Poem: Ode to the West Wind

During the Romantic era, nature is the source of inspiration for many Poets. Through nature, Poets see beauty; and thus, come the inspiration. Not an exception, Percy Bysshe Shelly, a Romantic poet, is also fascinated by the beauty of nature, hence, incorporates many of natural elements in his poem. Line below you is the poem "Ode to the West Wind" by Shelly, which is a perfect example that demonstrates this fact. In this poem, Shelly views nature as a source of beauty, which is being illustrated through many natural imageries including leaves, clouds, flowers etc. Not only that, Shelley also makes many references to the season of the year, such as autumn, winter, and spring. This again reinforces and emphasizes the idea of romanticism whereas nature is often viewed as beautiful, aesthetic, and variation.


Here is the link to Ode to the West Wind:
http://www.bartleby.com/101/610.html

Art: Delacroix's Massacre of Chios

The painting below is known as “Delacroix’s Massacre of Chios” ” by Eugène Delacroix, a French romantic artist, created during the romantic era - in the year of 1824. A dream-like atmosphere with natural elements is common to a number of masterpieces of Romanticism; ironically, in this painting Delacroix is trying to capture the real-life image of wartime whereas death and suffering are prominent. This piece, moreover, is a product of revolution, it reflect human's sacrifice in order to have freedom during the Greek War of Independence. To be specific, this four-meters painting is an imitation of the historical event Chios Massacre, in which tens thousands of Grecian were slaughter on the island of Chios by Ottoman troops in 1822. In this painting, there is a frieze-like displays of thirteen civilians - men, women, and children – have been gathered, by three Ottoman soldiers, and are ready for slaughter.  The background of the canvas appears to be in a desert with rendering of clouds altogether in a brownish and black colour, which creating a dark tones for this canvas. The fact that there is no life, plant, in the background also reinforces death, the sense of hopelessness for this piece. Hope you like it!

                                                      
                                   The Massacre at Chios (1824) by Eugène Delacroix. 

Music: Beethoven's 6th Symphony

Speaking about classical music, perhaps, Ludwig van Beethoven is the name that we all know of.  Just as automatically as we associate modern music with excitement, we associate Beethoven’s
work with emotion.  Not an exception,   “Beethoven’s 6^th Symphony – Pastoral” is also an emotional piece. Beethoven completed this piece in the year of 1808 – the era of romanticism.  The period whereas people labelled it to be “the age of emotion”, and this symphony clearly demonstrates this fact. In many ways, one can experience varieties of emotion while listening to this piece. At the beginning of the piece, one can experience the peaceful feeling due to the softly sound of the violin combined with the slow beat and tempo. As the song continuing to flow, however, the rhythm also shift to become more faster; percussion instruments are also join in the band, giving the audiences an excitement feeling.  Another name for this piece is Pastoral Symphony, this again display the characteristic of the Romantic era because nature one of the dominant theme during this period.  As for me, when I first listened to it, I was really surprise how similar it is to the Vietnamese’s music, slow and calm tempo combine with such instrument like violin etc. Perhaps, I think Western and Eastern people all share the same taste of music after all.  It was enjoyable listening to it.

Quotation


"The only porpose for which power can be rightfully excersed over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." (J.S.Mill)

In another words, the only time when an individual can rightfully use his power over any member of a civilized community is to protect the people; and thus, benefiting the society. Using the power for his own happiness is still considered ethically wrong. This quote was written by John Stuart Mill, a philosopher who widely known for his theory of utilitarianism, in his essay “On Liberty” during the year of 1859 – a period of tyranny. This quote, hence, is designate specially for those people who involve in politic, and it allows them to use their power correctly.

Congratulations To Nirmal Patel!!!

Here is the answer for round 1: the correct answer is chapter 5
Pic 1: Norburu's gang
Pic 2: Death
Pic 3: Tiger wood, and as you all know tiger is a cat. Thus, the answer for picture number 3 is cat!

Nirmal has played my bonus game in an attempt to win $10 prize in cash. Unfortunately, he only won $1.

Round one

   

The Rule

I want to create a FUN game that also allow us to know this novel better.

So here is the rule for this game:
- I will provide you with 1-5 pictures , or a code (can be place, object, everything) all in a particular chapter of this novel
- Your job is to guess which chapter, character, places... these pictures/code located/represent.
- Each person only allowed to answer once.
- The first person that accurately answer  my question will be the winner
- In term of prize, I will tell you about it later.

Have fun guys