Poem of the Week: March 27th-April 2nd

The poem of the week this week was composed by Rainer Maria Rilke. The theme in this poem can be categorized as “Hope.”
[Do you still remember: falling stars]

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875 – 1926
Do you still remember: falling stars,

how they leapt slantwise through the sky

like horses over suddenly held-out hurdles

of our wishes—did we have so many?—

for stars, innumerable, leapt everywhere;

almost every gaze upward became

wedded to the swift hazard of their play,

and our heart felt like a single thing

beneath that vast disintegration of their brilliance—

and was whole, as if it would survive them!

Poem of the Week: March 20th-March 26th

The poem of the week is called “Spring” and is written by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Since it’s the first day of spring, I found this poem to be a good fit for the week. Hopkins discusses the beauty of spring in this poem, and also relates “spring” to innocence.

Spring

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

BRHS Considers New Schedule for 2017-2018 School Year

Administration at the high school is considering a new schedule for the 2017-2018 school year.  This schedule is designed to better incorporate band and chorus into the students’ schedules.  To do this there will be designated classes which run on a semester schedule (periods 1 and 4 classes) and there will be classes which run throughout the entire school year (periods 2 and 3).  Periods 1 and 4 classes will meet everyday through the semester, while periods 2 and 3 classes will alternate everyday (blue and gold days) for the year.  This schedule makes classes such as band and chorus more accessible for students who cannot sacrifice CORE time.  Mr. Welch feels that this will be beneficial because “the arts need to be better represented in our school.”  This newly developed schedule will not affect AP classes which will still meet everyday throughout the entire school year.

Poem of the Week: March 6th to March 12th

The poem of the week this week is by Emily Dickinson and is titled “Hope is the thing with feathers”. This poem is one of my favorites, as its main motif is hope. Dickinson compares hope to a bird “that perches in the soul”. Through her extended metaphor, she discusses the significance and influence hope has in one’s life. She explains how hope becomes the drive for success, even through the darkest of storms.

Hope is the thing with feathers (254)

Emily Dickinson, 1830 – 1886

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

 

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

 

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.