"Poppies on Ludlow Castle" by Willa Cather.

I started reading April Twilights by Willa Cather as the first official title in my Willa Cather project. This poem stuck out to me (perhaps because we live very close to a street named Ludlow? Perhaps because I just love the mood of the poem?). I wanted to share, so you could have a little poetry to get through the day. Enjoy. :)

"Poppies on Ludlow Castle" by Willa Cather

Through halls of vanished pleasure,
And hold of vanished power,
And crypt of faith forgotten,
A came to Ludlow tower.

A-top of arch and stairway,

Of crypt and donjan cell,

Of council hall, and chamber,

Of wall, and ditch, and well,

 

High over grated turrets

Where clinging ivies run,

A thousand scarlet poppies

Enticed the rising sun,

 

Upon the topmost turret,

With death and damp below,--

Three hundred years of spoilage,--

The crimson poppies grow.

 

This hall it was that bred him,

These hills that knew him brave,

The gentlest English singer

That fills an English grave.

 

How have they heart to blossom

So cruel and gay and red,

When beauty so hath perished

And valour so hath sped?

 

When knights so fair are rotten,

And captains true asleep,

And singing lips are dust-stopped

Six English earth-feet deep?

 

When ages old remind me

How much hath gone for naught,

What wretched ghost remaineth

Of all that flesh hath wrought;

 

Of love and song and warring,

Of adventure and play,

Of art and comely building,

Of faith and form and fray--

 

I'll mind the flowers of pleasure,

Of short-lived youth and sleep,

That drunk the sunny weather

A-top of Ludlow keep.

Weekly Wrap-up for January 13, 2012: Back to the Grind.

Phew. This was the first week back after our two-week winter vacation, and let me tell you, it was a rough one. On Tuesday afternoon, the district was working on the servers for our computer system...and everything went down. Teachers and students couldn't access files, laptops on our carts had no internet access, and the computers were SLOW. They finally restored full access YESTERDAY, so you can imagine it was rough.

Thankfully I keep most of my files on a flash drive (which I really need to back up), so I still had access to my final exam files (many teachers did not, and since we have exams THIS WEEK, you can imagine the panic). I did have to rearrange some lessons and took out a video that the kids were really looking forward to (I've been showing my U.S. History classes episodes from The History Channel show, "America: The Story of Us" as we get to that content. They really love the show, so it was a bummer not to get to the Great Depression episode as promised). But, it was actually a good way to push my own creativity as a teacher so that I didn't rely on technology. :)

This week will go by quickly, I am sure. We have two full days, followed by three half days-2 exams each day. I'm in relatively good shape for grading, since all I have are the handful of things I collected in this past week. I'm hoping that I can spend the time the kids are taking their exams on prepping and getting things ready for second semester.

With second semester also comes my unit on Maus, which I am more than excited for. I brought the copies of the novel down to my room this week, and they are currently sitting in a box on my big front table. They have caught the attention of my kids, and I think they are really going to love the book and the unit.

I'm also teaching The Great Gatsby in my sophomore English classes at the beginning of the semester, so I need to do a quick reread this week to refresh my memory.

Besides all the school stuff, I've spent a lot of time this week with my niece, Zoey. It's hard to believe that she is almost 3 months old! My mom is watching her during the day for my brother and sister-in-law, and there were 2 days this week she had an appointment, so I came over after school to spend a couple hours watching the little munchkin. I also babysat last night for a few hours while my brother and sister-in-law went out for a date night. Zoey is the cutest little thing, and except for one little bout of fussiness last night, she was a blast to play with and cuddle. I'm glad that I get to be a big part of her life.

In reading news, I launched my Willa Cather Project this week, which I am over the moon excited about. :) When I was planning it, I was looking into finding copies of her poems and essays. While they were sold in single-volume sets, they were so darn expensive! I decided to be 2 of the 3 titles in the "Library of America" series on Cather (I decided not to purchase one of the volumes since it just contained her novels, which I already own). I've never owned one of the editions before, so I took a chance and ordered them used on Amazon. The first one came yesterday, and thankfully, it was the one with her poetry (April Twilights), so I already started reading. :) There aren't an overwhelming amount of poems, so I imagine I will finish them this week.

I also finished Cold Sassy Tree, which, as I read, seemed more and more familiar to me. I could have sworn that I read it before, but I couldn't figure out when. Generally speaking, I have a pretty good memory of what I've read and when, but I was drawing a blank. It was only after the scene with the car that I was SURE I had read it, and after asking on Facebook, turns out that I read it in high school for my sophomore English class. I'm pretty sure I didn't read it as an assigned book, but as a book for fun.

Lastly, I started Anna Karenina yesterday morning. I've been meaning to read it, and I was disappointed I didn't get to it last fall. I'm already 50 or so pages into it, and I can imagine really sinking into it and flying through the pages. Assuming I get all my grading done between today and tomorrow, I'll have a good amount of time to read this week (the grading for my exams is pretty straight-forward). I'm also looking forward to next weekend since we have the following Monday off. I'm picturing a lot of time snuggled up and reading.

I hope you all had a pleasant week and that you currently have a good book waiting. Let me know what you're reading!

Book 148: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

It has been a long time since I have talked about a title from my 250 Project list, AND it has been an even longer time since I've read this title in particular.

I decided to read Mansfield Park for Adam's Austen in August event. And I did read the entire novel in the very beginning of that month. Then, my classes I was teaching changed, so I was in a planning craze, then I started feeling sick, then school started, and before you know it, here I am in January. Whoops.

But I can't let this one just slip through the cracks, so I must say something about Austen's novel, even though it probably won't be all that detailed (or insightful).

I had read Mansfield Park once before-back when Austen was a new obsession-and while I enjoyed it then, it wasn't my favorite. Mansfield Park is definitely a quieter version of Austen, and I much preferred her rip-roaring heroines in Pride and Prejudice and Emma. But, I was eager to read this one in August to see if my feelings had change at all.

Imagine my surprise when they didn't! I really thought that coming to this novel with a more mature perspective and outlook would increase my love for it. After all, I do love the quiet strength of Anne Elliot in Persuasion. And while I liked Mansfield Park more than what I remembered, I'm going to be honest and say it is still my least favorite Austen. While the clever wordplay and passion is still there, I just wasn't as invested in the story, or as interested. It was good, but I didn't think Austen was at her best.

That makes me wonder how many other authors that I love have books that will seem like a disappointment to me (and again, I want to stress that I liked the novel-it just paled in comparison to the other titles in Austen's name). By reading a lot of the "big" titles by these classic authors, will I find myself disappointed when I read their minor works? Will there be multiple books by them that I won't like? Will I get sick of reading them? Those questions taunt me a little, and I suppose I won't know until I read more by the authors I have merely been exposed to.

In any case, Mansfield Park is a book that I will return to again. Perhaps it still isn't the right time for me to click with the story, or see the depth that many other bloggers and readers do. So yes, I will read it again and again. :)

The Willa Cather Project.

On Saturday, I got into a discussion on twitter about reading the major or complete works of certain authors with a few bloggers. We discussed some of the big names and the authors we would most like to read. Authors like Steinbeck, Dickens, Hardy, James, and more all came to mind. We all became pretty inspired and two bloggers have already posted away (you can see Adam's here-he chose Steinbeck, O's is here-she chose Trollope).

I've always thought that the most logical step for me after my 250 project would be to go back and read the complete works of an author. I am close with a few-Shakespeare, Austen, the Brontes-but I wanted to push myself by reading an author I don't know a lot about. This project will serve to educate me about that writer.

After thinking it over, I settled on Willa Cather. We have had a rocky history. I hated her novel, My Antonia, when I read it as a high school freshman (now I love it. It happens, you know?). When I took a risk and read O Pioneers! in the first year of my 250 Project, I fell madly in love. So, I've decided that Willa Cather will be my choice for a Major Works/Complete Works Project.

The goal is to read her work in order of publication. The one exception is My Antonia, since I just finished it (I will be rereading O Pioneers!....because I can). If I cannot find a copy of the work, I will simply skip it and move on (I already own all of her novels, save one, so I am more concerned with finding her short stories and essays). I'm not giving myself a goal date for this project. My hope is to finish when I feel so inspired, and to get to know a writer I don't know much about.

The List:

• April Twilights (poetry) 1903

• The Troll Garden (short stories) 1905
• "Flavia and Her Artists"
• "The Sculptor's Funeral"
• "A Death in the Desert"
• "The Garden Lodge"
• "The Marriage of Phaedra"
• "A Wagner Matinee"
• "Paul's Case" 

• Alexander's Bridge (novel) 1912

• O Pioneers! (novel) 1913

• The Song of the Lark (novel) 1915

• My Antonia (novel) 1918

• Youth and the Bright Medusa (short stories) 1920
• ***contains 4 of the stories also in The Troll Garden. These are marked with an asterisk
• "Coming, Eden Bower"
• "The Diamond Mine"
• "A Gold Slipper"
• "Scandal"
• *"Paul's Case"
• *"A Wagner Matinee"
• *"The Sculptor's Funeral"
• *"A Death in the Desert" 

• One of Ours (novel) 1922

• A Lost Lady (novel) 1923

• The Professor's House (novel) 1925

• My Mortal Enemy (novel) 1926

• Death Comes for the Archbishop (novel) 1927

• Shadows on the Rock (novel) 1931

• Obscure Destinies (short stories) 1932
• "Neighbor Rosicky"
• "Old Mrs. Harris"
• "Two Friends" 

• Lucy Gayheart (novel) 1935

• Not Under Forty (essays) 1936

• Sapphira and the Slave Girl (novel) 1940

• The Old Beauty and Others (short stories) 1948
• "The Old Beauty"
• "The Best Years"
• "Before Breakfast" 

• Willa Cather: On Writing (essays) 1949

• Five Stories (short stories) 1956
• ***Some stories were previously published. These are marked with an asterisk
• "The Enchanted Bluff"
• "Tom Outland's Story"
• *"Neighbor Rosicky"
• *"The Best Years"
• *"Paul's Case"

• Selected Letters from Willa Cather

•  I am also considering a few biographies, but haven't settled on one just yet. Anyone have some recommendations?

I'm not positive that I have all the short stories listed, but I will add as I find/discover other stories. I'm really excited about this project!

So here's a question, if you were to read any classic author's works, from beginning to end, who would it be and why?

Weekly Wrap-up for January 6, 2013: End of Vacation, Classics Club Readathon, and more.

I woke up early this morning to find that it was snowing outside. We still had snow on the ground from the storm that hit us on the 26th, but I am glad that a new, fresh layer is down. I sincerely love the winter and everything it brings-including snuggling up in hooded sweatshirts with warm fluffy socks. So, I decided to stay nestled in bed for another couple hours to finish My Antonia, which I started last night for The Classics Club Readathon. It was nice to settle in with a warm and comforting read while the cold winter winds blew outside my window. The cats were also grateful to snuggle in for some cuddles. It was a great way to spend the last morning of my two-week break from school.

Obviously, I am sad that break is coming to an end. I enjoyed being home with my husband and having time to recharge. I also didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but I guess I have to be okay with that. :) I am excited to get back to school, and the next few weeks will be really eventful. We have a full week this week to get things back in order and finish up content for the first semester. Then, next week is exam week. We'll be reviewing content and testing, so that'll be a fun time. :) After that, we start the new semester!

My classes are changing quite a bit second semester. We run on a 6-period schedule. Right now, I have 2 sections of U.S. History, 2 sections of mythology, and 1 section of sophomore English. My sixth hour is also my planning period. Second semester I have 3 sections of U.S. History, 2 sections of sophomore English, and I will be co-teaching theater. It is going to be a very FULL day of teaching, since I do not have a planning period. I'm excited for the new challenges of the theater class, and knowing that there is another teacher in the room with me settles my nerves a bit. :) I'm also excited to have more sections of the other two classes, since I very much enjoy teaching them!

I've done some plan/prep work this break, and I think that once things get started, I'll be just fine. I've taught the second half of both the core classes before, so I have materials and resources to turn to. I won't be "starting from scratch" like I did this fall (with 3 classes), so it should run much smoother this semester.

I'm hoping this means more time for reading and personal hobbies, since I didn't have much of a personal life this fall. But 2013 is already off to a great start, thanks in part to The Classics Club Readathon that took place yesterday. While I didn't manage to read all day, I did make enough progress that I feel successful. :) I finished the second half of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, read all of Tennessee William's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and read My Antonia by Willa Cather. I consider that a huge success! Starting 2013 with a string of good books makes me optimistic for this year.

I'm not sure what I'm going to grab next. I might stay with a couple slimmer books, but I've been eying a few big titles as well (Anna Karenina for one, Uncle Tom's Cabin is another). If you have recommendations, please suggest away!

I think it also helps that I got a jump-start on a few of my 2013 goals. I spent some time on Wednesday reorganizing the bookshelves in the living room. Everything got messed up a couple months ago when we purchased our new entertainment center and moved the old bookshelves (that housed our DVDs) into the second bedroom. Books have been sitting in piles everywhere and double-stacked on the living rooms shelves, so I re-alphabetized and rearranged my classics. I even managed to move all the "sets" I've been collecting onto one bookshelf, and I very much like how it looks:

 The top shelf has the Puffin Classics series, then the beginnings of my Penguin Clothbounds (Northanger Abbey goes in that open spot-I had it out since I was reading it). The second shelf contains the remaining clothbounds (including the two new titles I got for Christmas from my mom!). The next two shelves are the Penguin English Library editions that I've started collection. I'm up to 56/100, so I'm making good progress. ;) I'm trying to finish up all the Dickens titles (have 3 to go), and then I'll own all his major works.

I also pulled out a few doubles I had to pass along and moved my Shakespeare to a different location. It makes the room look a lot nicer, now that books aren't piled all over. ;)

Anyway, I'll be spending the rest of the day doing more planning and prep work. I finished my unit on The Great Gatsby last night, so today I turn my attention to my U.S. History classes.

Have a wonderful Sunday and happy reading!