Euphoria

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In poems complex in meaning yet clear in statement and depiction, Hirshfield explores questions of identity, aging, death, and of time and the variegated gifts brought by its relentless passage. Whether meditating upon a button, the role of habit in our lives, or the elusive nature of our relationship to sleep, Hirshfield brings each subject into a surprising and magnified existence.” Urban Tumbleweed: Notes From a Tanka Diaryby Harryette Mullen (1953–) Wordsworth and Coleridge’s joint collection of poems has often been singled out as the founding text of English Romanticism. Within this initially unassuming, anonymous volume were many of the poems that came to define their age and which have continued to delight readers ever since, including The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the ‘Lucy’ poems …and many more.” Selected Poetry by John Keats (1795–1821) The flavor of a culture, the balance of nature. Three anthropologists observing various tribes in New Guinea in the 1930's, based loosely on Margaret Mead and two others. Bargaining with long dead ancestors for the health of loved ones. Making a song out of all the names of the dead you have known. The customs, rituals, and beliefs were fascinating. If you ever have the misfortune to run out of good old Elmer's glue, it might be handy to know that fig sap will work nicely in a pinch. Nel Stone and her husband, Fen, have been married for about three years when they meet another anthropologist in New Guinea - Bankson. Bankson is recuperating from a failed suicide attempt and does his best to help out Nell and Fen, who a

More than thirty years after her death, Marianne Moore continues to be one of America’s most beloved poets.The poems demonstrate Moore’s wide range of interests, moving from witty images of animals, sporting events, and social institutions, to thoughtful meditations on human nature.” Selected Poemsby Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966), Translated by D.M. Thomas I think King's constantly heightening interest only to then almost immediately deflate it by dillydallying. I'm not loving the construction of this book. There is much that's interesting but I just don't feel she's making it all run together very well. For me, what set Nell apart was her ability to see the humanity in everyone in the village, and that contrasted sharply with Fen's inability to see beyond himself. Her husband, Fen (Reo Fortune as the model), comes off as selfish, petulant, and jealous of her fame from her book on the liberated adolescence of a Melanesian tribe (aka Mead’s “Coming of Age in Samoa”). But he’s got verve and humor, and often puts her ideas to useful criticism, such as pointing out how the gender roles observed might be a temporary during recovery from being victims of warfare with a neighboring tribe. While Nell works on the tribe’s economics, food, social structure, and child rearing, he’s supposed to be studying their religion, rituals, warfare, and geneology. The trouble is, he’s not pulling his weight: As a little girl in bed at night, when other girls were wishing for ponies or roller skates, she wished for a band of gypsies to climb up to her window and take her away with them to teach her their language and their customs. …Always in her mind there had been the belief that somewhere on earth there was a better way to live, and that she would find it.Fen didn’t want to study the natives; he wanted to be a native. His attraction to anthropology was not to puzzle out the story of humanity. It was not ontological. It was to live without shoes and eat from his hands and fart in public. Anna Akhmatova is among the most moving and revered voices in Russian literature. A poet of passion and conscience, she was persecuted after the Revolution and under Stalin, but chose to remain in Russia and bear witness. Her works capture a rich emotional world – poems such as ‘A Ride’ and ‘By the Seashore’ reflect a complex attitude to love or explore the duality of her own nature, while others, such as ‘Courage’ and ‘In 1940’, evoke the horrors of war.” The Selected Poetryby Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)

The book is divided into four chapters, each representing a stage of the sunset. This unique structure takes readers on a transformative journey mirroring the emotional rollercoaster that is life itself. As they were leaving the Mumbanyo, someone threw something at them. It bobbed a few yards from the stern of the canoe. A pale brown thing. In one panel, an artist describes the euphoria they feel when fencing, as it’s “impossible” to tell their gender in the “bulky” and “concealing” armour they wear. When they wear it, they feel “free of expectations”, “unburdened” and “unjudged” by others.They said the welcoming response not only from contributors but also from readers had been especially heartwarming given the torrent of transphobia in the UK.

I think observing without sharing the observations creates an atmosphere of extreme artificiality. They don’t understand why you’re there. If you are open with them, everybody becomes more relaxed and honest.” This book is part historical fiction, part romance and part anthropological science; it is 100% remarkable. I thought of The English Patient while I was reading it, not only because it explores a complicated three-person relationship but also because I had that same tense sense of foreboding in my chest while reading it. Another researcher, Bankson, joins them (most of the story is told from his point of view), and thus begins a slow-brewing romance. The relationships among the three researchers are complicated and tense. There are times when they all share excited discussions about the research, and it’s contagious. Nell is doing what she was meant to do. And you feel like you are right there beside her. Fen claims that if you just let go of your brain you find another brain, the group brain, the collective brain, and that it is an exhilarating form of human connection that we have lost in our embrace of the individual except when we go to war. Which is my point exactly." Indeed, there’s such fiery confidence here, such cleanness – something of the cleanness of Plath’s own poems – that it doesn’t necessarily matter that it’s about Plath. Cullhed has the poet resolve that “I would never again ask for permission to write”. I wonder if Cullhed found her own permission to write in Plath, as well as a poetic register that she could take on and expand. This is a book about the precipitous, high-stakes relationship between creative genius and domestic life, centred on the lure and dangers of freedom.Loosely based on the experiences of real-life anthropologists Margaret Mead, Reo Fortune, and Gregory Bateson, Euphoria is a captivating work of historical fiction. Set in the 1930’s Territory of New Guinea, the setting is exotic and the various cultures in the region are intriguing. I became immediately interested in learning about the tribes living along the Sepik River right along with the fictionalized characters Nell Stone and her husband Fen, and the depressed and isolated Andrew Bankson. These three are drawn to one another; and their interactions, both professionally and romantically, are well developed and quite irresistible. I admired Nell and could feel such empathy for her at times as she struggled not just to understand the people of New Guinea, but humanity itself. “I think above all else it is freedom I search for in my work, in these far-flung places, to find a group of people who give each other the room to be in whatever way they need to be. And maybe I will never find it all in one culture but maybe I find parts of it in several cultures, maybe I can piece it together like a mosaic and unveil it to the world.” The novel is told from Bankson’s point of view, which I found very appealing as his character was more approachable to me and lent an air of nostalgia to the story. Snippets of Nell Stone’s diary entries are also interspersed throughout and add additional perspective to the narrative. chasing euphoria is not just about the struggles; it's about overcoming them. Through the lens of gratitude, McAllister shows how even the most challenging experiences can be stepping stones to a stronger, more empowered you.

Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist monk and a life-long traveller. Each poem evokes the natural world – the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the summer moon or the winter snow – suggesting the smallness of human life in comparison to the vastness and drama of nature.” Songs of Innocence and Experienceby William Blake (1757–1827) Being 30, sometimes it feels like trans identities are a discovery only younger people go through, but it’s not like that,” Laird said.Nell’s lover, Bankson, by comparison, is sensitive, gentle, lonely, and as passionate about anthropology as Nell is. It’s impossible not to feel sorry for him when he expresses how lonely he often feels and to not adore how he treats Nell. The story is mostly told by Bankson in a first person narrative where I got a sense of his personal losses, his frame of mind, and his feelings for Nell. Nell’s journal entries are interspersed and they reflect her deep commitment to the people she is studying, especially the women and children and a sense of how she feels about the people in her life . We only learn about Fen, my least favorite character, through these narratives. While I went into this thinking it would be Nell’s story, I ended up thinking that it was as much Andrew’s story. He was my favorite character and I have to admit I fell a little in love with him. A book about anthropologists in the 1930s ought to transport and educate, but Euphoria does neither very well. Too often I was told what’s happening in the tribes, not placed in the center of any action. Wystan Hugh Auden was an Anglo-American poet, best known for love poems such as Funeral Blues, poems on political and social themes such as September 1, 1939and The Shield of Achilles, poems on cultural and psychological themes such as The Age of Anxiety, and poems on religious themes such as For the Time Beingand Horae Canonicae.” New and Collected Poems: 1931–2001 by Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004)