They tell me that trees are a wonderful sight
They have leaves hanging on them all day and all night.
They tell me the golden sun shines in the sky
It’s said to be so much brighter so high.
I’d like to hear birdsong and thunder and hail.
At all these pursuits worms are likely to fail.
We only make holes in the soil as we move
And we know almost nothing about feelings and love.
We don’t know why we’re here or what purpose we serve
And our earthen workplace is also our grave.

We must be grateful to the lowly of all kinds.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9797617/Shakespeare-and-Wordsworth-boost-the-brain-new-research-reveals.html

 

“The research also found that reading poetry, in particular, increases activity in the right hemisphere of the brain, an area concerned with “autobiographical memory”, helping the reader to reflect on and reappraise their own experiences in light of what they have read. The academics said this meant the classics were more useful than self-help books.

Philip Davis, an English professor who has worked on the study with the university’s magnetic resonance centre, will tell a conference this week: “Serious literature acts like a rocket-booster to the brain.

“The research shows the power of literature to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and the staid alike.”

In the first part of the research, the brain activity of 30 volunteers was monitored as they read passages from Shakespeare plays, including King Lear, Othello, Coriolanus and Macbeth, and again as they read the text rewritten in simpler form.

While reading the plain text, normal levels of electrical activity were displayed in their brains. When they read Shakespeare, however, the levels of activity “jumped” because of his use of words which were unfamiliar to the readers.

^{Scans of brain activity during reading show heightened electrical activity when faced with ‘challenging’ texts by great writers}

In one example, volunteers read a line from King Lear: “A father and a gracious aged man: him have you madded”. They then read a simpler version: “A father and a gracious aged man: him you have enraged.”

Shakespeare’s use of the adjective “mad” as a verb sparked a higher level of brain activity than the straightforward prose.

The study went on to test how long the effect lasted. It found that the “peak” triggered by the unfamiliar word was sustained onto the following phrases, suggesting the striking word had hooked the reader, with their mind “primed for more attention”.

Some thinner branches tremble with desire
Reaching out beyond the shrub’s wide shape
The sun has drawn them up with its great fire

Yet, without learning, there is no Messiah.
No support exists, they sulk and drape
The thinner branches trembling with desire

To greatness and to height they had aspired
Now will they turn out sullen as they mope?
The sun has drawn them up with its great fire

Like the politicians who conspire
The European failure stole our hopes
Though little Hitlers tremble with desire

Unelected Minister, Prime liar.
Will he ever cross the final tape?
The sun has drawn Men up with its great fire.

As the West evolved through crime and rape
We were thought Enlightened in our scope
We loved the Inquisition, loved the fires
The gods have punished us and never tire.

The sight the sound the smell the feel of green

The flowers the birds the trees the inbetween

The ancient pathways leading to the lake

I climb up Orrest Head, for old time sake

Perceptions become dulled as we mature

We lose  more simple treasure every year.

We rarely see the other as they are

Our minds are fixed, our images grow bare.

I wander down the hill with wondering eye.

Feel my senses stroked by sun and sky

As I lie in bed on summer Nights

I remember natures fierce insights

In this unknown glory I must lie

The lion will love the lamb before he dies