Merry Maytime @ the CCB!

Dear Members, Alumni, and Friends of the James Scholar Media Team:

This Tuesday, I had the privilege to present the ACES James Scholar Honors Program’s eleventh annual Humanities Book Prize to JSMT member Michaeline at the Center for Children’s Books (http://ccb.lis.illinois.edu). The presentation took place in the “Storytellers’ Corner” of the center, where a fine collection of books containing classic fairy tales, folklore, legends, and mythology from around the world reside. My surroundings reminded me of how important it is for children of all ages (including grownups!) to never lose that childlike sense of wonder and delight in both factual and fictional stories about the world around us. Here are two vintage articles from previous issues of our honors newsletter that explore children’s literature and fairy tales, encouraging us to keep our hearts and minds open to the everyday enchantments that are hidden in plain sight all around us.

The Enchanted World of Classic Stories

By Rob Chappell, Editor

Reprinted from Cursus Honorum VII: 6 (January 2007)

       Long before the advent of television, radio, movies, and computers, storytelling provided our agrarian forebears with endless hours of edutainment. The myths, legends, and folktales transmitted by storytellers and collected by scholars demonstrate how our ancestors viewed their relationship with the natural world and with the invisible powers that were believed to dwell within and beyond it.

       Our pre-industrial ancestors’ worldview was built upon the foundation of shared stories that defined the nature of their common life together. Classic tales were handed down from one generation to the next because they conveyed important life lessons in engaging and memorable ways. Adults who spent their earliest years listening to spellbinding tales being recited from memory or read aloud from a storybook passed on their favorite stories to their children – along with the values and lessons that the stories contained.

       The following anthologies of classic tales, available in several printed editions and on the Internet, can provide us with the keys to an enchanted realm where the magic of the storyteller’s art can enthrall us for hours on end in the theater of the mind!

•             Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales: This is the Editor’s favorite collection of classic stories. Andersen (1805-1875), unlike the anthologizers listed below, created marvelous tales from his own imagination that conveyed his profound insights into the human condition. All of Andersen’s stories are worthwhile reading, both those that are well known (e.g., The Ugly Duckling) and those that are more obscure (e.g., The Snow Queen).

•             The Arabian Nights: Collected over a timespan of several centuries, beginning at the royal court of the learned Caliph Harun Al-Rashid in 8th-century Baghdad, these stories include such rollicking adventures as Aladdin, Sindbad the Sailor, Ali Baba, and many others. Although these 1001 tales were compiled in the Arabic language, they have a truly international flavor, having originated in such diverse places as China, India, Persia, the Middle East, and Egypt.

•             Bulfinch’s Mythology: Compiled by Thomas Bulfinch, a Bostonian classicist of the 19th century, this is THE ultimate anthology of timeless tales from ancient and medieval Europe. His monumental compendium is sometimes divided into three separate volumes: (I) The Age of Fable, (II) The Age of Chivalry, and (III) Legends of Charlemagne. Each of Bulfinch’s lively retellings is drawn from authentic original source material.

•             The Grimms’ Fairy Tales: Collected by the German linguist brothers Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 19th century, this anthology showcases the traditional household tales of the German people. Many of our most familiar children’s stories (e.g., The Frog Prince, Snow White, etc.) first found their way into print through the Grimms’ anthology. However, the original tales are far more colorful than the versions adapted for children! J

The Lost Road to Faerie: Where Science and Folklore Meet

By Rob Chappell, Editor

Excerpted from Cursus Honorum VII: 10 (May 2007)

       From prehistoric times until the rise of modern science, most human beings regarded the world as an enchanted place. Fabulous beasties like dragons and unicorns roamed along the edges of medieval maps; the stars were animated by “intelligences” that guided them in their celestial circuits; and the “Fair Folk” resided in the depths of caves or beneath hollow hills. With the advent of the scientific and industrial revolutions, belief in such things waned throughout much of the Western world, to be replaced by a reliance on science and reason. Traditional folk beliefs have often been derided as superstitious nonsense, but every once in a while, scientific research uncovers evidence that the folk beliefs of yesteryear might once have had a basis in reality.

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,

We dare not go a-hunting

For fear of little men;

Wee folk, good folk

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And a white owl's feather.

-- “The Fairies” by William Allingham (1824-1889)

       Such a discovery occurred in 2003, when a team of Australian and Indonesian paleoanthropologists unearthed the fossilized remains of eight prehistoric humans on the Indonesian island of Flores. What is so remarkable about these people is that they stood only three feet tall – yet they were fully-grown adults! They belonged to a newly classified human species – Homo Floresiensis – that lived alongside modern humans (Homo Sapiens) on Flores from 50,000 to perhaps 500 years ago.

       These recently discovered people – hailed as “Hobbits” in the popular press – are apparently an offshoot of previous human populations that had rafted over to the Indonesian archipelago at an even earlier date. According to evidence collected on Flores, these “Hobbits” (named after the halfling heroes in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth legendarium) were fully human in their abilities and behavior. They made sophisticated tools, used fire, hunted, fished, and (based on their anatomy) possessed the power of articulate speech. According to the Flores islanders’ folklore, these prehistoric people might have survived until the arrival of Dutch explorers in the 16th century.

       How do these recent scientific discoveries intersect with ancient folk beliefs? People from all over the world have been telling stories about the “Wee Folk” – faeries, gnomes, leprechauns, etc. – since the beginning of recorded history. These tales tell of small humanlike individuals who dwelt in caves or within hollow hills. These “Fair Folk” or “Good People,” as they were euphemistically called, lived in communities ruled by monarchs or chieftains, and they were adept at many crafts (such as mining or shoemaking). Their alleged healing abilities, musical artistry, and ability to “disappear” without fanfare when one of us “Big People” came wandering along may have led our ancestors to regard them as magical creatures instead of fellow human beings. These habits of the “Wee Folk” may also have had the unfortunate effect of making our ancestors fear and shun them.

       The possible extinction of Homo Floresiensis in historical times might be reflected in a recurrent folkloric motif about the disappearance of the “Wee Folk” from everyday experience, as in the opening lines of Geoffrey Chaucer’s (1340-1400) “Wife of Bath’s Tale”:

In the old time of King Arthur,

Of whom the Britons speak with great honor,

All this land was filled full of Faerie;

The Elf Queen, with her jolly company,

Danced full oft in many a green mead.

This was the old opinion, as I read;

I speak of many hundred years ago,

But now no one can see the elves, you know.

       Of course, the identification of the “Wee Folk” from faerie lore with Homo Floresiensis is somewhat speculative at this point. Nonetheless, we should bear in mind that many legends have been found to have a basis in fact, and that some activities and characteristics of our halfling human cousins might have found their way into traditional faerie tales. Perhaps contemporary folklorists will want to collaborate with paleoanthropologists and reexamine the faerie lore of long ago and faraway to see what “data” might be gleaned from worldwide folklore about our diminutive prehistoric kindred. To learn more about how Homo Floresiensis could have been (mis)perceived by our ancestors, you might enjoy visiting the following resources:

Related Links of Interest

·        The Secret Commonwealth (1692) by Robert Kirk (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/sce/index.htm) is a fascinating description of the “Fair Folk” and their society, based on the then-current folk beliefs of the Scots-Irish Highlanders.

·        The Fairy Mythology (1870) by Thomas Keightley (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/index.htm) contains a vast sampling of faerie lore from around the world.

·        Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), edited and selected by William Butler Yeats (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/index.htm), is a classic collection of Irish faerie tales from the KeltiK Renaissance.

Finally, I would encourage all fairy tale fans out there to check out the upcoming Disney live-action film Maleficent (http://disney.com/maleficent), an expanded retelling of the traditional story of Sleeping Beauty, which will be coming to a theatre near you on Friday, May 30^th.

Until next time –

Rob :)

Two April Holidays: Patriots' Day & Arbor Day

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the JSMT:

The month of April is filled with holidays! In addition to sacred festivals that dance through different dates on the calendar each year, April also has holidays dedicated to the remembrance of historical events and to building the future. To this end, I am including poems about holidays that are both backward-looking and forward-looking in this edition of Quotemail. Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” recalls the first battles of the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775 (which gave rise to Patriots’ Day on the third Monday of April in New England), and Kilmer’s “Trees” reminds us of the importance of arboriculture on this Arbor Day (the last Friday in April).

“Trees” (1914)

By Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed

Against the Earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

You can read “The Elder Tree Mother,” a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a dryad (the living soul of a tree) @ http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_elder.html.

“Concord Hymn” (1837)

By Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

You can watch an animated music video based on this poem (Schoolhouse Rock’s “The Shot Heard Round the World”) @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ikO6LMxF4.

Enjoy the springtime weather outside this weekend! J

Until next time –

Rob

Celebrating April & the Planet Mars

Dear Members, Alumni, and Friends of the JSMT:

The month of April is here at last, and the planet Mars went through opposition (being directly opposite the Sun in our sky) on April 8^th. To honor the long-awaited arrival of springtime and the opposition of Mars, here are two poems for you to enjoy by the great American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). Veteran listmembers may recall that the first poem is a longtime favorite of mine; the second poem was written as a sequel to the first one (both in 1838, while Longfellow was a professor at Harvard).

A PSALM OF LIFE

(WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST)

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real !   Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, however pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God overhead !

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

THE LIGHT OF STARS

(A SECOND PSALM OF LIFE)

The night is come, but not too soon;
And sinking silently,
All silently, the little moon
Drops down behind the sky.

There is no light in earth or heaven
But the cold light of stars;
And the first watch of night is given
To the red planet Mars.

Is it the tender star of love?
The star of love and dreams?
Oh no! from that blue tent above
A hero's armor gleams.

And earnest thoughts within me rise,
When I behold afar,
Suspended in the evening skies,
The shield of that red star.

O star of strength! I see thee stand
And smile upon my pain;
Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand,
And I am strong again.

Within my breast there is no light
But the cold light of stars;
I give the first watch of the night
To the red planet Mars.

The star of the unconquered will,
He rises in my breast,
Serene, and resolute, and still,
And calm, and self-possessed.

And thou, too, whosoever thou art,
That readest this brief psalm,
As one by one thy hopes depart,
Be resolute and calm.

Oh, fear not in a world like this,
And thou shalt know erelong,
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.

Until next time –

Rob :)

April Leadership Reflection

April is National Poetry Month in the United States (see http://www.poets.org/npm) – and spring is a great time of year to read and write poetry (especially after that long, hard winter that we’ve had here in the Midwest!). Poetry has played a major role in shaping human perceptions of leaders and leadership since the dawn of recorded history. Panegyrics of praise can inspire millions of people to follow a new leader, and stinging satires can topple a ruthless dictator. Popular poems, when set to music, can draw diverse communities of people together to break down barriers and work alongside each other for the common good of all. Moreover, poets have often become leaders of movements for positive change in the world – and sometimes, leaders have become poets in order to motivate their followers toward achieving a beneficial goal.

Here’s a poem to help us reflect on the poets who have helped to shape our lives and worldviews – a wise and witty composition from the Keltik Renaissance in 19^th-century Ireland. It was adopted as the official anthem of the James Scholar Media Team (JSMT) in February 2011, and I had the pleasure of reading it to our members and guests at our club’s fifth birthday celebration.

“Ode” (1874)

By Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881)

1. We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale Moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.

2. With wonderful deathless ditties,
We build up the world’s great cities,
And out of a fabulous story,
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure
Can trample an empire down.

3. We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the Earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And overthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

4. A breath of our inspiration
Is the life of each generation.
A wondrous thing of our dreaming,
Unearthly, impossible seeming –
The soldier, the king, and the peasant
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their present,
And their work in the world be done.

5. They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising.
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going:
But on one man’s soul it hath broken,
A light that doth not depart,
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man’s heart.

6. And therefore today is thrilling
With a past day’s late fulfilling.
And the multitudes are enlisted
In the faith that their fathers resisted,
And, scorning the dream of tomorrow,
Are bringing to pass, as they may,
In the world, for its joy or its sorrow,
The dream that was scorned yesterday.

7. But we, with our dreaming and singing,
Ceaseless and sorrowless we!
The glory about us clinging
Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing;
O men! It must ever be
That we dwell, in our dreaming and singing,
A little apart from ye.

8. For we are afar with the dawning
And the suns that are not yet high,
And out of the infinite morning
Intrepid you hear us cry –
How, spite of your human scorning,
Once more God’s future draws nigh,
And already goes forth the warning
That ye of the past must die.

9. “Great hail!” we cry to the comers
From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your Sun and your summers,
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song’s new numbers,
And things that we dreamt not before;
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.

        For another versified celebration of “poetry in motion,” be sure to read Hans Christian Andersen’s (1805-1875) classic fairy tale, “The Phoenix-Bird” (1850), archived @ http://hca.gilead.org.il/phoenix.html.