A Valentine's Day love song

It's ok for everyone, the English- speaking ones and the French :)

Gallant

From: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gallant

Gallant: "a young man of fashion", a ladies' man, "a man who enjoys being with and giving attention to women", "a man who shows a marked fondness for the company of women or is especially attentive to women".

Epiphany

From: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epiphany

epiph·a·ny

 noun \i-ˈpi-fə-nē\

Epiphany : a Christian festival held on January 6 in honor of the coming of the three kings to the infant Jesus Christ

: a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way

plural epiph·a·nies

Full Definition of EPIPHANY

1

capitalized :  January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ

2

:  an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being

3

a (1) :  a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) :  an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) :  an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure

b :  a revealing scene or moment

What's in a poem/ 2

The Solitary Reaper, William Wordsworth, 1807.

Henry Bacon, The Peasant Girl, 1883

"Behold her single in the field... Reaping and singing by herself..."

 

"Among the farthest Hebrides"

Flow Gently, Sweet Afton

"Will no one tell me what she sings? - 

Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow 

For old, unhappy, far-off things, 

And battles long ago: 

Or is it some humble lay, 

Familiar matter of to-day? 

Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, 

That has been, and may be again?" 

What's in a poem

Daffodils, by William Wordsworth, 1804.
Senses, emotions, poetic inspiration: "poetry is emotion recollected in tranquillity" (Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, 1798, 1800).
The poet lived most of his life in the Lake District.

        Below, Wordsworth's house in Grasmere, Dove Cottage.

Daffodils bloom in early spring. 

Listen to the poem read by a famous English actor, Jeremy Irons.

"A host of golden daffodils"

Happy 2014

The Tempest

A post in progress...

Prospero, former duke of Milan, has been living on a desert island in the Mediterranean with his daughter Miranda since the day his brother Antonio usurped and exiled him.

Prospero is a wizard and he uses magic to provoke a tempest and the apparent sinking of Antonio's accomplice ship, king Alonso, on their way back to Naples from Tunis.

Antonio, the king and his son Ferdinand, his court and the mariners are thrown on different points of the island.
Each character is convinced that the others died, while the king's ship is "safely in harbour". 

Free icons for non-commercial use from: http://sweetclipart.com/ and http://www.clker.com/

On Prospero's arrival the island was inhabited by Caliban, the son of the witch Sycorax, and by a  magical being, Ariel. 

Prospero makes the half-human Caliban his slave and Ariel his magical helper.

Trinculo, a jester at king Alonso's court, on first seeing Caliban says: 

What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient fish- like smell; a kind of not the newest Poor- John. A strange fish!

 But soon he realizes the "fish" is: 

Legged like a man and his fins like arms! Warm o’ my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; hold it no longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt.

The spirit Ariel is invisible to common people, though they can hear his music.  
He helps Prospero in taking his - bloodless - revenge against his usurpers and getting his dukedom back. 
He is painted as a nymph (below).

William Hamilton, Prospero and Ariel, 1797

Or as a spirit with a somewhat animal face, like in Fuseli's painting (below). "On the bat's back I do fly".

Henry Fuseli, Ariel, 1800-1810

  
In William Hogarth's Scene from The Tempest, Ariel is an angel musician (below, left, on top of the rock), while Caliban (below, right) is a poor being, deformed, sentenced to hard labour.

William Hogarth, The Tempest, 1728.

It is Ariel's hypnotic music that guides the young prince and the other shipreck, in small groups, from different points of the island, towards Prospero's cave. 

While Ferdinando is following the path traced by Ariel's music, he meets Miranda. 

She is astonished at the sight of the young man: the only human being she has ever known is her father and she wonders if Ferdinando is of their same species.

The two young ones fall in love at first sight.

Before giving his consent to their wedding, Prospero tries Ferdinando charging him with hard work, that the young man dutifully carries on.