Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden - 4 Weddings and a Funeral

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: Tuesday, 31 January 2012 04:07


Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling in the sky the message He is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W. H. Auden - In Memory Of W. B. Yeats

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 04:01


W. H. Auden reads Part 1 of his poem In Memory Of W. B. Yeats

In Memory Of W. B. Yeats
by W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

I

He disappeared in the dead of winter:
The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,
And snow disfigured the public statues;
The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.
What instruments we have agree 
The day of his death was a dark cold day.

Far from his illness
The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,
The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;
By mourning tongues
The death of the poet was kept from his poems.

But for him it was his last afternoon as himself,
An afternoon of nurses and rumours;
The provinces of his body revolted,
The squares of his mind were empty,
Silence invaded the suburbs,
The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.

Now he is scattered among a hundred cities
And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections,
To find his happiness in another kind of wood
And be punished under a foreign code of conscience.
The words of a dead man
Are modified in the guts of the living.

But in the importance and noise of to-morrow
When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the Bourse,
And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly accustomed,
And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom,
A few thousand will think of this day
As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual.

O all the instruments agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day.

II

You were silly like us; your gift survived it all:
The parish of rich women, physical decay,
Yourself. Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.
Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still,
For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives
In the valley of its making where executives
Would never want to tamper, flows on south
From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs,
Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,
A way of happening, a mouth.

III

Earth, receive an honoured guest:
William Yeats is laid to rest.
Let the Irish vessel lie
Emptied of its poetry.

In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate;

Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face,
And the seas of pity lie
Locked and frozen in each eye.

Follow, poet, follow right
To the bottom of the night,
With your unconstraining voice
Still persuade us to rejoice;

With the farming of a verse
Make a vineyard of the curse,
Sing of human unsuccess
In a rapture of distress;

In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.

W. H. Auden - Seascape

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:57


W. H. Auden reads his poem Seascape

Seascape
by W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

Look, stranger, at this island now
The leaping light for your delight discovers,
Stand stable here
And silent be,
That through the channels of the ear
May wander like a river
The swaying sound of the sea.

Here at the small field's ending pause
Where the chalk wall falls to the foam, and its tall ledges
Oppose the pluck
And knock of the tide,
And the shingle scrambles after the sucking surf, and the gull lodges
A moment on its sheer side.

Far off like floating seeds the ships
Diverge on urgent voluntary errands;
And the full view
Indeed may enter
And move in memory as now these clouds do,
That pass the harbour mirror
And all the summer through the water saunter.

W. H. Auden - First Things First

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:55


W. H. Auden reads his poem First Things First

First Things First
by W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

Woken, I lay in the arms of my own warmth and listened
To a storm enjoying its storminess in the winter dark
Till my ear, as it can when half-asleep or half-sober,
Set to work to unscramble that interjectory uproar,
Construing its airy vowels and watery consonants
Into a love-speech indicative of a Proper Name.

Scarcely the tongue I should have chosen, yet, as well
As harshness and clumsiness would allow, it spoke in your praise,
Kenning you a god-child of the Moon and the West Wind
With power to tame both real and imaginary monsters,
Likening your poise of being to an upland county,
Here green on purpose, there pure blue for luck.

Loud though it was, alone as it certainly found me,
It reconstructed a day of peculiar silence
When a sneeze could be heard a mile off, and had me walking
On a headland of lava beside you, the occasion as ageless
As the stare of any rose, your presence exactly
So once, so valuable, so very now.

This, moreover, at an hour when only to often
A smirking devil annoys me in beautiful English,
Predicting a world where every sacred location
Is a sand-buried site all cultured Texans do,
Misinformed and thoroughly fleeced by their guides,
And gentle hearts are extinct like Hegelian Bishops.

Grateful, I slept till a morning that would not say
How much it believed of what I said the storm had said
But quietly drew my attention to what had been done
— So many cubic metres the more in my cistern
Against a leonine summer —,putting first things first:
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

W. H. Auden - The Wanderer

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:52


W. H. Auden reads his poem The Wanderer

The Wanderer
by W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

Doom is dark and deeper than any sea-dingle.
Upon what man it fall
In spring, day-wishing flowers appearing,
Avalanche sliding, white snow from rock-face,
That he should leave his house,
No cloud-soft hand can hold him, restraint by women;
But ever that man goes
Through place-keepers, through forest trees,
A stranger to strangers over undried sea,
Houses for fishes, suffocating water,
Or lonely on fell as chat,
By pot-holed becks
A bird stone-haunting, an unquiet bird.
There head falls forward, fatigued at evening,
And dreams of home,
Waving from window, spread of welcome,
Kissing of wife under single sheet;
But waking sees
Bird-flocks nameless to him, through doorway voices
Of new men making another love.

Save him from hostile capture,
From sudden tiger's leap at corner;
Protect his house,
His anxious house where days are counted
From thunderbolt protect,
From gradual ruin spreading like a stain;
Converting number from vague to certain,
Bring joy, bring day of his returning,
Lucky with day approaching, with leaning dawn.

W.H. Auden's "O Where are you Going ?" - Poetic Post Card

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:49


O Where are you Going ?
WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN
(1907-1973)

"O where are you going ?" said reader to rider,
"That valley is fatal when furnaces burn,
Yonder's the midden where odours will madden,
That gap is the grave where the tall return."

"O do you imagine," said fearer to farer,
"That dusk will delay on your path to the pass,
Your diligent looking discover the lacking
Your footsteps feel from granite to grass ?"

"O what was that bird," said horror to hearer,
"Did you see that shape in the twisted trees ?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,
The spot on your skin is a shocking disease."

"Out of this house" - said rider to reader,
"Yours never will" - said farer to fearer,
"They're looking for you" - said hearer to horror,
As he left them there, as he left them there.

W. H. Auden - The Unknown Citizen

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:46


W. H. Auden - The Unknown Citizen - Read by Alfred Molina

The Unknown Citizen
by W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

(To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content 
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

Jane Austen Speaks

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:40

Invite Jane Austen to speak at your school assembly, museum, library, or Jane Austen themed special event. Available as a 30 or 60 minute performance, let Jane Austen speak to you about her life, loves and family. Drawing from Jane Austen's letters, novels and Juvenilia, Jane speaks to you from Chawton Cottage in the autumn of 1815. Her first three novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park have been published, and Emma is complete. Actress Debra Ann Miller portrays Jane Austen in the most vibrant and hopeful time of her life.

Becoming Jane | Love Story

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:36



Jane Austen - A Letter To Her Niece

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:32

Jane Austen (1775-1817) - A Letter To Her Niece - Read by Kate Reading

The World Of Jane Austen

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:30

A brief glimpse into the mind of Jane Austen as we see her writing some of her most famous novels.

What Is Jane Austen, more than the cultivation of the mind?

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:27

There was nothing really plain about Jane Austen 1775 - 1817. Her novels, which have become classics in their own right, allow us today to share the memory of the robust society in which she lived.


Jane Austen's Biography

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:24


A presentation created by Sheila Morato

"... The time in which Jane Austen wrote her novels was a period of great stability just about to give way to a time of unimagined changes. At that time most of England's population (some thirteen million) were involved in rural and agricultural work: yet within another twenty years, the majority of Englishmen became urban dwellers involved with industry, and the great railway age had begun. Throughout the early years of the century the cities were growing at a great rate; the network of canals was completed, the main roads were being remade. Regency London, in particular, boomed and became, among other things, a great centre of fashion. On the other hand, England in the first decade of the nineteenth century was still predominantly a land of country towns and villages, a land of rural routines which were scarcely touched by the seven campaigns of the Peninsular War against Napoleon...
Austen presents a rather cool and objective view of the society behaviour at her time and the limited options of the women. Genteel women could not get money except by marrying for it or inheriting it. They had to acquire accomplishments such as ability to draw, sing, play music, or speak modern languages (French, Italian) to attract a husband. 
Even though, her heroines have distinct and sparkling personalities as the character Elizabeth Bennet insist on being treated: as a rational creature rather than as an elegant female."

Clement R. Attlee

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:17


Attlee was the British Labour Party leader for 20 years, and presided over the 1945 - 1951 Labour government. This was the most significant reforming administration of 20th century Britain. It introduced the National Health Service, nationalised one fifth of the British economy, and granted independence to India.
Attlee was born on 2 January 1883. He had a conventional middle-class upbringing, and after going to Oxford University began a career as a barrister. However, he abandoned this to become a social worker in the East End of London, and later joined the Labour Party. He served in the army in World War One.
Attlee rose through the rank and file of the Labour Party which gave him a knowledge of Labour's culture and ethos that others from a similar social background, such as Hugh Dalton and Stafford Cripps, lacked. Attlee became member of parliament for Stepney in 1922 and served as a junior minister in the 1924 and 1929 - 1931 MacDonald governments. He became party leader in 1935, largely by default as many of his more charismatic rivals had lost their seats in the 1931 election. His quiet, unassuming personality led many to underestimate him. Plots to replace him were a regular occurrence throughout the next two decades, but Attlee had the self-assurance not to be perturbed by the machinations of Herbert Morrison or Ernest Bevin.
During World War Two, Attlee was a highly successful deputy prime minister in Churchill's coalition government. Then in 1945, when Labour swept to power in a landslide election victory, his combination of social conscience and staunch patriotism encapsulated Labour's experiment in democratic socialism. This led to the creation of the National Health Service and the nationalisation of coal mining and the steel industry. Attlee saw his role of premier as that of an umpire, reconciling the opinions of a cabinet composed of powerful personalities such as Morrison, Bevin and Aneurin Bevan. He played a critical role in supporting Bevin's Cold War diplomacy, and in accelerating independence for India, a cause which he had supported for many years.
After Labour's defeat in the general election of 1951, Attlee's effectiveness dramatically declined, his authority broken by factional fighting within the party. He resigned as leader in 1955 and accepted a peerage. He died on 8 October 1967.

Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee 1940

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 03:06

Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister Speaking at the United

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 02:12

History of Modern Britain - Episode 1 (Pt 4)

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 02:10




Episode 1 - 'Advance Britannia' (Pt 4)
1945 - 1955

- National Coal Board
- Coal industry nationalised
- European Coal & Steel Community
- Frozen Britain
- Plans for mass starvation
- Horsemeat, reindeer, whale steaks & Snoek



History of Modern Britain - Episode 1 (Pt 1)

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 02:00

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford - Queen Anne

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 01:52

Anne ( 1665 1714) became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding her brother-in-law, William III of England and II of Scotland. Her Catholic father, James II and VII, was deemed by the English Parliament to have abdicated when he was forced to retreat to France during the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III & II and Mary II, the only such case in British history. After Mary's death in 1694, William continued as sole monarch until his own death in 1702.


On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union 1707, England and Scotland were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain. Anne became its first sovereign, while continuing to hold the separate crown of Queen of Ireland and the title of Queen of France. Anne reigned for twelve years until her death in August 1714. Anne was therefore the last Queen of England and the last Queen of Scotland.

Anne's life was marked by many crises, both personally and relating to succession of the Crown and religious polarisation. Because she died without surviving issue, Anne was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. She was succeeded by her second cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover, who was a descendant of the Stuarts through his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, daughter of James VI & I.

Handel, G.F. (1685-1759) - Birthday Ode for Queen Anne I - Eternal source of light divine - OAE

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 01:35

'Eternal source of light divine' is a Birthday Ode for Queen Anne I (1665-1714), composed by Georg Friedrich Händel.
Performed by Kate Royal and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.


Handel, G.F. (1685-1759) - Birthday Ode for Queen Anne I - Eternal source of light divine - OAE

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 01:30

'Eternal source of light divine' is a Birthday Ode for Queen Anne I (1665-1714), composed by Georg Friedrich Händel.
Performed by Kate Royal and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Birthday Ode for Queen Anne, James Bowman, countertenor

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 01:19



Eternal Source of Light Divine, from Birthday Ode for Queen Anne (1665-1714; assumed the throne March 8, 1702; last of the House of Stuart), by George Frideric Handel. James Bowman, countertenor.








Eternal source of light divine
With double warmth thy beams display,
And with distinguishd glory shine,
To add a luster to this day.

Агриппа и Меценат. Семь дней истории.

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: Sunday, 29 January 2012 05:59

Алкивиад.

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 05:47

Алкивиад - игра в войну за обе стороны

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 05:41

Алкивиад - игра в войну за обе стороны

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , 05:39

Владимир Святой

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: , Friday, 27 January 2012 04:00

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Sunday, 22 January 2012 06:36

Посилання

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: 00:11

Єврейська громада Берегомета

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Labels: Friday, 20 January 2012 04:45

В 1880 евреи составляли 10,8% населения Б., в 1916 — 13,8%, в 1930 — 10%. В 1939 в Б. проживало 120 евреев (12%).Первыми евреями в Б. были, по-видимому, выходцы из Молд. кн-ва. В 17 в. в Б. существовали еврейская община, имелись синагога и кладбище. Евреи Б. были приверженцами вижницкого хасидизма. Осн. занятия — гончарное произ-во, лесоразработки и лесоторговля. В 1869 было открыто новое еврейское кладбище. В кон. 19 в. в Б. действовали 2 синагоги, 2 миквы, 3 хедера, 2 талмуд-торы, об-во «Томхе Цион», благотворит. об-во. В 1919—20 работала школа с преподаванием на иврите. В 1878—1925 раввином в Б. был Менахем-Алтер Дахнер, в 1925—41 — его сын Пинхас-Йосеф. В 1920—30-х гг. большинство евреев Б. были членами Мизрахи, действовали молодежная орг-ция «Бней-Акива» и «Га-Ноар га-Циони».В 1941—43 значит. часть евреев Б. была уничтожена. В 1944 неск. семей, выживших в лагерях Транснистрии, вернулись в Б. В 1945 Б. подверглось нападению украинских партизан. Было убито 5 евреев, сожжены все еврейские дома и 2 синагоги. Оставшиеся в живых 3 семьи переселились в Черновцы.С.Д.Абрамович, Ю.Г.Ткачев
Источник: Росссийкая  Еврейская Энциклопедия

La bataille d'Alexandre le Grand contre Darius III à Gaugamèles

Posted by Kupchanko_mm , Wednesday, 18 January 2012 01:43

La bataille de Gaugamèles s'est déroulée le 1er octobre 331 avant Jésus Christ. dans la plaine de Gaugamèles, dans le Nord de l'Irak actuel.

Par cette bataille, considérée comme l'une des plus importantes de l'Antiquité par les forces impliquées, le royaume de Macédoine a vaincu définitivement l'empire perse achéménide.

 
Forces en présence :
- Empire perse achéménide : 100 000 hommes (85 000 fantassins, 15 000 cavaliers, 200 chars à faux, 15 éléphants de guerre).
- Macédoniens et leurs alliés Grecs : 50 000 hommes (45 000 fantassins, 5 000 cavaliers).

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