Tag Archives: British Literature

BOOKS: “Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow” by Jerome K. Jerome

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Idle Thoughts of an Idle FellowIdle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome K. Jerome
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Project Gutenberg Site

This is a collection of fourteen humorous essays on a range of topics related to human existence. Besides the titular topic of living a life of idleness, other discussions include: love, poverty, vanity, attire, eating, pets and babies. (The latter two being distinct topics addressed in different chapters, though not with an altogether different attitude.)

Much of the humor holds up well considering this book originally came out almost a hundred and forty years ago. That said, it must be acknowledged that some of the humor and a number of the attitudes have not aged well and will not necessarily be relatable.

If you’re looking for a collection of essays on life that are humorous, if not contemporary, this book is worth looking into.

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“A Slumber did my Spirit Seal” by William Wordsworth [w/ Audio]

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A slumber did my spirit seal;
   I had no human fears:
 She seemed a thing that could not feel
   The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;
   She neither hears nor sees;
 Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
   With rocks, and stones, and trees.

“The Clod and the Pebble” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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"Love seeketh not itself to please,
   Nor for itself hath any care,
 But for another gives its ease,
   And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay
   Trodden with the cattle's feet,
 But a Pebble of the brook
   Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only self to please,
   To bind another to its delight,
 Joys in another's loss of ease,
    And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

“The Very Self” by Walter de la Mare [w/ Audio]

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Clear eyes, beneath clear brows, gaze out at me,
 Clear, true and lovely things therein I see;
 Yet mystery, past ev'n naming, takes their place
 As mine stay pondering on that much-loved face.

“Dreamland” by Lewis Carroll [w/ Audio]

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When midnight mists are creeping,
   And all the land is sleeping,
 Around me tread the mighty dead,
   And slowly pass away.

Lo, warriors, saints, and sages,
   From out the vanished ages,
 With solemn pace and reverend face
   Appear and pass away.

The blaze of noonday splendour,
   The twilight soft and tender,
 May charm the eye: yet they shall die,
   Shall die and pass away.

But here, in Dreamland's centre,
   No spoiler's hand may enter,
 These visions fair, this radiance rare,
   Shall never pass away.

I see the shadows falling,
   The forms of old recalling;
 Around me tread the mighty dead,
   And slowly pass away.

“Ah! Sun-flower” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
 Who countest the steps of the Sun:
 Seeking after that sweet golden clime
 Where the travellers journey is done.

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
 And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:
 Arise from their graves and aspire,
 Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

“A Poison Tree” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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I was angry with my friend;
  I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
 I was angry with my foe:
  I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
  Night & morning with my tears:
 And I sunned it with smiles,
  And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night.
  Till it bore an apple bright.
 And my foe beheld it shine,
  And he knew that it was mine.
 
And into my garden stole,
  When the night had veild the pole;
 In the morning glad I see;
  My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

“If thou must love me” [Sonnet 14] by Elizabet Barrett Browning [w/ Audio]

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If thou must love me, let it be for nought 
  Except for love's sake only. Do not say,
  "I love her for her smile -- her look -- her way
  Of speaking gently, -- for a trick of thought  
  That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
  A sense of pleasant ease on such a day" --
 For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
  Be changed, or change for thee -- and love, so wrought,
  May be unwrought so. Neither love me for 
  Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry:
  A creature might forget to weep, who bore
  Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
 But love me for love's sake, that evermore
 Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

“Scorn not the Sonnet” by William Wordsworth [w/ Audio]

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British (English) School; William Wordsworth (1770-1850) ; National Trust, Wordsworth House; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/william-wordsworth-17701850-130624
Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned,
  Mindless of its just honours; with this key
  Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody
  Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound;
 A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound;
  With it Camöens soothed an exile's grief;
  The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf
  Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned
 His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp,
  It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land
  To struggle through dark ways, and, when a damp
  Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand
 The thing became a trumpet; whence he blew
 Soul-animating strains -- alas, too few!

“You know where you despise” by Alexander Pope [w/ Audio]

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You know where you despise
 (Tother day) my little Eyes,
 Little Legs, and little Thighs,
 And some things, of little Size,
 You know where. 

You, tis true, have fine black eyes,
 Taper legs, and tempting Thighs,
 Yet what more than all we prize
 Is a Thing of little Size,
 You know where.