trurl's electronic bard vs chatgpt

BBC Radio 4 does a 'bedtime story' most evenings - and this week, it's been The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem - Trurl's Electronic Bard.

As the BBC blurb says: Stanislav Lem's comic parables The Cyberiad, first published in the 60s, anticipate nanotechnology, our ambivalent relationship with the internet and debates around AI and creativity.

Published 60 years ago, The Cyberiad is indeed very relevant to today's 'debates'...

Especially in the last couple of years, there's been a lot of commentary:

Stanisław Lem’s The Cyberiad: I started on the part of the work called “The First Sally (A) or Trurl’s Electronic Bard,” and it hit me! The Electronic Bard is basically Lem’s prediction, from 1965, of ChatGPT. The Twenty-Third Sally, or How ChatGPT, The Electronic Bard, Created a Cacophony of Digital Storytelling in a Literature Class

"Have it compose a poem--a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic, timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the face of certain doom! Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with the letter s!" The Lippard Blog: Trurl's Electronic Bard vs. ChatGPT

The science-fiction writer didn’t live to see ChatGPT, but he foresaw so much of its promise and peril. Thinking About A.I. with Stanisław Lem | The New Yorker

Rather creepily, one of Google's AI things is named after the story - as discussed on this Google Group's pages: Trurl's electronic bard

And here's a service which calls itself a Google bard ai detector AI Detector – Trusted AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT5 & Gemini | JustDone AI

And to finish this bit, here's the full story - in digital format of course: Trurls-Electronic-Bard.pdf

AI news: Artificial Intelligence absorbs of Shakespeare’s sonnets to create original poem | Science | News | Express.co.uk [from 2020]

Finally, though, today's news from the BBC shows that it's not just poetry that AI is producing but pop divas: Sienna Rose: AI suspicions surround mysterious singer - BBC News

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using songs in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

We all love songs - and so they usually make a great resource in the language classroom.

There are lots of things in songs for the English learner:

Jay Doubleyou: conditionals in songs

Jay Doubleyou: singing songs to learn english

Jay Doubleyou: listening to song lyrics will help your pronunciation

Jay Doubleyou: modal verbs in song

And for the English teacher:

Jay Doubleyou: every song has its lesson plan

Jay Doubleyou: every song has its lesson plan - part two

The British Council has got some ideas:

How to use songs in the English language classroom | British Council

Using music and songs | TeachingEnglish | British Council

There are some good videos out there with more ideas:

5 ways to use songs to teach English - YouTube

12 fun activities you can do with pop songs in the ESL classroom - YouTube

Going beyond the conventional 'gap fill' exercise, here are some more activities suggested by Eleanor Spicer-Lundholm of the International Teacher Training Institute, Hastings, UK:

> Song in Strips: cut up the song into strips which the students need to put back together.

> Creative writing to Song: put some of the key words from the song on the board and ask the students to make them into a poem/email/short story in pairs; then share and share the 'original song'.

> Word partnerships to Song: put some of the key phrases on the board, but cut in half and in two columns, which the students have to put together in pairs; then play the song, with the students shouting out 'bingo' when they hear their collocation.

> Word order to Song: put all the words of a sentence, but mixed up, from a song on the board, which the students have to order in teams; then compare each team's sentences before playing the part of the song.

> Whoops! Find the mistakes: put up a 'wrong' version of sentences from the song where the students have to identify the 'mistakes' before listening and correcting.

> Mime to Song: standing in a circle, first the students listen to a line and copy the teacher's mime; then the students suggest mimes to further lines which the class agree to copy.

Here's a lesson plan from Fiona Aish at the Itafel - looking at teaching connected speech through songs:

> Play the first 2/3 lines from the song 2/3 times and get the students to write what they hear; confirm the correct version.

> Elicit from the students the stressed words and then the connected words; the students should try this in pairs with the following lines.

> Play the song's lines again, getting the students to tap the beat/rhythm; the students should then speak out... and sing the song (if they want!)

Finally, here's a list from OnTesol:

• put the verse in the right order;
• put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense/or, form of the verb (for example, gerund or infinitive);
• identify the past tenses in the song (or, any other tense or grammar topic, for example, conditionals, modal verbs, reported speech…);
• reorder the verses;
• reorder the letters;
• correct the words/mistake;
• question on the theme, the message or meaning of the song to encourage discussion;
• write to the protagonist and (give advice, or tell him what you think);
• write the story in the song.
• put the underlined words under the right column according to … (pronunciation, vocabulary related to any specific category, or a grammatical pattern);
• complete the blanks with the words in the box;
• choose the right word;
• answer the questions;
• match the verses;
• check the words that you hear

Using Songs with Adult ESL Students

Have fun!

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listening to bbc radio

The Radio Times is a weekly magazine listing the UK's TV, radio and streaming - and their Radio listings guide | Radio Times opens out a lot of listening possibilities. Just click on a programme to get more details - and see if you'd like to listen.

The magazine itself has a daily list of recommnded listening - in "Today's Choices" - with a couple of examples here:

On Star Trek: Thursday radio - 22 Nov 2022 - Radio Times Magazine - Readly

On the race to the North Pole: Broadcast - BBC Programme Index

There is a lot to listen to - but you just need to register with a UK address to be able to listen.

Here are a couple more places to explore what's on offer:

Jay Doubleyou: short history series on bbc radio

Jay Doubleyou: talking about music - on audio

Jay Doubleyou: north, east, south, west - what do they mean?

Jay Doubleyou: china, the bbc and disinformation

Jay Doubleyou: walter benjamin on the radio in english

And:

Jay Doubleyou: radio 4 in 4 minutes

Jay Doubleyou: poetry on bbc radio

Jay Doubleyou: drama on radio 4

Jay Doubleyou: bbc radio 4's history of ideas - animations

Jay Doubleyou: sharing our lives with wolves: on bbc's shared planet

Jay Doubleyou: history from objects: the british musem, radio 4 and neil macgregor

Jay Doubleyou: the listening project - listening to britain

Jay Doubleyou: just a minute

Jay Doubleyou: sport on the radio - in english

Jay Doubleyou: getting the most out of bbc radio 4 - for esol students

And finally:

Jay Doubleyou: bbc radio 6 to help you with your english...

Jay Doubleyou: bbc radio 5 to help you with your english...

Jay Doubleyou: bbc radio 4 to help you with your english...

Jay Doubleyou: bbc radio 3 to help you with your english...

Jay Doubleyou: bbc radio 2 to help you with your english...

Jay Doubleyou: bbc radio 1 to help you with your english...

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poetry in the esol/efl classroom

To what extent can poetry be used in the English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language classroom?

There are practical and engaging ways to do this:

Jay Doubleyou: spell check poem

Jay Doubleyou: short texts for fun dication

Here is more fun:

Jay Doubleyou: poetry as diagram

Jay Doubleyou: football and poetry

Jay Doubleyou: tree poetry

Jay Doubleyou: the bfg: malapropisms, spoonerisms and nonsense words

About the British:

Jay Doubleyou: the british - a poem

Jay Doubleyou: grayson perry and philip larkin on the british

Here are a couple of backwards poems:

Jay Doubleyou: refugees: a poem

Jay Doubleyou: backwards poems

But we have to be very sensitive:

Jay Doubleyou: "poetry in the classroom: some kids i taught and what they taught me": three years on

How to make a poem:

Jay Doubleyou: rhyme in english

Jay Doubleyou: limericks

The EL Gazette looked at the subject recently:

On Poetry: Benefits for students and implementation ideas for educators

Creativity in the classroom can come in a variety of ways. Teacher, Matthew Kloosterman, gives his best practice on how to incorporate poetry into teaching.

Connecting poetry, as a genre, to other texts being studied invites intertextuality and deeper reading for students. Poetry is also highly personable and offers an avenue for student agency. When students select their own poems for poetry study, it encourages even more personal connections to texts.

In this article I would like to share several ideas on how poetry can be implemented and why poetry is beneficial for students:

On Poetry: Benefits for students and implementation ideas for educators - E L Gazette

To finish: WOW!

Jay Doubleyou: kate tempest poet

Jay Doubleyou: performing poetry

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backwards poems

Here's a poem which you can read from the beginning ... or the end:

Jay Doubleyou: refugees: a poem

Here's another:

Dear Humanity, It's Time To Give Up (Reverse Poem) - YouTube

And there are lots more:

5 Reverse Poems That Will Blow Your Mind - Heart

Here's how to do it:

How to Write a Reverse Poem. A poem that can be read in both… | by Cameron Bradley | Writers’ Blokke | Medium

9 Reverse Poems Your Middle Schoolers Will Love - Hey Natayle

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how to counter propaganda/paranoia/conspiracy theories... 1: enjoy culture and the arts

Peter Pomerantsev, Professor at the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics, says the best way to challenge and counter the stream of lies and hate online is to read and listen to and watch any writing/books and movies/culture which is about humanity, openness and making choices:

Russian propaganda. How does it work and how can it be combated? - YouTube

For young people he would recommend Tolkien and Harry Potter.

Harry Potter is a humanist and thus J.K Rowling is one too | by Jessica Cote | Diary Of Fantastic Discoveries | Medium

Tolkien’s optimism about human nature: A lesson for our society today - World Youth Alliance

For adults there are always Ukrainian writers:

Serhiy Zhadan - Wikipedia

And his book of stories:

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia | Serhiy Zhadan | London Review Bookshop

Also:

Vasyl Stus - Wikipedia

Thriving in Isolation and Beyond: The Empowering Poetry of Vasyl Stus | Los Angeles Review of Books

Here are a couple of TED Talks:

Lisa Bu: How books can open your mind | TED Talk

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED Talk

Books are dangerous, are revolutionary:

The Power of Literature: How it Shapes Society and Culture | by Arda Π| ILLUMINATION | Medium

7 Books That Will Change How You See the World

Does reading fiction make us better people? - BBC Future

Umberto Eco had something to say about this:

Umberto Eco: 'People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged' | Umberto Eco | The Guardian

Umberto Eco Taught the World How to Think About Conspiracies and Fascism

Conspiracy Theories and Literary Ethics: Umberto Eco, Danilo Kiš and The Protocols of Zion on JSTOR

Real literature is always about losers
... going on to ask Eco why he chose to tell the story from the point of view of a thwarted character.
“Because that’s literature,” said Eco. “Dostoevsky was writing about losers. The main character of The Iliad, Hector, is a loser. It’s very boring to talk about winners. The real literature always talks about losers. Madame Bovary is a loser. Julien Sorel is a loser. I am doing only the same job. Losers are more fascinating.
“Winners are stupid … because usually they win by chance.”

Umberto Eco: ‘Real literature is about losers’ | Umberto Eco | The Guardian

With more for later...

Facing disinformation: Five methods to counter conspiracy theories amid the Covid-19 pandemic

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the politics of language part three

In 2014 the subject was considered:

Jay Doubleyou: the politics of language

In 2021 this subject was considered:

Jay Doubleyou: the politics of language

Here's more...

But first, a real wordsmith died yesterday:

Benjamin Zephaniah: Writer, poet and Peaky Blinders actor dies aged 65 - BBC News

What is 'correct English? Or 'correct French'? It's politically fraught!

Jay Doubleyou: translating with an accent

Jay Doubleyou: what are the new words in languages around the world?

Jay Doubleyou: no language is set in amber

Jay Doubleyou: the english-speaking world: west africa

Jay Doubleyou: what is a 'native speaker' of english? the issue of race...

Jay Doubleyou: eurish

Jay Doubleyou: why the urban dictionary is so good

When is a language a language and not a dialect?

Jay Doubleyou: idiolect vs dialect

Jay Doubleyou: imposing one language on china

What bits of language are forbidden in the English speaking world?

Jay Doubleyou: banning books, the school curriculum and critical race theory in the united states

Jay Doubleyou: register: populism, culture wars and woke

Jay Doubleyou: why giving a welsh park a welsh name is problematic - or not

In what way is class or other identities a barrier to the use of language?

Jay Doubleyou: oracy

Jay Doubleyou: upgrade english for speakers of other languages in the uk

Jay Doubleyou: "poetry in the classroom: some kids i taught and what they taught me": three years on

Jay Doubleyou: learning to use the appropriate register @ fawlty towers

Do different nationalities use language differently?

Jay Doubleyou: british vs german humour

Jay Doubleyou: what are the elements of 'british humour'?

Language is at the heart of propaganda:

Jay Doubleyou: the propaganda wars today

Jay Doubleyou: information wars in america, russia and ukraine

Language is at the heart of wars:

Jay Doubleyou: language in ukraine: language maps

Jay Doubleyou: language and politics in ukraine

Jay Doubleyou: linguistic segregation vs a common language in the former yugoslavia

Language is at the heart of politics:

Jay Doubleyou: ambiguity in politics - part two

Jay Doubleyou: how to spot media bias

Jay Doubleyou: linguistic relativism

In the UK:

Jay Doubleyou: the language of brexit

Jay Doubleyou: english as a european language

Jay Doubleyou: global britain: seeing the languages of immigrants as an asset to be nurtured

Jay Doubleyou: english as a lingua franca in post-brexit europe

And in the United States too:

Jay Doubleyou: the language of donald trump

Jay Doubleyou: register: populism, culture wars and woke

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do young people feel they are the 'lost generation'?

 Over the last decade or so, there has been a lot of discussion about the so-called 'lost generation':

The ‘lost generation’ of the 2008 crisis

Are Today's Youth Really a Lost Generation? - The Atlantic (2011)

Millennials Are the New Lost Generation - The Atlantic (2020)

Covid’s ‘lost generation’ may be more resilient than we think | Lucy Foulkes | The Guardian (2021)

We are the next lost generation. – Drops of Ink (2023)

Here's a very inspiring poem from 2008:

Lost Generation - YouTube

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rhyme rhythm repeat: the cumulative song or tale: "this is the house that jack built"

A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memorization of lyrics, and because remembering the previous verse to concatenate it to form the current verse can become a kind of game.

Cumulative song - Wikipedia

"The feather on the wing, and the wing on the bird, and the bird on the nest, and the nest on the twig, and the twig on the branch, and the branch on the tree, and the tree in the bog,
And the bog down in the valley-o."

The Rattling Bog Down in the Valley (with lyrics) - YouTube

Rattlin' Bog - YouTube

And more:

Old MacDonald Had a Farm - Wikipedia

This Is the House That Jack Built - Wikipedia

There are of course several different versions:

This is the horse and the hound and the horn

That belonged to the farmer sowing his corn

That kept the cock that crowed in the morn

That woke the priest all shaven and shorn

That married the man all tattered and torn

That kissed the maiden all forlorn

That milked the cow with the crumpled horn

That tossed the dog that worried the cat

That killed the rat that ate the malt

That lay in the house that Jack built.

The House that Jack Built Cumulative Tale - English Nursery Rhyme - YouTube

Storybord by Darina Shmidt / This Is the House That Jack Built by Simms Taback - YouTube

What such rhymes and stories are there in other languages?

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spell check poem

(Reportedly nominated for a Pullet Surprise)  
 
Eye halve a spelling chequer 
It came with my pea sea, 
It plainly marques four my revue 
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea. 
Eye strike a key and type a word 
And weight for it two say, 
Weather eye and wring oar write 
It shows me strait a weigh. 
As soon as a mist ache is maid 
It nose bee fore two long, 
And eye can put the error rite 
Its rare lea ever wrong. 
To rite with care is quite a feet 
Of witch won should bee proud, 
And wee mussed dew the best wee can, 
Sew flaw's are knot aloud. 
Eye have run this poem threw it 
Your sure reel glad two no, 
Its letter perfect awl the weigh 
My chequer tolled me sew. 
 
--Sauce unknown 

'Spell Checker Blues' - Anon

And also:

ZarOde.pdf

And:

Spell Checker Poem by Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar

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english literature and english society

Here are a few highlights of English literature - and their social context.

Wordsworth:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud - Wikipedia

The title puts emphasis of the effects of nature on mankind. It can be interpreted as man is lost and lonely without nature/spirituality, but can be found. It is ironic how the poem exaggerates the poet's loneliness. Even though the daffodils (spirituality) bring him happiness, the happiness is not always there.

I Wandered lonely as a Cloud by Sarah Donley

Blake 

Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

The Tiger/The Lamb

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Tyger - Wikipedia

The Songs of Innocence and of Experience were intended by Blake to show ‘the two contrary states of the human soul’. The Tyger is the contrary poem to The Lamb in the Songs of Innocence. The Lamb is about a kindly God who ‘calls himself a Lamb’ and is himself meek and mild. The tiger, by contrast, is a terrifying animal ‘burning’ with fire in its eyes. The poet therefore finds it hard to believe that the same God who created the gentle lamb would also make the ‘dread’ tiger. If the lamb represents Divine love, what might the tiger represent?

William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience | Tate

Coleridge

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 

It is an ancient Mariner, 

And he stoppeth one of three. 

"By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, 

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

It is often considered a signal shift to modern poetry and the beginning of British Romantic literature

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Wikipedia

Published jointly by Coleridge and William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads set out to achieve a triumph of the imagination over the dull poverty of the mind. Coleridge's project was a wild and truly imaginative universe, where seemingly impossible things happen.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the first poem in the volume; it was inspired by British explorations of the polar regions and combined vivid nature imagery with the supernatural in a perplexing allegorical tale of redemption that has fascinated readers to the present day.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - New World Encyclopedia

Mary Shelly 

Frankenstein

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley

Frankenstein is a frame story written in epistolary form. It documents a fictional correspondence between Captain Robert Walton and his sister, Margaret Walton Saville.

Though Frankenstein is infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement, Brian Aldiss has argued for regarding it as the first true science-fiction story. In contrast to previous stories with fantastical elements resembling those of later science fiction, Aldiss states, the central character "makes a deliberate decision" and "turns to modern experiments in the laboratory" to achieve fantastic results.[7] The novel has had a considerable influence on literature and on popular culture; it has spawned a complete genre of horror stories, films, and plays.

Frankenstein - Wikipedia

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Austen is known to use irony throughout the novel especially from viewpoint of the character of Elizabeth Bennet. She conveys the "oppressive rules of femininity that actually dominate her life and work, and are covered by her beautifully carved trojan horse of ironic distance."

Pride and Prejudice - Wikipedia

Romanticism started to reach its complex, and had strong influence on people's lives, but Austen chose to reject the tenets of that movement. Romanticism emphasized on the power of feeling, but Austen supported rationalism instead.

Romanticism In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice | ipl.org

Dickens 

Oliver Twist

Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.

Chapter 1: Treats of the Place Where Oliver Twist was Born and of the Circumstances Attending His Birth. | Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens | Lit2Go ETC

Oliver Twist unromantically portrays the sordid lives of criminals, and exposes the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century.[2] The alternative title, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, as well as the 18th-century caricature series by painter William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress.[3]
In an early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises child labour, domestic violence, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own experiences as a youth contributed as well.[4]

Oliver Twist - Wikipedia

Stevenson

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of the most famous pieces of English literature, and is considered to be a defining book of the gothic horror genre. The novella has also had a sizable impact on popular culture, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" being used in vernacular to refer to people with an outwardly good but sometimes shockingly evil nature.[5][6]

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Wikipedia

Oscar Wilde 

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

Wilde's only novel, it was subject to much controversy and criticism in its time but has come to be recognized as a classic of gothic literature.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Wikipedia

a perfect example of where art and literature intertwine. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray (Spoiler Alert!) | Daily Art Magazine | Art History

Kipling

"The White Man's Burden"

Take up the White Man's burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;

A poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) that exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country.[1] Originally written to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria (22 June 1897), the jingoistic poem was replaced with the sombre "Recessional" (1897), also a Kipling poem about empire.
In "The White Man's Burden", Kipling encouraged the American annexation and colonization of the Philippine Islands, a Pacific Ocean archipelago conquered in the three-month Spanish–American War (1898).[1] As an imperialist poet, Kipling exhorts the American reader and listener to take up the enterprise of empire, yet warns about the personal costs faced, endured, and paid in building an empire;[1] nonetheless, American imperialists understood the phrase "the white man’s burden" to justify imperial conquest as a mission-of-civilisation that is ideologically related to the continental-expansion philosophy of manifest destiny of the early 19th century.[2][3][4][5] 

...

Kipling positively represents imperialism as the moral burden of the white race, who are divinely destined to "civilise" the brutish, non-white Other who inhabits the barbarous parts of the world; to wit, the seventh and eighth lines of the first stanza misrepresent the Filipinos as "new-caught, sullen peoples, half-devil and half-child."[14] Despite the chauvinistic nationalism that supported Western imperialism in the 19th century, public moral opposition to Kipling's racialist misrepresentation of the colonial exploitation of labour in "The White Man's Burden" produced the satirical essay "To the Person Sitting in Darkness" (1901), by Mark Twain, which catalogues the Western military atrocities of revenge committed against the Chinese people for their anti-colonial Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) against abusive Western businessmen and Christian missionaries.[15]

The White Man's Burden - Wikipedia

Joyce 

Eveline

It was first published in 1904 by the journal Irish Homestead[1] and later featured in his 1914 collection of short stories Dubliners. It tells the story of Eveline, a teenager who plans to leave Dublin for Argentina with her lover.

Like other tales in Dubliners, such as "Araby", "Eveline" features a circular journey, where a character decides to go back to where their journey began and where the result of their journey is disappointment and reluctance to travel.[3]

Eveline (short story) - Wikipedia

Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914.[1] It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences. They centre on Joyce's idea of an epiphany (a moment where a character experiences a life-changing self-understanding or illumination) and the theme of paralysis (Joyce felt Irish nationalism stagnated cultural progression, placing Dublin at the heart of a regressive movement).

Dubliners - Wikipedia

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english pronunciation is crazy

There is a very famous 'pronunciation poem':

The Chaos - Wikipedia

If you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world - The Poke

Pronunciation Poem - Dearest Creature in Creation - Study English Pronunciation

And here's a very good version of it:

English Pronunciation (Poem) Challenge - YouTube

Here's an update - also very funny and very fast:

English Is Crazy! - YouTube

The importance of good pronunciation is shown here:

When a Frenchman calls an Indian Call Center : The iRabbit - YouTube

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yeats the song writer

Here's a very beautiful poem by the Irish poet W B Yeats:

The Song of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

The Song of Wandering Aengus by William Butler… | Poetry Foundation

It has been put to music:

Donovan - The Song Of Wandering Aengus - YouTube

Here's a rather difficult 'analysis':
"The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats: An Analysis

And here's a more fun class looking at the lovely poem:

Language Arts Lesson Video: The Song of Wandering Aengus (SyncTV FULL Episode!) - YouTube

Is it about the dream of a god?

It has been claimed that the poem's story is based on the Irish god Aengus, and specifically the story of the "Dream of Aengus", which had first appeared in the 8th century, in which Aengus falls in love with a woman whom he sees only in his dreams.

The Song of Wandering Aengus - Wikipedia

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art and nature

BBC Radio 4's longstanding series looks at how humans have interacted with the natural world:
BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories

A new series has looked at artistic and natural artefacts and how they
BBC Radio 4 - The Art of Innovation

A couple of episodes:

Sir Ian Blatchford and Dr Tilly Blyth on challenges by Romantic artists and naturalists to grapple with cloud patterns, from Constable's fine art to a new science of meteorology

BBC Radio 4 - The Art of Innovation, Masters of Spectacle

Sir Ian Blatchford and Dr Tilly Blyth focus on the drama captured in de Loutherbourg's Coalbrookdale by Night, which shaped early impressions of Britain's Industrial Revolution

BBC Radio 4 - The Art of Innovation, Observing the Air

With a little more here:
https://futurecity.co.uk/portfolio/a-cloud-index/


This is from the Science Museum:

Together, art and science help us to interpret, study and explore the world around us.

Examining this ongoing relationship, The Art of Innovation: From Enlightenment to Dark Matter looks at the interaction between scientific progress and social change, how machinery has both influenced and threatened the human body and how tools that go beyond human senses can capture the unseen.

See iconic artworks, including works by Hepworth, Hockney, Lowry, Constable, Boccioni, Turner and contemporary artists Cornelia Parker and Conrad Shawcross.

The exhibition brings together loans from Tate, National Gallery, V&A, National Museums Scotland, the Estorick Collection and more alongside rarely displayed objects from the Science Museum Group’s Collection. Through four sections and twenty stories, discover how we have questioned our relationship with society, our bodies, the environment and found patterns in nature, as we continue to interpret and explore the world around us.

Book now to discover these fascinating stories through textiles, film, photography, paintings, sculptures, models and scientific objects.

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• In partnership with BBC Radio 4, a landmark 20-part radio series is airing now and is available as a podcast on BBC Sounds. 
• An accompanying book published by Transworld is available from the Science Museum Shop.
   

Header image: Coalbrookdale by Night, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, 1801 (Science Museum Group Collection) 

The Art of Innovation
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making a list of life's pleasures

A Radio 4 Programme looks at "The Pleasures of Brecht":

A celebration of the simple joys of life, and the story of Brecht’s much-loved poem that described them.

In 1954, poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht was the leader of his own theatre company and an international literary star. But his relationship with the East German communist party was growing increasingly strained, with projects derailed and poems censored. It was a time of disappointment, as he began to see the gap between the hopes that kept him alive throughout the years of war and exile, and the reality of life in the GDR.

Out of this context came a simple poem, Vergnügungen, a list of pleasures, which moves from “the first look out of the window in the morning” via showering, swimming, the dog, dialectics and “comfortable shoes” to “being friendly”, a phrase that for Brecht signified a utopian ideal.

The poem is a statement of the delights of the everyday, but it also looks out into the world beyond the private sphere.

Writer and ecologist Joanna Macy, philosopher Christopher Hamilton, pleasure activist Adrienne Maree Brown and German scholar Karen Leeder reflect on what Brecht’s list of simple pleasures can tell us about our own time.

Music composed and performed by Phil Smith.
Piano pieces recorded on location at Brecht's house in Buckow, Germany

BBC Radio 4 - The Pleasures of Brecht

“Pleasures
First look from morning's window
The rediscovered book
Fascinated faces
Snow, the change of the seasons
The newspaper
The dog
Dialectics
Showering, swimming
Old music
Comfortable shoes
Comprehension
New music
Writing, planting
Traveling
Singing
Being friendly”

― Bertolt Brecht

Here are a few more - to help inspire your own list-making:
making a list of life's pleasures - Google Search
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poetry in the classroom: some kids i taught and what they taught me

An extraordinary book on the effect of writing poetry in the classroom - an effect on both teacher and students:

Kate Clanchy is a poet and currently Writer in Residence at the comprehensive school Oxford Spires Academy, where she has nurtured creative talent among the pupils, many of whom have come to the UK as refugees. 
An anthology of the pupils’ poetry, England: Poems from a School was published by Macmillan in 2018. Her book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me was published earlier this year.
BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, The power of poetry

Here is more:
Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy review – the reality of school life | Books | The Guardian
Kate Clanchy: ‘Poetry makes children feel important, that they’re heard’ | Books | The Guardian
Book review: Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, by Kate Clanchy - The Scotsman

Plus an extract:
‘So many of our children had a loss to mourn. Isn’t that what poetry’s for?’ | Books | The Guardian
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poetry as diagram

This poet is doing very interesting things:
Jay Doubleyou: refugees: a poem

Here's another:

At the Intersection | Brian Bilston's Poetry Laboetry
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refugees: a poem

Here's an interesting way to write:

REFUGEES

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way

(now read from bottom to top)

Refugees | Brian Bilston's Poetry Laboetry

In a rap version:



Refugees: a poem by Brian Bilston, rap by Fluency MC - YouTube

With more from the poet:
refugees | Brian Bilston's Poetry Laboetry
Brian Bilston's 'Refugee' Poem Moves Thousands With Brilliant Hidden Message
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europe is lost: let them eat chaos

Kate Tempest is quite something:
Kate Tempest review – a fleeting, thrilling whirlwind of emotion | Stage | The Guardian
Kate Tempest: 'Everything is defined in monetary terms' | Interviews, Picks | The Stage
Kate Tempest: “We need to reinvigorate our senses” | The Big Issue

This blog has covered her before:
Jay Doubleyou: kate tempest poet
Jay Doubleyou: there are several questions around Shakespeare
Jay Doubleyou: rap



Kate Tempest - Europe Is Lost (Official Video) - YouTube

Here's the complete thing - with subtitles:



kate tempest let them eat chaos live subtitulado (eng/esp) - YouTube

With more here:
Kate Tempest – Let Them Eat Chaos Lyrics | Genius

Here she's doing Shakespeare:
The Merchant of Venice 2011 Synopsis Film by RoyalShakespeareCompany - Teaching Resources - TES
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football and poetry

Sport is seen as poetry:
http://jayjaydoubleyoudoubleyou.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/sport-as-poetry-in-motion.html

Here is a poem about a footballer:

Goalkeeper with a Cigarette
By: Simon Armitage

That’s him in the green, green cotton jersey,
prince of the clean sheets – some upright insect
boxed between the sticks, the horizontal
and the pitch, stood with something up his sleeve,
armed with a pouch of tobacco and skins
to roll his own, or else a silver tin
containing eight or nine already rolled.
That’s him with one behind his ear, between
his lips, or one tucked out of sight and lit -
a stamen cupped in the bud of his fist.
That’s him sat down, not like those other clowns,
performing acrobatics on the bar, or press-ups
in the box, or running on the spot,
togged out in turtleneck pyjama-suits
with hands as stunted as a bunch of thumbs,
hands that are bandaged or swaddled with gloves,
laughable, frying-pan, sausage-man gloves.
Not my man, though, that’s not what my man does;
a man who stubs his reefers on the post
and kicks his heels in the stud-marks and butts,
lighting the next from the last, in one breath
making the save of the year with his legs,
taking back a deep drag on the goal-line
in the next; on the one hand throwing out
or snaffling the ball from a high corner,
flicking off loose ash with the other. Or
in the freezing cold with both teams snorting
like flogged horses, with captains and coaches
effing and jeffing at backs and forwards,
talking steam, screaming exhausting orders,
that’s not breath coming from my bloke, it’s smoke.


https://prezi.com/4ayd3oxzqm3b/goalkeeper-with-a-cigarette/


You can hear the poet here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0833y4s
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