#WingedWordsWindsday: A Celebration of Butterflies

 WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY

Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Vol. 2, No. 24: April 12, 2023

 

 

A Celebration of Butterflies!

 

“To a Butterfly” (1801)

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

 

I’ve watched you now a full half-hour;

Self-poised upon that yellow flower

And, little Butterfly! Indeed

I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless! – not frozen seas

More motionless! And then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze

Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;

My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers;

Here rest your wings when they are weary;

Here lodge as in a sanctuary!

Come often to us, fear no wrong;

Sit near us on the bough!

We’ll talk of sunshine and of song,

And summer days, when we were young;

Sweet childish days, that were as long

As twenty days are now.

 

*                                              *                                              *

 

Stay near me – do not take thy flight!

A little longer stay in sight!

Much converse do I find in thee,

Historian of my infancy!

Float near me; do not yet depart!

Dead times revive in thee:

Thou brings, gay creature as thou art!

A solemn image to my heart,

My father’s family!

Oh! Pleasant, pleasant were the days,

The time, when, in our childish plays,

My sister Emmeline and I

Together chased the butterfly!

A very hunter did I rush

Upon the prey: -- with leaps and springs

I followed on from brake to bush;

But she, God love her, feared to brush

The dust from off its wings.

 

“A Diet of Worms”

(Anonymous)

 

The caterpillars met one day,

And in a very solemn way

Discussed a point of great import

To all the caterpillar sort.

"Why, as it is," one speaker said,

Up-stretching high a hoary head,

 

"So common is this new caprice

The wise call Metamorphosis,

The change of safe, old-fashioned ground

For silly flights on ways unsound,

That we must take wise measures soon,

Or all our race will be undone."

 

Another spoke: "I like to know

That what one is, he's settled so.

This crawling one day, winged the next,

What prudent worm is not perplexed?

With all these moody changes, who

Will know what form to fasten to?"

 

So after many long debates,

The wise assembly formulates

Its judgment thus: "Whereas," the good

Old ground whereon our fathers stood

Some upstarts are inclined to change

For loftier views and wider range,

Producing dangerous schism thus,

And constantly confusing us,

Be it Resolved, that henceforth we

Who now do covenant and agree,

Maintain ourselves inviolate

In good old caterpillar estate.

And hold as knavish, outcast things

Those rascal heretics with wings."

 

This signed they all with pens that burned,

And then — and then — they all adjourned

For DINNER!

 

“From the Chrysalis”

By Emily Dickinson (1830-1888)

 

My cocoon tightens, colors tease,

I'm feeling for the air;

A dim capacity for wings

Degrades the dress I wear.

 

A power of butterfly must be

The aptitude to fly,

Meadows of majesty concedes

And easy sweeps of sky.

 

So I must baffle at the hint

And cipher at the sign,

And make much blunder, if at last

I take the clew divine.

 

“The Yellow Butterfly”

Excerpted from Carmina Gadelica (1900)

Compiled, Edited, & Translated by Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912)

                There are many kinds of Butterfly, but the kind we speak of is not so plentiful. The true Yellow Butterfly is near half an inch in length, and stouter about the body than any other kind, covered with pretty down or plumage, very small about tail — more so than any other kind under the Sun. The top of his head is like a king’s crown with a fringe around it. His hue is half-way between fine gold and the white snow of the hill. He is always seen in summer, quiet and peaceful, without heat of flurry, above the corpses of infants and of other good people. It is a good sign to see the Yellow Butterfly upon a corpse or near a corpse.

 

Nō robe from Japan (1700s): silk embroidered with silk thread and stenciled with gold foil, including a yellow butterfly. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

“The Butterfly That Stamped”

By Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Excerpted from the Just So Stories (1902)

                This, O my Best Beloved, is a story — a new and a wonderful story — a story quite different from the other stories — a story about The Most Wise Sovereign Solomon Ben-David — Solomon the Son of David.

                There are three hundred and fifty-five stories about Solomon Ben-David; but this is not one of them. It is not the story of the Lapwing who found the Water; or the Hoopoe who shaded Solomon Ben-David from the heat. It is not the story of the Glass Pavement, or the Ruby with the Crooked Hole, or the Gold Bars of Balkis. It is the story of the Butterfly that Stamped.

                Now attend all over again and listen!

                Solomon Ben-David was wise. He understood what the beasts said, what the birds said, what the fishes said, and what the insects said. He understood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bowed in towards each other and groaned; and he understood what the trees said when they rustled in the middle of the morning. He understood everything, from the bishop on the bench to the hyssop on the wall, and Balkis, his Head Queen, the Most Beautiful Queen Balkis, was nearly as wise as he was.

 

*                                              *                                              *

 

There was never a Queen like Balkis,

⁠From here to the wide world’s end;

But Balkis talked to a butterfly

⁠As you would talk to a friend.

 

There was never a King like Solomon,

⁠Not since the world began;

But Solomon talked to a butterfly

⁠As a man would talk to a man.

 

She was Queen of Sabaea,

⁠And he was Asia’s Lord,

But they both of them talked to butterflies

⁠When they took their walks abroad!

 

Further Reading on Butterflies

·         https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plan-your-visit/family-of-attractions/butterfly-house à The Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield, MO

·         https://www.themariasibyllameriansociety.humanities.uva.nl/ à The Maria Sibylla Merian Society

 

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was both an accomplished artist and a scientist, becoming the “founding mother” of the science of entomology. She observed, painted, and wrote illustrated reference books about pollinators – especially butterflies and moths. In later life, she participated in a scientific expedition to Suriname to catalog and study its native insect life. Image Credit: Maria as portrayed by Jacob Marrel (1679), Art Museum of Basel, Switzerland.

 

 

Ancient Yet Ever New: Stoicism in Verse!

Hello everyone – 

After taking a “spring break” hiatus in March, Quotemail returns at the convergence of three sacred observances in the Abrahamic faith traditions: Passover, Easter, and Ramadan. The overlapping of these sacred traditions invites to learn more about our neighbors’ faith traditions and take notice of the similarities that they share in common, so that we can build bridges of understanding that can span the entire human family.

Today, I’d like to share with you a selection of poems about the Stoic school of philosophy, which was founded over 2300 years ago in Athens, Greece, by Zeno of Kition, a Cypriot sage, who combined insights from previous philosophical traditions (e.g., Pythagorean, Platonic, Aristotelian, inter alia) with his own perceptive observations of the human condition to create the Stoic tradition, which is currently undergoing a revival of sorts in the 21^st century. Stoicism shares a great deal of common ground with the major spiritual traditions of the world and has inspired many great leaders of the past to follow its Four Cardinal Virtues – Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude.

 

“The Stoics”

By Athenaeus the Epigrammatist

(Quoted by Diogenes Laertius, 3^rd Century CE)

O ye who’ve learnt the doctrines of the Porch

And have committed to your books divine

The best of human learning, teaching men

That the mind’s virtue is the only good!

She only it is who keeps the lives of men

And cities, – safer than high gates and walls.

But those who place their happiness in pleasure

Are led by the least worthy of the Muses.

 

“The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius”

(Anonymous Epigram Found at the End of a Vatican Manuscript and in the Anthologia Palatina)

If thou would’st master care and pain,

Unfold this book and read and read again

Its blessed leaves, whereby thou soon shalt see

The past, the present, and the days to be

With opened eyes; and all delight, all grief,

Shall be like smoke, as empty and as brief.

 

Opening Lines of the Phaenomena

By Aratus of Soli (3^rd Century BCE)

Let us begin with G*d, whom we mortals never leave unspoken.

For every street, every market-place is full of G*d.

Even the sea and the harbor are full of this Deity.

Everywhere everyone is indebted to G*d.

For we are indeed his offspring…

 

“The Serenity Prayer”

By Reinhold Niebuhr (1897-1971)

G*d, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed;

courage to change the things which should be changed;

and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

 

Be sure to visit my blog entry on Stoicism (2023/01/25) @ https://rhcfortnightlyquotemail.blogspot.com for more information and resources about this ancient and insightful school of philosophy.

 

Numa Pompilius, the philosopher-king of ancient Rome (reigned 715-673 BCE), was regarded as an exemplary leader because of his devotion to philosophy, in which he had been instructed (according to legend) by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras and the nymph Egeria.

 

Until next time –

Rob 😊

#WingedWordsWindsday: 2023/04/05 -- The Reader Who Never Grew Up :)

 

WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY

Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Vol. 2, No. 23: April 5, 2023

 

 

“The Reader Who Never Grew Up”

 

Editor’s Note

                The Editor has a confession to make: I’ve never outgrown children’s literature. I’ve enjoyed it ever since I was a child, and I still enjoy reading children’s books to this very day, either to myself or to my 85-year-old mother, who also enjoys them immensely, as she is still among the young at heart.

                This week, we celebrate the enchanted world of children’s literature, which is still open for business, no matter how old you may be.

 

Cover of the first edition (1902) of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter – one of the Editor’s favorite stories from his childhood days. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

“The Faery Book”

By Norman Gale (1862-1942)

 

In summer, when the grass is thick,

If Mother has the time,

She shows me with her pencil

How a poet makes a rhyme,

And often she is sweet enough

To choose a leafy nook,

Where I cuddle up so closely

When she reads the Faery-book.

 

In winter when the corn’s asleep,

And birds are not in song.

And crocuses and violets

Have been away too long,

Dear Mother puts her thimble by

In answer to my look,

And I cuddle up so closely

When she reads the Faery-book.

 

And Mother tells the servants

That of course they must contrive

To manage all the household things

From four till half-past five,

For we really cannot suffer

Interruption from the cook,

When we cuddle close together

With the happy Faery-book.

 

“The Enchanted World of Classic Stories”

By Rob Chappell, M.A.

Adapted & Expanded from Cursus Honorum VII: 6 (January 2007)

                Long before the advent of television, radio, movies, and the Internet, 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!

 

·         The Panchatantra, compiled by the Indian sage Vishnu Sharma (fl. ca. 200 BCE), is a vast collection of traditional animal tales from ancient India. It was designed to educate young royals on the principles of ethical leadership, and over the past two millennia, it has become the most translated literary work from the Indian subcontinent. The perennially popular tales of the Panchatantra have had an enduring impact on literary traditions throughout the world!

·         The Arabian Nights: Collected over a timespan of several centuries, beginning at the royal court of the learned Caliph Harun Al-Rashid (763-809) in 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 Arabian Peninsula, and Egypt.

·         The Grimms’ Faery Tales: Collected by the scholarly German brothers Jakob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm, this anthology showcases the traditional household tales of the German-speaking peoples of Central Europe. Many of our most familiar children’s stories (e.g., The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, 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!

·         Bulfinch’s Mythology: Compiled by Thomas Bulfinch, a Bostonian classicist (1796-1867), this is the ultimate anthology of timeless tales from ancient and medieval times. 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.

·         Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) 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 the well-known (e.g., The Ugly Duckling) and ones that are sometimes overlooked (e.g., The Snow Queen).

·         George MacDonald (1824-1905) is the Editor’s favorite author of literary faery tales. His masterpieces include Phantastes (1858), At the Back of the North Wind (1871), and Lilith (1895). All of his faery tales, written both for the young and the young at heart, invite readers to appreciate the hidden wonders all around us that we encounter on life’s journey.

·         The Faery Books of Many Colors are anthologies of classic tales from around the world and across the centuries. They were compiled, edited, and published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang (1844-1912) and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne Lang (1851-1933). These multicultural stories, drawn from myths, legends, folktales, histories, and biographies, are a collective treasure-trove of storytelling that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

·         Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), best known for her tales of Peter Rabbit and his animal friends, was also a farmer, sheep breeder, mycologist, conservationist, and illustrator. The Editor learned the top-secret moral of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) when it was read to him at an early age – namely, that eating too many green vegetables can be hazardous to your health!

 

In this Illustration by Leonard Leslie Brooke (1862-1940), the Big Bad Wolf blows down the straw house in a 1904 adaptation of the English faery tale, The Three Little Pigs. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

“The Faery Book”

By Abbie Farwell Brown (1871-1927)

 

When Mother takes the Faery Book

And we curl up to hear,

'Tis "All aboard for Faeryland!"

Which seems to be so near.

 

For soon we reach the pleasant place

Of Once Upon a Time,

Where birdies sing the hour of day,

And flowers talk in rhyme;

 

Where Bobby is a velvet Prince,

And where I am a Queen;

Where one can talk with animals,

And walk about unseen;

 

Where Little People live in nuts,

And ride on butterflies,

And wonders kindly come to pass

Before your very eyes;

 

Where candy grows on every bush,

And playthings on the trees,

And visitors pick basketfuls

As often as they please.

 

It is the nicest time of day -

Though Bedtime is so near, -

When Mother takes the Faery Book

And we curl up to hear.