Hey Stuart! I will never forget being in youth group (straightforward, liberal-leaning, Congregational church) when we were "in charge" of the main service on so-called "Youth Sunday." It was 1966. The sermon was given by a boy a few years ahead of me who went on to a distinguished career in law & criminal justice. In his sermon that Sunday morning, he spoke pointedly to the adults in the congregation, quoting Bob Dylan, "Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, And don't criticize what you can't understand, Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command, Your old road is rapidly aging, Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand. For the times, they are a-changin' "
I will always remember how amazed I that, as we are so fond of saying now, he spoke truth to power.
Thank you for recalling that memorable moment in my adolescence...!!! :-)
Oh, we sure are. And the older I get, the more deeply grateful I am for those times. They were not always easy times, but they forced us to think and grapple with issues that mattered.
Because we knew we could do something about it. We were out to change the world. The kids of today don't have that chance and despair of having a world and a life to fashion to their will.
One of my favorites.. The song was playing in my head as I read the lyrics. Odd how a song about a protested war could have such relevance in today’s world. It makes me feel as if we really are in a war, as Biden so rightly says, for the soul of our Country.
Thanks, Jacob. It’s nice to hear this song again, even if it’s just playing in my head. Took me right back to my little bedroom and my little white radio in my childhood home.
Coincidentally, Dan Rather has only recently joined Substack. His is entitled "Steady," a word he has employed over the past four years to reassure us, as has Heather. As part of his entry today, he writes: "Poetry has always had a special place in my life. And I often find myself returning to verse in times of reflection, joy, or sorrow. It is an art form that marries clarity with nuance, urgency with timelessness. Unfortunately, poetry is often overlooked and under-appreciated. That’s what made the break-out performance by the brilliant young poet Amanda Gorman at the inauguration so inspiring for me. Yes the words and imagery were wonderful, but suddenly everybody was talking about poetry and that of a young Black woman to boot."
For the last four years, I have made it a practice to read at least one poem a day. I am fortunate to be part of a group of poets, some of us published, all of us craving words that illuminate life and events. What a joy that Amanda Gorman emerged from our younger counterparts to assure us that this long tradition endures across cultures and time. I have listened to her inaugural poem many times now, and sought out others. We celebrate while we know that we have much to do yet.
Annie, i love your description of the impact Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem had on you, and your joy at realizing that poetry endures within our younger generation. I have had concerns about that endurance myself, until Amanda Gorman began to so eloquently recite her beautiful poem. I couldn’t stop the tears.. ❤️
My husband and I both write verse and prose. Looking back at my writing in the 1980s, we have just started having public discussion of some of my concerns from so long ago. Ironically, the abyss of Trumpism started that discussion. Perhaps it takes a fire before ears and eyes are opened.
Good observations. I am mixed, metaphorically, between when Dan and Heather is the protein or is the healthy greens in a daily meal for my American soul.
Yes! Dylan and Tennyson then, Gorman now. Poets capture the spirit of critical moments in human history with their stories in song and verse. Homer, Guthrie anyone? We in the USA need to shift from being in awe of business and sports to supporting the arts. Bring back school music and arts programs. I’m encouraged by the explosion of interest in Amanda Gorman that has led to a Super Bowl appearance, as much as I don’t approve of football. Rant over and out! ❤️🤍💙
This has been my favorite song since we lost George Floyd. Always remember its original purpose: inspiring people to suppress slavery and treason. "Be jubilant, my feet!"
The phrase ''grapes of wrath'' is a biblical allusion, or reference, to the Book of Revelation, passage 14:19-20, which reads, ''So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.''
Thank you Ellie for sharing the relevant facts. Over the years Julia Ward Howe gave multiple accounts of how she was prompted to write the Battle Hymn. They sometimes conflict, but the connections between timeless biblical allusions and her timely visit to DC in late 1861 provide still more inspiration.
R Gamble, A Fiery Gospel
E Showalter, The Civil Wars of JW Howe
J Stauffer & B Soskis, Battle Hymn of the Republic
Can anyone draw a clear line between the rise of the hard right wing to the intense defamation of a study in the “Humanities”? Now referred to as “Secular Humanism”? Oh boy!
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Hear that? It's the Moral Universe's long Arc bending ever closer toward Justice.
Morning, L!! It's the bells ringing the chimes of freedom.
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' every underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing!
-- Bob Dylan
And what of Times they are a changing!
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle…
Hey Stuart! I will never forget being in youth group (straightforward, liberal-leaning, Congregational church) when we were "in charge" of the main service on so-called "Youth Sunday." It was 1966. The sermon was given by a boy a few years ahead of me who went on to a distinguished career in law & criminal justice. In his sermon that Sunday morning, he spoke pointedly to the adults in the congregation, quoting Bob Dylan, "Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, And don't criticize what you can't understand, Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command, Your old road is rapidly aging, Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand. For the times, they are a-changin' "
I will always remember how amazed I that, as we are so fond of saying now, he spoke truth to power.
Thank you for recalling that memorable moment in my adolescence...!!! :-)
it was our youth, our dreams, our hope...which has stayed with us all our lives. We are very lucky.
Oh, we sure are. And the older I get, the more deeply grateful I am for those times. They were not always easy times, but they forced us to think and grapple with issues that mattered.
Because we knew we could do something about it. We were out to change the world. The kids of today don't have that chance and despair of having a world and a life to fashion to their will.
Sorry for the typo in my penultimate sentence... :-(
One of my favorites.. The song was playing in my head as I read the lyrics. Odd how a song about a protested war could have such relevance in today’s world. It makes me feel as if we really are in a war, as Biden so rightly says, for the soul of our Country.
Let's listen for real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD_ats6eE
Both timely and timeless. It's never been more relevant than now (saying it for the umpteenth time).
Thank you. Brings back good memories. Glad I was part of that time
Glad a I checked in one more time to, as you say, listen for real. Thanks, TPJ!
Many of the 60's protest songs have seemed relevant for the last few years.
Right on, Stuart!!
Gives me chills, in the best way.
https://youtu.be/LVIWA9VTiN8
I hope this gets you to Bob Dylan singing it, one of my all time favorites of his!
Bob Dylan was much more concise than Tennyson:
In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
Alfred Lord Tennyson - 1809-1892
https://poets.org/poem/memoriam-ring-out-wild-bells
And going back even further, to Peter Seeger,
... "Now I have a hammer, and I have a bell,
And I have a song to sing,
All over this land.
It's the hammer of justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about love
Between all of my brothers and sisters
All over this land."
Thanks, Jacob. It’s nice to hear this song again, even if it’s just playing in my head. Took me right back to my little bedroom and my little white radio in my childhood home.
.
Thank you, Jacob. I hear the music and feel the spirit of my childhood, always with love.
Thanks, Jacob...brings back very fond memories!
Art showing us where to go with our lives. Yay for music and poetry, and thank all of you for these beautiful tidbits!
Ooh, TPJ, sweet harmony, this!
Thanks, Lynn; only thru others' music. When I sing, dogs start howling ....
Coincidentally, Dan Rather has only recently joined Substack. His is entitled "Steady," a word he has employed over the past four years to reassure us, as has Heather. As part of his entry today, he writes: "Poetry has always had a special place in my life. And I often find myself returning to verse in times of reflection, joy, or sorrow. It is an art form that marries clarity with nuance, urgency with timelessness. Unfortunately, poetry is often overlooked and under-appreciated. That’s what made the break-out performance by the brilliant young poet Amanda Gorman at the inauguration so inspiring for me. Yes the words and imagery were wonderful, but suddenly everybody was talking about poetry and that of a young Black woman to boot."
Ahhh, poetry. Can never get enough poetry.
For the last four years, I have made it a practice to read at least one poem a day. I am fortunate to be part of a group of poets, some of us published, all of us craving words that illuminate life and events. What a joy that Amanda Gorman emerged from our younger counterparts to assure us that this long tradition endures across cultures and time. I have listened to her inaugural poem many times now, and sought out others. We celebrate while we know that we have much to do yet.
Annie, i love your description of the impact Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem had on you, and your joy at realizing that poetry endures within our younger generation. I have had concerns about that endurance myself, until Amanda Gorman began to so eloquently recite her beautiful poem. I couldn’t stop the tears.. ❤️
My husband and I both write verse and prose. Looking back at my writing in the 1980s, we have just started having public discussion of some of my concerns from so long ago. Ironically, the abyss of Trumpism started that discussion. Perhaps it takes a fire before ears and eyes are opened.
Yes!!! I was so pleased when I read Dan Rather's comment this morning!
Good observations. I am mixed, metaphorically, between when Dan and Heather is the protein or is the healthy greens in a daily meal for my American soul.
Oh! Lynell! TPJ! Stuart,! Ellie!
Thank You!!
Yes! Dylan and Tennyson then, Gorman now. Poets capture the spirit of critical moments in human history with their stories in song and verse. Homer, Guthrie anyone? We in the USA need to shift from being in awe of business and sports to supporting the arts. Bring back school music and arts programs. I’m encouraged by the explosion of interest in Amanda Gorman that has led to a Super Bowl appearance, as much as I don’t approve of football. Rant over and out! ❤️🤍💙
Good one, DB. I feel even more strongly about football. I prefer sports without concussions and domestic violence.
Thanks, Deborah...I did not know Amanda Gorman will appear at the Super Bowl. Now, I will be sure to watch!
Such a poetic rant! Thank You!
This has been my favorite song since we lost George Floyd. Always remember its original purpose: inspiring people to suppress slavery and treason. "Be jubilant, my feet!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wBU_3UIg0Q
Grapes and wrath? Finally looked it up:
The phrase ''grapes of wrath'' is a biblical allusion, or reference, to the Book of Revelation, passage 14:19-20, which reads, ''So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.''
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-grapes-of-wrath-title-origin-meaning-analysis.html
Thank you Ellie for sharing the relevant facts. Over the years Julia Ward Howe gave multiple accounts of how she was prompted to write the Battle Hymn. They sometimes conflict, but the connections between timeless biblical allusions and her timely visit to DC in late 1861 provide still more inspiration.
R Gamble, A Fiery Gospel
E Showalter, The Civil Wars of JW Howe
J Stauffer & B Soskis, Battle Hymn of the Republic
For ready reference:
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-battle-hymn-inspired-by-visit-to-troops-in-civil-war
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/04/625351953/one-song-glory
Stunningly beautiful, Odetta is a treasure!
Can anyone draw a clear line between the rise of the hard right wing to the intense defamation of a study in the “Humanities”? Now referred to as “Secular Humanism”? Oh boy!
Oh! MaryPat! Your comments too are most worthwhile. Write on!
Very good Friday to you, Lynell!