"Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history." -Plato

I recently discovered in a conversation with my junior high sister that poetry is "boring" -- I found this not entirely surprising but distressing in the extreme. I had the same English teacher in junior high as she does now, and his teaching methods leave something to be desired, and the poems he teaches even more so. Unfortunately, the same could be said for English teachers across the country. Rudyard Kipling's "If" may espouse cardinal virtues, but as a poem it hardly suffices. Junior high students detest sermons in the classroom, and by teaching poems such as "If" and Edward Roland Steele's "Opportunity," we only succeed in driving them away from an ancient and honorable art form.

I have since introduced my sister to the works of Wordsworth, Donne, and Pasternak, all of whom she finds fascinating and beautiful. I can't help but wonder if the root of the problem lies in the condescension so pervasive in the curriculum. Perhaps if, instead of giving these children lessons in morality, we treated them as mature young adults, they would view poetry as a privilege rather than a curse.

"Be anything you want, but don't be dull." -Frank Robinson

I've been going through my shelves, prioritizing what books need to go back and when (and sending a few on already...that was a sad day), and of course I've come across a few that I haven't gotten around to reading. This is, of course, a problem. How can I know whether or not I need to take them back if I haven't read them? Or an even better question -- why are there books on my shelf that I haven't read? I've been moaning about my lack of books this whole year, rereading things over and over, when all this time there were these perfectly good books sitting on my shelf. Honestly. Anyway, here is my current reading list for the summer.

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (I'm about halfway through this one, and it's fascinating. I recommend it to anyone into American history. Actually, I never thought I was, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.)

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (This is one I've been meaning to read for a long time, and now that the Hinkson administration has seen fit to provide me with a copy, I can.)

Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson (More American history -- the Civil War, this time.)

1066 by Andrew Bridgeford (I actually started this one a while ago and never finished it. It's about the Bayeux Tapestry and the Norman invasion of England.)

A History of Russian Architecture by William Craft Brumsfeld (This is a massive, seriously MASSIVE book that I am determined to get all the way through, although I'm not entirely sure it was ever meant to be read straight through. I think it's more of a reference.)

The Horizon Book of the Renaissance (This one is also kind of a reference book, but it's far more manageable than A History of Russian Architecture. This one was also a graduation gift from my grandfather's friend, so I feel a bit of an obligation to read it.)

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (I've also started this one, but I've put it on hiatus. I got a bit drawn up in Mayflower, and I've learned the hard way not to read too many books at once. Besides, this one's a more manageable size for traveling.)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (I actually just picked this one up from the free pile yesterday at school. It's also convenient carry-on size, so it'll just have to wait for now.)

Besides all these, there are also several Russian books on iconography that I've been meaning to read, so those will be interspersed throughout the others.


So here's my summer laid out. It'll be a good one, I think -- certainly informative, if nothing else!