Edited by Jim McCrory, Sunday, 30 June 2024, 10:23
Edward Hirsch is a poet and teacher I have always enjoyed reading about and listening to. So, when I spent four days on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands, I took a copy of his book How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. It’s not your average intro to poetry, he takes the reader into considerable depths.
Edward Hirsch is a poet and teacher I have always enjoyed reading about and listening to. So, when I spent four days on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands, I took a copy of his book How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. It’s not your average intro to poetry, he takes the reader into considerable depths.
However, among other things, I was caught up with his discussion of a few simple lines of William Whitman’s poem called “To You”. The poem addresses the stranger:
“Stranger, if you are passing, meet me and desire to speak to me,
Why should you not speak to me?
And why should I not speak to you?"
Here Whitman invites the reader to stop and pause.
It was interesting in that it transferred me into the moment as I sat reading in our campsite and observing strangers who would pass. Strangers from the Netherlands, France, Germany, England, and Scotland. With a nod, a hello, a hesitant good morning, these visitors from other lands hoped for an interchange. After all, they come, not just to view the landscape, but the culture. What better way other than absorb themselves in human contact?
Sadly, we have strangers at their best; they’re on holiday, they’re free from the stress, anxieties and challenges of life back home. We find each other at our best; we are peaked in human energy, emotion, and joy. We take delight in what each other has to offer.
On the way back from the Highlands, we stopped for a break at Glencoe. I saw a young lad on the grass reading.
“May I ask, what are you reading?” Suffice to say, he was glad I asked as he overflowed with admiration for the writer.
Two humans, four decades apart, but bonded in conversation.
One of the greatest conversations with apparent strangers took place in Luke 24:14-35,
Hello Stranger!
Edward Hirsch is a poet and teacher I have always enjoyed reading about and listening to. So, when I spent four days on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands, I took a copy of his book How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. It’s not your average intro to poetry, he takes the reader into considerable depths.
https://unsplash.com/@ante_kante
Edward Hirsch is a poet and teacher I have always enjoyed reading about and listening to. So, when I spent four days on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands, I took a copy of his book How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. It’s not your average intro to poetry, he takes the reader into considerable depths.
However, among other things, I was caught up with his discussion of a few simple lines of William Whitman’s poem called “To You”. The poem addresses the stranger:
“Stranger, if you are passing, meet me and desire to speak to me,
Why should you not speak to me?
And why should I not speak to you?"
Here Whitman invites the reader to stop and pause.
It was interesting in that it transferred me into the moment as I sat reading in our campsite and observing strangers who would pass. Strangers from the Netherlands, France, Germany, England, and Scotland. With a nod, a hello, a hesitant good morning, these visitors from other lands hoped for an interchange. After all, they come, not just to view the landscape, but the culture. What better way other than absorb themselves in human contact?
Sadly, we have strangers at their best; they’re on holiday, they’re free from the stress, anxieties and challenges of life back home. We find each other at our best; we are peaked in human energy, emotion, and joy. We take delight in what each other has to offer.
On the way back from the Highlands, we stopped for a break at Glencoe. I saw a young lad on the grass reading.
“May I ask, what are you reading?” Suffice to say, he was glad I asked as he overflowed with admiration for the writer.
Two humans, four decades apart, but bonded in conversation.
One of the greatest conversations with apparent strangers took place in Luke 24:14-35,
Luke 24 BSB (biblehub.com)