Spring Poems

Here are two Spring poems to read. I hope you like them!

Sara Teasdale

April, by Sara Teasdale, 1884-1933
The roofs are shining from the rain,
The sparrows twitter as they fly,
And with a windy April grace
The little clouds go by.

Yet the back yards are bare and brown
With only one unchanging tree--
I could not be so sure of Spring
Save that it sings in me.

Edith Nesbit

Child's Song in Spring, by Edith Nesbit, 1858-1924
The silver birch is a dainty lady,
 She wears a satin gown;
The elm tree makes the old churchyard shady,
 She will not live in town.

The English oak is a sturdy fellow,
 He gets his green coat late;
The willow is smart in a suit of yellow,
 While brown the beech trees wait.

Such a gay green gown God gives the larches--
 As green as He is good!
The hazels hold up their arms for arches
 When Spring rides through the wood.

The chestnut's proud, and the lilac's pretty,
 The poplar's gentle and tall,
But the plane tree's kind to the poor dull city--
 I love him best of all!

Hymn For April-Count Your Blessings

The Hymn for the month of April is Count Your Blessings. The man who wrote this hymn was Johnson Oatman Jr.  To hear the hymn click here.

This painting by Mary Cassatt shows one of
many blessings!

(Verse 1)

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

(Refrain)

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!

(Verse 2)

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

(Refrain)

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!

(Verse 3)

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

(Refrain)

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!

(Verse 4)

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

(Refrain)

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!

Seurat Paintings Term 2 2013

The Rock Breakers Le Raincy 1882

Bathers at Asnieres 1883-1884

These pictures are of the paintings that our TBG Group has studied in the Winter Term 2013.  We have been studying Georges Seurat.  He is known for devising the technique of pointillism. Pointillism is when you use lots of tiny dots to create big pictures.  Many impressionists work we can understand better when we look at them far away.  I remember there was one time we went to a restaurant and when we first approached the booth there was a huge mural that you could tell was a car.  When I looked at it up close I saw millions of tiny dots.  This painting was the first time I really realized that impressionism is not just lots of colors on a canvas it is a really good picture you just have to look at it from far away.  Seurat used pointillism to fool the eye.  If he used the colors red and yellow right next to each other your brain brain would see orange.  When you look at his paintings closer you will see that there are a lot of tiny dots that are all different colors even though you only see one color from far away.  Look at The Rock Breakers Le Raincy to your right.  (If it is not big enough you can click on it)  See how many different colors you see in the woods behind the people.  I see purple, green, brown and lots of others.  Never assume that something is just one
color.  When I was drawing the in a garden I put some pink in the grass and orange in the tree trunks. The picture turne
d out to be one of the best in the class all because I used funny colors.  Its like my art teacher said, "You have to look at what colors are really in the leaf and not what you think it should be."  The leaf I was drawing ended up to have some shades of purple in it.  How funny is that?  One thing to remember is: Always Expect the Unexpected!

Sunday Afternoon at La Grande Jatte

The Circus 

The Eiffel Tower 1889

Johann Sebastian Bach - Term 2 2013

In Term 2 2013 we studied Johann Sebastian Bach.  Johann was born on March 31 1685 in Eisenach, Germany into a family of music.  He knew how to play the organ, harpsichord, the violin, and viola.  He served as director of music to Leopold Prince of Anhalt-Kothen and Royal Court Composer to August the third.  Many of Bach’s pieces are still well known today. Bach died July 28^th 1750.    The pieces that we listened to this term were 

• Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
• St. Matthew Passion (for 4 weeks)
• Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 (consists of one toccata and one fugue; do-able in 2 weeks)
• Well-Tempered Clavier (Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Book I)
• Goldberg Variations

To the right you will see a portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.  If you click on the picture it will become bigger. 

Here is a 16 Week Bach Study Guide that you can use.  It has a biography of Bach
Click here for Grooveshark's Bach Playlist. 
    

Folksong for March - All Through the Night

The Folksong for March is All Through the Night by John Ceiriog Hughes.

All the stars' twinkles say

All through the night

"This is the way to the realm of glory,"

All through the night.

Darkness is another light

That exposes true beauty

The Heavenly family in peace

All through the night.

O, how cheerful smiles the star,

All through the night

To light its earthly sister

All through the night.

Old age is night when affliction comes

But to beautify man in his late days

We'll put our weak light together

All through the night.

OR

Sleep my child and peace attend thee,

All through the night

Guardian angels God will send thee,

All through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping

Hill and vale in slumber steeping,

I my loving vigil keeping

All through the night.

While the moon her watch is keeping

All through the night

While the weary world is sleeping

All through the night

O'er thy spirit gently stealing

Visions of delight revealing

Breathes a pure and holy feeling

All through the night.

Hymn For March - Ah Holy Jesus

The Hymn for the month of March is Ah, Holy Jesus. The man who wrote this hymn was Johann Heerman (1630) the music is by Johann Crüger (1640).  Bach use this music as the basis for part of St. Matthew's Passion.  Click here to hear the music.

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord, Jesus, I it was denied Thee!
I crucified Thee.

Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.

For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.

A Calendar By Sara Coleridge

Sara Coleridge

A Calendar, by Sara Coleridge, 1802-1852

January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes, loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs
Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit; 
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant;
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat.