Welcome to The Pen Of The Muses! The posts below are often about theological, philosophical, political, lit., or writing topics because that's what's really important to me and what I'm most excited about sharing. But I am human. Man lives not by deep theological concepts alone. Not everything I post will be weighty.

-D.C. Salmon

Monday, October 31, 2011

Rhetoric Speach of the day- Blind Guardian


Speech of the day- Nov. 2nd (#11- D.C. Salmon)

Option B: Something nobody seems to appreciate.
Topic: Blind Guardian and why they are one of the best bands.

I.               There are many bands in this world, and obviously some are better then others. But what are the criteria for a good band? There are two main criteria that I would think of:
A-    The band must have aesthetic talent.
B-    The band must have a good topic in each of their songs.

II.             The German band- Blind Guardian is one of the best bands because it meets both of these standards.
A-    This band has always had great talent. They can play their instruments very fast, and yet they still have perfectly ordered notes. Their lyrics are always been organized well and filled with passion.
B-    Blind Guardian especially meets this standard because they always sing about classical literature such as The Illiad, Norse Mythology, and the writing of the Middle Ages. Blind Guardian is one of the best bands mostly because of this point. They have a fresh topic while other bands can’t think past this modern age. 

Edgar Allen Poe- The Bells (and comments)

Edgar Allen Poe- The Bells.


I

Hear the sledges with the bells -
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.


II

Hear the mellow wedding bells -
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight! -
From the molten - golden notes,
And all in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle - dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! - how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!


III

Hear the loud alarum bells -
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now - now to sit, or never,
By the side of the pale - faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear, it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells -
Of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
In the clamor and the clanging of the bells!


IV

Hear the tolling of the bells -
Iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people - ah, the people -
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone -
They are neither man nor woman -
They are neither brute nor human -
They are Ghouls: -
And their king it is who tolls: -
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells: -
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells: -
To the sobbing of the bells: -
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells -
To the tolling of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells, -
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. 


Poe is a really talented writer, and he so good at grabbing a readers attention. Throughout this poem one feels as though he can actually here the bells spoken of. The only problem that I have with this poem (and most of Poe's writing) is the fact that the whole poem moves from joy to a deeper joy, to anger to despair. The world doesn't end in despair. That's not the way that God works. This is why I prefer to read the whole thing backwards, ending in joy.  :)

Friday, October 28, 2011

Why The Pen Of The Muses?

First: The Purpose of this blog-
 I started this blog because I do a lot of writing, mostly for school, and I want a place were I can post the more interesting works. I'll try to to bore any body who follows this blog. :) Also, I want a place where I can post my views on the world, and have discussions about them.I've found that Facebook just isn't quite the place for that.

Second: What's up with that name?
I decided on having part of the name be "The Pen" because that's my favorite thing to write with. "The Muses" were goddesses of Greek mythology. There were nine of them and they all had their own art: Epics, Hymns, History, Astronomy, Dance, Tragedy, Comedy Music, and Lyrics. And everything I post can hypothetically be placed under one of those categories.

Thank you to anybody who reads what I post.