William Wordsworth
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:—
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
I remember reading this poem in school as an adolescent in the mid -late nineties.It's been since then but I still recall it so very well. So that simply means it did touch me quite a bit.
Later we had sat down to decipher it and then answering questions about this famous Wordsworth masterpiece.
It holds a lot of meaning indeed. A noteworthy English Romantic poet like Wordsworth who was considered the nature poet or nature writer has put in a lot of thought into this particular work of his.
Without getting into too many details, here's a little summary for you guys...
Wordsworth is happy to observe the harmony in Nature. He sees, hears, and smells the flowers, the birds, and the trees, and it all delights him because each part of the scene he looks at is doing what it is designed to do. Unfortunately, Wordsworth’s happiness is marred by his own kind.
The stark contrast between Nature’s harmony and man’s world depresses him. He thinks people are unhappy because they do not act in the ways they were meant to act. In his mind, people have deviated from ‘Nature’s holy plan’ and have renounced a life of simplicity, spontaneity, and beauty for grief and strife. He has a feeling that society corrupts humans and causes them to forget the importance of Nature in life.
Wordsworth ends his poem by proclaiming- ‘Have I not reason to lament/What man has made of man?’
It makes clear the fact that man's unhappiness amidst the delicate chain of being in nature is caused by his pride which makes him think he's greater than what he is, and also his habit of complaining about God's sovereignty.
The few wise men of the world agreed and would agree with this kind of a feeling.
After remembering 26/11 in my last post and going through the memorial day on TV and web, it's been like an emotional upheaval of sorts for me. The heart for sure feels heavy.
But life is all about dealing with human nature and the harsh realities of the world, right?
And the best way to do it is looking at History…
And History repeats itself over and over and over again. Period.
It just that sometimes we don't have the knowledge to realize the same.
History was my major subject during my graduation. And I had taken it up because of my love for it, more than anything else. No matter what others said including those who felt it would never help any career, I really loved the subject.
Now that I’m older and wiser and not a young teenager as I was when I made my notes at home(without much help from the college or university which the college was affiliated to) to write the eight papers of my History major exams. So though I enjoyed reading the same, I never delved too deep. Or maybe I was just too immature for the same…
I scored good marks in all the papers but that’s about it.
I coax myself for the same everyday. People like us who grow up on their own but have a humane side need to know all these things, have the knowledge to handle things better in life.
In fact I've started talking about History after pretty long. Working in the frivolous word of Bollywood(even the name is a shameless copy),made my life quite unsubstantial as well.
Not that I wanted to be so. But there was no choice. That’s where my bread and butter was for a couple of years. So interviewing, editing stories of cheap star squabbles, what they do, speak, where they sleep, shop and so on, became my work.
As if there was nothing better to do in life, other than following the lives of a few people with not much wisdom or intellect.
Watching movies every day, first for Sony TV shows and then for reviews every Friday at the theater was a duty too. Some of them were unbearable to sit through but I suffered them just because it was my work. It was never out of love, mind you though!
I’m not saying every movie was bad. I have some good memories. There were substantial stuff said and done by the likes of Aamir Khan,A.R Rahman, Prasoon Joshi etc. Aamir's movies were quite good and there were some other substantial personalities in the industry.
So apart from Aamir Khan's patriotic 'Rang De Basanti', children centric 'Taare Zameen Par, I liked 'Gandhi, my father' and the not too old 'Jodhaa Akbar', a historical as well and a few other new age type of movies made in recent years. And of course I'm a classic movie fan.
But other than that, it was total stagnation. Also sadly the dumb outweigh the bright in that world.
But quitting that environment has come as a blessing.
I've always loved film history a lot too and like to keep in touch with world cinema. Never had a chance to do much of that. But now it's nice to blog about it and yes, I would love to add a bit of all that I perceived from various things in the book I write.
So talking of something substantial as History, one can see a lot and learn a lot…
While watching the special features on the 'Judgment at Nuremberg'(which dealt with the trials of the Nazi war criminals, how they were tried for crimes against humanity and so on) DVD, I viewed the interview of director Stanley Kramer's wife. And she had said something on the lines of how one needs to know one's past so that you can handle your present and future better.
There's indeed a lot to learn from many events. I won't be able to say much about how people behaved in the ancient world as there are not too many recordings in history about the cave man, how people actually were before they got civilized.
Yes, we do know about Alexander, Julius Caesar, many personalities from Indian history like Ashoka and so on,before the birth of Christ and a lot of corruption, politics, intrigue, conspiracies were recorded from these eras as well. Shakespeare later used some examples in his plays, especially his tragedies. Guess the genius always had some messages for the readers and viewers.
People are more comfortable with medieval and modern history as they are closer to our times.
The Tudor era(Shakespeare belonged to that era too),the French revolution, The American war of Independence, The Russian Revolution, World war I and II, the Vietnam war, the killing fields of Cambodia, the days of slavery, the Indian independence struggle and many interesting eras of Indian history- the list can go on. There won't be space for everything out here but these examples would kind of help us know even better that strife in human life is nothing new.
Luckily very recently I was introduced to the work of Robert Greene and he tells the same with great conviction and style through his books.His writing and research are remarkable.
This February I had the opportunity to visit the Tower of London. Well, it's historical and looks quite nice, and we happily clicked away pics and showed them off later.
Quite later the reality hit me hard. Gosh, this tower had such a bloody history with blood bath being the favorite hobby inside there.
While visiting the London Dungeon, we got a glimpse of what was actually going on there. Delving into the history of London one gets a first hand experience of the gore, the inhuman tortures that were taking place just 500- 600 years ago. Hanging people upside them, boiling them, butchering them alive and most importantly the perpetrators had seemed to enjoy it all…
I couldn't bring myself to play the executioner and pretend to chop heads with an axe even though it was just for a picture. It's just too sadistic a pic to keep...
Gosh, it’s pathetic. The cold behavior could beat the extremely cold London winter hands down.
There were horror stories told of poverty, dirt, squalor, plague, fire and murder et al.
I've been a fan of the Tudor period in English history(1485 and 1603).
Well,in history everyone would enjoy reading about the Tudors as that’s considered the most colorful era in English and even Europe History. So much so that it gets depicted on screen over and over again-the reigns of Henry V111 and his six queens, "Bloody Mary" Tudor(during whose reign thousands were burnt at the stake) and the golden age of Elizabeth.
The history books wouldn't delve on the gore as much as the TV shows or the stuff on the net do.
When I was a student myself,'Elizabeth' directed by Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor would show on TV most of the time and it really made things interesting for me. Definitely more interesting than the text books.
Though I never saw the show 'The Tudors' on TV, I followed up much of it online and on youtube. It was nicely made but glamorized things quite a bit( that’s understandable since it's meant to attract viewers) and yes, stayed true to the gore of executions and torture..
On another note, I am a fan of the wonderful Natalie Portman's work but her Anne Boleyn act in 'The Other Boleyn Girl' has been blasted by most people who know the real history. It was full of made up things and was filled with accusations against Anne and George Boleyn which never really happened.In fact majority said that the siblings were just framed.
Wonder why she decided to be a part of such a faulty film which makes a joke out of history. There are other examples of faulty films but this will always be counted as a noteworthy name in the black list.
People like me already know that you are a good actress Natalie(pictured on top as Anne Boleyn with Jim Sturgess as her brother George Boleyn)...
The little live wire in 'Leon', the bald act in 'V for Vendetta', and now the acclaimed 'Black Swan'. Girl you needn't need to do more!
I imagine this girl playing Mother Mary with her serene face and cool temperament, not a half baked character like that.
In history Queen Anne Boleyn who is the mother of one of the most successful and loved English queens Elizabeth, is seen as a victim more than a schemer( though the argument is always on) and so are Mary, Queen of Scots, Marie Antoinette( during the French revolution) Queen Alexandra of Russia( in whose reign the Russian Revolution) happened). Queen Alexandra's daughters and young son for sure look like young victims of the communist regime.
Some one had said: "History is one of those things that we can argue about and have opinions about, but most of the time we don’t actually know the real answer, what REALLY happened."
But at least there's enough material out there to read, find out and discuss.
Guess they were gray characters with their shares of issues, but not completely black.
Catherine Howard, another Tudor Queen was the guilty one and has been called 'the stupidest girl in the world' for playing with fire and having an extra martial affair right under the nose of her very power crazed and ruthless older husband Henry VIII.
Jane Boleyn nee Parker made it all possible for the young, silly and immature queen who wanted to have the best of both worlds- be a powerful queen but also enjoy a colorful life as well where her needs are taken care of by young men something which her old husband couldn't do. This despite both of them knowing that their relative Anne Boleyn(cousin of Howard and sister- in-law of Lady Rochford) had been falsely implicated and executed for adultery and incest only six years before.
Their own heads rolled soon. Nobody considered the fact that Catherine was actually younger than her husband's eldest daughter Mary Tudor as well as his bastard son.She was reportedly only around 21/22 at that time and that very fact could have granted her forgiveness. But she had hurt the king's huge ego and she, her extra marital lover Thomas Culpepper as well as one of her lovers before marriage Francis Dereham met with gory ends. Another one, her music teacher Henry Mannox had testified against her and hence he was spared.
The politics in the English court during that time was ruthless indeed!
Jane Boleyn, the Lady Rochford who was much older than the immature queen paid her price within just six years. In 1536 she had falsely accused and set up her husband George Boleyn and sister -in-law Anne Boleyn.In February 1542, she herself lost her head and she was childless at that time as well, unlike Anne who had little Elizabeth. She would later became one of the greatest English monarchs.
Thomas Cromwell who had plotted to end Anne Boleyn's power in 1536 too met his end in a similar fashion in the Tower of London in 1540. In fact he had also reportedly framed four innocent men making them look like Queen Anne's lovers and brought about their end.
Poetic justice indeed! "What goes around comes around", "As you sow, so shall you reap"- the sayings do hold some truth at times.
By the way, it's been argued and said that it was actually the patriarch of the family, Thomas Boleyn who put his children Anne and George in great danger by placing them(Anne, George as well as the eldest daughter Mary Boleyn) in court because of his love for power and later not doing enough to save them when the conspiracy was hatched to bring them down.
Ghost stories say that his spirit would be hounded for 1000 years for abandoning his family in the cowardly and dastardly manner!!!
Well, considering so many unjustified killings during those times,there are probably ghost stories that haunt every castle and palace of England.Spooky tours are quite famous out there indeed!
Lady Jane Grey from the Tudor period again was an innocent victim who became a pawn in her families' power games.
Love for power has indeed been a great pastime for years.And power and riches for some have always come before family.
For those who like history, the following link is recommended for more...
http://garethrussellcidevant.blogspot.com/
For more on the colorful Tudors, the following sites can be checked...
http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/
http://www.elizabethfiles.com/
Anne Frank was one of the young victims of the extremely cruel Jewish massacre by Hitler and the Nazis comes from a famous, much talked about era too- World war II (1939 to 1945).
My favorite classic actress Audrey Hepburn had widely talked about the sufferings of that period during her childhood and how it made her feel one with Frank who was almost the same age as her.
The Oscar winning 'Schindler's List' had depicted the pathetic state of the Jews quite well.
The girl who lost her life before the age of 16 had written in her famous diary,“I still believe in spite of everything that people are really good at heart.”
But is it actually true? If you look at the majority population of the world, that’s not it. Doesn't seem so at all.
Hitler killed himself and The Nazis and the Fascists were tried and punished for crimes against humanity. Quite justified indeed!
Forgiveness is divine but only applies to a select few. Some things are unforgivable. Humanity and sympathy are for humans, not for monsters.Period.
Looking at the Killing Fields in Cambodia, The Nazi era, massacres in China, Atom bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and so on, it doesn't seem that all people are really 'good at heart'. It can just be called a perception of a poor little girl, an innocent victim.
It's all about domination of the weak by the strong. No wonder people have always run after power and riches.
Closer to my country of birth, India, it's known how ruthlessly Aurangzeb had removed his brothers and imprisoned his father Shah Jahan( who built the monument of love, The Taj Mahal for his wife and Aurangzeb's mother Mumtaz Mahal).Then he persecuted all non Muslims under his rule. Soon after his demise, the Mughal empire faded away.
His great grandfather Akbar was the complete opposite. He had a Hindu wife and several ministers and advisers from other religions and sects. And the Mughal empire was flourishing under his rule. Liberalism helped him to usher the golden age in Mughal history.
So a few people who propagate humanity, tolerance and love can positively change the world for themselves and others.Even though there are a handful like that, but they are easily outnumbered.
If you go to look at it, you see so much of the negativity in real life, all around us. It's just that it takes a while to fathom things and for some, they don't understand it at all.
A child is pure and innocent. The corruption sets in as the person gets older as some of them let the vices take over.
When I was the gawky little girl and even as late as last year I wondered why people are needlessly mean to each other! Why do they like to pass comments knowingly to make the other person feel small, even when the person concerned is not doing/ saying anything offensive? Worse still, why do things to harm the harmless, someone who's engaged in his/her space?
So silly of me to take so long to realize something so simple.
Then when the great realization( it was always there, I just didn't get it) hit me one fine day, i felt sad but grateful too.
Well, it all stems out of envy, resentment, arrogance and the various other vices most people like to cultivate. And once they are nurtured well thanks to an easy environment for them to grow, with company, circumstances et al, they just takes over the person's personality.
The person who attacks usually lacks or thinks he/she lacks in something which the target has. So the mean words and deeds provide some kind of sadistic pleasure to him/her.
Just like Wordsworth, some other wise people have also expressed discontent about the balance in nature and the animal kingdom and the lack of the same among human beings.
I must mention here again that domination of the weak is another natural human tendency. Once someone is at a weak spot, some just jump in to make the person even more miserable. It's only a few really kind ones who sympathize with people who are down and out.
It has all gone on for ages...
Now strong animals can dominate and kill weaker ones.But then animals never kill for pleasure, only for food.
People can achieve a lot by being positive, progressive and constructive,and do that without harming anyone. But still most choose negativity, regression and destruction. Maybe it's just inherent in their personalities.
Except for the truly spiritually aware few who preach positivity, no one can change the base tendencies.
Guess the ones that exude positivity and love are the people who make the world livable and a better place. I so wish their number would increase though.
Some religious sects say 2012 or at least 2036/37 will change it all. And the new world order of peace and love and goodness will be established. There will be heaven on earth as the evil wanes away…
They believe the pure children of the one true God who propagate goodness will survive.
I recently also heard an argument how the pure, the honest,the harmless ones and the protectors have been waiting for the same for ages ...
As of now, all that seems like a distant dream. We can only wait and watch.
Till then, here's a link to an article that deals with a similar topic-
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-do-we-treat-each-other-with-such-disrespect.html
