Emily Dickinson

I’m sure some of you guys are aware the April is National Poetry Month!  I haven’t been exposed to a wide variety of poetry but I enjoy what I’ve read.  For the rest of the month I decided to share some of my favorite poets and poetry here, starting with Emily Dickinson.

When I think about Dickinson I picture the quintessential introvert artist.  A very brief re-cap of her life: she was born to a decently well-off family in the early 1800s and was described as a “perfectly well and contented” child.  Eventually Dickinson went to study at an Academy before leaving to return to her family’s home and take care of her dying father, from then on death seemed to follow her (heavily reflected in her poetry).  As she continued further into adult her, she became increasingly secluded from outside life devoting herself to her close friends, family, and her garden (also a major theme in her poetry).

None of her poems were published in her life-time – instead her younger sister published them posthumously which is one of the reasons most of her poems’  titles are often the first line of the poem, Dickinson rarely ever named her poems.

That’s an incredibly brief and simplified history of Emily Dickinson – I encourage everyone to research her life and history more if they haven’t already!  Also, please appreciate that the amount of dashes used in a single 4 stanza poem – I wouldn’t be surprised if my love of dashes is somehow linked to my love of Dickinson.

Inspired by “I Dwell in the Possibility –“(466)

First line from “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” (314)

Quote from Emily Dickinson

First stanza from “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” (303)

Maps

I’m a fan of Oliver Jeffers – I’ve made this very clear on my blog – but, I forget that he’s an artist as well as an author/illustrator.  The following is a collection of maps done between 2009 and 2013, they’re all very pretty and colorful and whimsically!

Watercolor Quotes

I really am a sucker for watercolors… and John Green… and beautiful words from Fault in Our Stars.  I think this illustration is inspiring in of itself, added with the words – I want this framed so badly!

Public Libraries

Public libraries big and small, old and new have played a hugely important role in society – they are a reflection of the community they seek to serve, they act as a meeting place, a place to share thoughts and ideas, and as a hub for book lovers.  In the entire history of public libraries no one has forced a library into existence; it grows from a natural desire within the community and is then sustained by the community to better serve the unique characteristics and demands within the community.

Public libraries are not a new idea – many can date back to the Roman era, then to the British Empire, and Benjamin Franklin’s establishing the Library Company of Philadelphia – but in the mid-19th century a push was made to increase the number of these libraries and make them truly public (paid for by taxes and run by the state or a board of directors).

I was blessed to grow up in a family where books were treasured, my mother read to my brothers and I, and our weekly trips to the library were a family affair.  I knew where the 3 closest public libraries where, which one had the best selection of books, which one had the cool second floor, and which one my mom would take us to after grocery shopping.  I love public libraries, I grew-up surrounded by them and deeply submerged in the culture – there is a certain kind of magic in that which is worth fighting to preserve.

I recently saw some picture Robert Dawson (a California-based photographer) took for his book The Public Library: A Photographic Essay and was reminded of of integral libraries are to healthy communities and I wanted to share some of the images of libraries all over America that he took.

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Admont Benedictine Monastery

I was struck by the fairy-tale like beauty and history in the Admont Benedictine Monastery and their collection of artwork and books is quite impressive.  It boasts the world’s largest monastery library and vibrant frescos in the typical Baroque style.  It’s hard to believe this was built almost a thousand years ago!

The Greatest Bookshelves

I love beautiful and creative bookshelves!  It’s the blend of practicality and artistic that makes me weak in the knees and re-assess my budget to try and find a way to afford these beauties.  The fact that structurally these can work makes me even more excited!!

Book Posters

A while back I posted about Litograph a poster which boasts the first 75,000 words from each story – I found a set of posters that post the entire novel on a 20” x 16” poster!  They have all the classics: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, ect.  If only I’d found this when my roommates and I first began trying to decorate the apartment I could have decked my walls with books… literally decorating my walls with books.  The only major problem I see with these is how pricey they are.  Oh well, I’ll share them here in case anyone else is trying to find a classy way to decorate a bare wall:

More Tree-houses!

I love tree-houses – there’s a childish part of me that wants to live Swiss Family Robinson style in a giant cluster of redwoods and become a hermit with a killer library and breath-taking views.  For me tree-houses (and forts now that I think about it) capture the child-like wonder and novel excitement many have when being in forests surrounded by natural beauty.

With that in mind it makes sense for me to Google things like “circle tree-house” when I should be doing grown-up things like making dinner.  While searching for tree-houses I found this hotel place in Vancouver Island’s rain forest that rents spherical tree-houses, for me, this is the dream!  I could live in a sphere dangling above a lush forest – forget being afraid of heights – this is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time!  There are 3 different hanging tree-houses available to rent, each one sleeps 1-2 people and has a bed, a table, kitchenette, and giant cozy windows overlooking the forest.  Get excited people!

Quotes

This has been a major problem for me lately!  Whenever I go to a bookstore I see all these books that are calling to me – it’s not my fault that I buy them!!  I’ve had to accept that I will never finish my book list, it’s just too long and I add books to the list by the wheelbarrow.

Watercolors

I love watercolor paintings and today I stumbled across Cate Parr‘s etsy store and was blown away by her beautiful art.  Her portraits feels alive, like the models are caught in the middle of moving about their daily life – I find it so interesting the way each woman’s hair is different both in colors, textures, and style and adds to their individual personalities.