to be ashamed!"
What has he done?
He bounces cheerfully up and down;
he rushes in circles in the fallen leaves.

Obviously, he has no sense of shame.
He and the bird know everything is answered,
all taken care of,
no need to ask again.
---Yesterday brought to today so lightly!
(A yesterday I find almost impossible to lift.)
 
Welcome

SweetOblivion said:
In my view, you can make what you will of poetry really - far more so than much prose. For instance this innocuous piece might become a completely different kettle of fish, were you to focus on the word 'owner'...

Five Flights Up - Elizabeth Bishop

Post #1, Welcome to a lovely place. I hope enjoy your stay here. There are many different types. I am a sub according to the usage here. I think of myself as a slave-worshipper of the Bitch Goddess. I have strong opinions and some begin by thinking that I am a Dominate- not at all. This can be what you make it, and I am sure you will be a most valuable contributor.

Welcome again. :rose: :rose:

I don't have a lot of answers, but I will try to help if you have questions.
 
Emily Dickinson

Wild Nights - Wild Nights
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile - the Winds -
To a Heart in port -
Done with the Compass -
Done with the Chart !

Rowing in Eden -
Ah the Sea!
Might I but moor - Tonight -
In Thee!

1861
 
Thank you

Thank you to babiesmiles for your contributions, I am saving and enjoying them. Welcome to sweetoblivion. Nice to see you with us. I personally have no objections to reading the classics and "some that should be" smiles and a wicked grin for Thorkel, you never waver...you always know who you are.
 
chelseachained said:
Thank you to babiesmiles for your contributions, I am saving and enjoying them. Welcome to sweetoblivion. Nice to see you with us. I personally have no objections to reading the classics and "some that should be" smiles and a wicked grin for Thorkel, you never waver...you always know who you are.

you are very welcome :rose:
 
My favorite Shakespeare would have to be Twelfth Night, I just love that one.

I am a big fan of sci-fi, particularly post-apocalyptic and future-worlds. I like Brave New World, 1984, and Dhalgren.

Hmm, favorite BDSMish classic...probably the William Carlos Williams short story "The Use of Force." It's not sexual, and the "bottom" is a young girl, but it's not child abuse. It's a doctor trying to force a recalcitrant little girl to let him treat her, and she bites him and so forth before finally succumbing.
 
Context

[A BIT OUT OF CONTEXT, BUT INTERESTING. ALWAYS DOUBLE MEANINGS]

And this also...has been one of the dark places of the earth.

It is his extremity that I seem to have live through. True, he had made the last stride, he had stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot. And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all the truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.

----Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness
 
ThorkelGriersen said:
[A BIT OUT OF CONTEXT, BUT INTERESTING. ALWAYS DOUBLE MEANINGS]

And this also...has been one of the dark places of the earth.

It is his extremity that I seem to have live through. True, he had made the last stride, he had stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot. And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all the truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.

----Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness

Oh, I just love Heart of Darkness... :heart:
 
Wharton

ARTEMIS TO ACTAEON


THOU couldst not look on me and live: so runs
The mortal legend -- thou that couldst not live
Nor look on me (so the divine decree)!
That saw'st me in the cloud, the wave, the bough,
The clod commoved with April, and the shapes
Lurking 'twixt lid and eye-ball in the dark.
Mocked I thee not in every guise of life,
Hid in girls' eyes, a naiad in her well,
Wooed through their laughter, and like echo fled,
Luring thee down the primal silences
Where the heart hushes and the flesh is dumb?
Nay, was not I the tide that drew thee out
Relentlessly from the detaining shore,
Forth from the home-lights and the hailing voices,
Forth from the last faint headland's failing line,
Till I enveloped thee from verge to verge
And hid thee in the hollow of my being?
And still, because between us hung the veil,
The myriad-tinted veil of sense, thy feet
Refused their rest, thy hands the gifts of life,
Thy heart its losses, lest some lesser face
Should blur mine image in thine upturned soul


Edith Wharton​
 
Another with great D/s undertones...Tennessee Williams...

A Streetcar named Desire....

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...

The Glass Menagerie...

Yummy
 
Nil nisi lascivi per me discuntur amores :
femina preacipuam quo sit amanda modo.
Femina nec flammas nec saevos discutit arcus;
parcius haec video tela nocere viris .

Ovidius . Ars Amandis . liber tertius :rose:
 
babiesmiles said:
Nil nisi lascivi per me discuntur amores :
femina preacipuam quo sit amanda modo.
Femina nec flammas nec saevos discutit arcus;
parcius haec video tela nocere viris .

Ovidius . Ars Amandis . liber tertius :rose:

I love Ovid. My earth day entry is actually based on one of his stories in his other work, Metamorphoses. :)
 
lindiana said:
Another with great D/s undertones...Tennessee Williams...

A Streetcar named Desire....

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...

The Glass Menagerie...

Yummy

Orpheus Descending is one of my favorite's Tennesee Williams.
 
LadyAria said:
Orpheus Descending is one of my favorite's Tennesee Williams.


I took a class on Tennessee Williams in college. It was also an acting class and we had to do a monologue as our final exam. I did one from "Small Craft Warnings" because I wanted to explore his lesser known works. He has a great female character in it with a monologue defending her brother whom everyone thinks is gay. Quite delightful.

There is also a Shakespeare Festival here in NJ run by one of his apprentices (She studied with him for years) so she tries to include one of his every season. I try to catch them, never can get enough of Tennessee Williams.
 
LadyAria said:
I love Ovid. My earth day entry is actually based on one of his stories in his other work, Metamorphoses. :)

I love Ovidius as well, and some of the myths contained in the Metamorphoses have really been a great source for western literature . One of my favourite is the Daphne and Apollo 's myth .

Ps . I read your above mentioned work , lovely and full of erotic grace :rose:
 
Another favorite of mine :rose:

Catullus - 61 , 31

Ac domum dominam voca
coniugis cupidam novi,
mentem amore revinciens,
ut tenax hedera huc et huc
arborem implicat errans.
 
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