As you all know, I have been learning English by following Youtube teachers all along via the great VPN. Only people like me know how wonderful it is to have the chance to get around the bloody "Great Firewall", being plugged into the outside world directly. Recently while I am feeling lost a lot since my great Hive poet and friend decided to focus on his writing in the mainstream media market, instead of being around here, a kind of serendipity appears: I ran across a Youtuber named Ryan Freeman. You can say I am strongly attracted by or even infatuated with his videos on reading and analyzing poetry. If you happened to be a person who loves poems like me, his Youtube videos would be definitely a great place to enjoy. I sincerely recommend you subscribe to his channel!
(It is a very common kind of flower in my hometown. Pitifully I've never known its real/scientific name. We just call it "lazy wife" since they only bloom in the evening and night. But I love them, which reminds me of the mini-version of the Morning Glory.)
Here I would like to share 2 of his videos on poems with you, my dear readers. One is Mediocrity in Love Rejected by Thomas Carew; the other is a small poem--Fire and Ice by Robert Frost.
It is rather interesting for me to read these 2 poems by comparing them. They both refer to 2 extremes--one is about rejecting mediocrity, either love or disdain; the other about fire/desire and ice/hate. With that said, there is no need for me to speak more of them. Let's just click the link
and listen to the wonderful interpretations from Teacher Ryan together.
Mediocrity in Love Rejected
By Thomas Carew
Give me more love or more disdain;
The torrid, or the frozen zone,
Bring equal ease unto my pain;
The temperate affords me none;
Either extreme, of love, or hate,
Is sweeter than a calm estate.
Give me a storm; if it be love,
Like Danae in that golden shower
I swim in pleasure; if it prove
Disdain, that torrent will devour
My vulture-hopes; and he's possessed
Of heaven, that's but from hell released.
Then crown my joys, or cure my pain;
Give me more love, or more disdain.
My comment to Teacher Ryan is: I doubt whether this poem infused its passion and power into you or you infused your passion and power into this poem. All in all, I am overwhelmed by your reading and analysis. I love this poem due to your guide. I love its myth reference: Like Danae in that golden shower...
Fire and Ice
By Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
In this video's description bar, Teacher Ryan wrote: Let me know what you think and hope you enjoy! With this encouragement, I couldn't help pouring my heart out boldly:
"For my part, I say that the world will end in ice. Because I make sure that nobody else in the world has experienced the extreme coldness in heart than me. If they knew about my story, they would agree with me.
Fire and Ice is really a short but meaningful poem! Thank you for your wonderful analysis! No doubt, desire/fire and hate/ice are equally 2 powerful and destructive elements! But your channel is a treasure-trove for me. I even feel that my frozen heart has began to be melted by your passion and profound knowledge little by little. Maybe you can't imagine how I watched your videos greedily! I love your speeches! Such as "the dance with the vicissitudes of life", "the principle of enantidromia", as well as "Wilde's theory on pleasure and morality" etc.
And I am deeply moved by your words: 'You know sometimes the beauty is not outside, it is inside that counts. It is the beauty that is radiating forth from within that enlivens and beautifies the outside world. So carry that torch everywhere with you. Let your beauty shine.' Pitifully my torch inside has been snuffed completely by the ice outside...Now I am so glad that I have found your channel, trying my best to warm myself from you! Yeah, I want to swim in pleasure again...
Your channel deserves lots of suscribers from all over the world ! You are such a charming and bright star!"
I always believe that reading poem is a great emotional bridge to connect people from different cultural backgrounds and countries, helping them resonate with each other better!