Literature and Life

Well it's almost spring and I'm therefore beginning to come back to life.  My daffodils have just started peaking up out of the dreary mulch and we have been outside a few times in the past few weeks, which is truly invigorating.  We pretty much do not go outside from Christmas until about mid-March every year.  It really does begin to take a toll on one's soul!  As much as I love our little life here, I long to live some place where we could be outside all year long.  (Yes, I'm longing....so dramatic).

Speaking of drama, the literature lessons I teach to my students year after year continue to get me.  I think it's safe to say that I have not only chosen the right career, but also the right subject area.  We English teachers take a lot of heat when it comes to school performance, and it definitely sucks at times, but how could any other subject be so important?  I get to teach students how to write, how to think critically and how to read.  We talk about themes, analyzing character, figurative language....I really do love it.  I really do like to think that my students get some important life messages out of the literature we read and discuss.  We just finished reading Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl and I cried all over again.  My students felt it, too.  It's crazy to be reading the words of a real person...someone their age.  So full of life and love.  The day we finished it in class, I couldn't shake it.  I even lost some sleep that night....feeling such deep sorrow for Anne and her family.  I just cannot imagine what she went through when she was ripped from her life in the Annexe.  I think all this stuff becomes heavier when you have kids of your own.  Everything we read in class has so many new meanings for me now that I am a mother.

And that Atticus Finch....what a man.  My students were so focused on him as such a hero.  It always makes me a little sad because I know that so many of my students do not have active father figures in their lives.  I guess I can just hope and pray that by them admiring Attitcus Finch qualities, they may develop some of them...

Of course I have many updates and stories about my three princesses and I'm hoping to have a few more free moments to write in the next two weeks, but I want to close this entry with one more literary favorite of mine.  I just love the message here.  Enjoy. "Spend all you have for loveliness."

Barter (Sarah Teasdale)

Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.