Just recently I have wondered what is the definition of a 'Gentleman'. I came across this piece by Newman and was charmed by the idea of a man being able to be this way. Perhaps you have your own definition and if so please share your thoughts. Tell me, for you what is the definition of a Gentleman?
'It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself.
His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature: like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, though nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them.
The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause ajar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast; -- all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at their case and at home.
He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring.
He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort, he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best.
He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend.
He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny. If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blunder.'
Hey there mister,
Are you that Don Quixote dude
Or are you more a Jo Jo?
You see I get it now for sure
Your behaviour is a no no,
One minute you're fighting windmills
The next you're wearing tights
The fear of mischief that you'll cause
Is keeping me up nights
Usually when a man doesn't get women it's not a big problem, 'we' meaning the women understand that men by their nature are not meant to fully understand us and that's just life. However it becomes a problem when a man poses as a woman and has no idea of how women are with each other. Women instinctively know between them when it's the right time to be gentle and the right time to be strong. We don't have to discuss it between us, we just know. I imagine there are times when men in unison act like men in a way that women don't understand because their instincts are different to ours. If you are a man posing as a woman on this site, please don't try to give women advice as you may be doing more harm than good to real people who really need help. You may think you are helping, but when a woman receives advice from a man, she needs to know it's from a man as she will treat it differently. Also, don't say anything when a crisis hits a woman here, you will not know when it is right to be strong or gentle and being either at the wrong moment can be devastating for that real woman in crisis. I know it's easy to view people here as mere names and profiles and not have any real thought for what mischief careless words can cause, but many of the people here are real, they have real lives and your words can affect them in either a good or bad way. I don't care how many profiles any one here has, really, I don't. I'll never understand that need in someone but I really don't care. Treat everyone as though they are a real person and that way it doesn't matter if you err on the side of being nice as it's far better to be nice to a troll than unkind to a real person
I've come to the conclusion that Watersandthewild's poetry is just so good I'd buy the book - if there was one! Here are two of the most recent, each took my mind on a journey and both journeys were completely different. The first poem is like a wedge, starting with some gentle truths at the wide part then coming to a swift sharp point at the end
The second by contrast is sad and nostalgic and has a duality in the words that I love, what do you see in these finely spun words? I read it aloud the second time I went over it and could imagine this fisherman reciting it loudly over a bar of rough working men, their mouths open in awe at the pointed lines.
Some folks here might think I am Waters fan club!
I suspect though he has many fans who along with the envious can't help stopping by his magical poems to soak up his unique perspective of life and the atmosphere that his poetry creates.
By contrast here is a new poster and yes she's also Irish, what can I say we're a land of 'Saints and Scholars' and we're lucky enough to have some interesting scholars here
This lady goes under the profile name of Serenity4two and if her poetry is autobiographical she's a woman I'd love to meet just to shake her hand. It's seldom I come across amazing poetry and even more seldom I come across poetry that seems truly from the heart and brings with it love and understanding enough to make me stop and think about how do I measure up as a human to this person?
Finally, here is a lady I absolutely adore as she is both gutsy, kind and very real. Many bloggers already know Redex and she had a problem with writer's block for a while regarding poetry. Since the writer's block has gone her poetry has just soared in it's quality. Read this if you will and try not to smile as you reach the final lines - I smiled and felt it was a few moments of my life well spent.
I'm picky about how I chose to spend my life's moments, for instance a bunch of women discussing a random neighbour's shortcomings is definitely 10 minutes or so of my life that I consider I've just wasted.
Love and light and sleep tight
I'm unsure what to think, I thought if someone threatened to come after you in your mailbox here they would be thrown off the site! But this has happened to me and despite my reporting it twice and sending links etc, the person who threatened me is still here! Am I wrong is presuming that they would be banned? Does anyone know what the rule is here. Don't mention names please, I'm just trying to find out what's meant to happen about this if anything?
Mornin' all,
A few choice reads I came across this morning.
The first is from Chaptain, he's relatively new to CS Poet's corner but he's fast becoming a favourite of mine as his poetry shows depth of thought and above all 'effort'
The next is from Adjhe, when I read the first poems posted by Adjhe, I found them to be basic to be honest but boy has this lady upped her game since her first posts! Her thoughts are put simply into these packages of poetry and are very compelling and thought provoking. Just goes to show how much practice does go a long way to making perfect.
This last one for today I'm posting because of the style it's posted in. It's a very sweet poem by the lovely LadyMorgana who puts quite a lot of effort into the presentation of her poems. Think books with lovely pictures and books without any pictures then ask which is the more beautiful to look at? If you want to know how to post a blog or poem this way, you'll have to ask the lovely lady herself.
Stay happy and cool
I've got a lovely one for today from a relatively new poet to the corner called 'Goldenhinde'. She's a quiet individual, doesn't take part in the banter on the corner but she's a good poet worth reading.
No surprise that Watersandthewild is here again, he seems to be writing more at the moment, maybe he's on his hols and has more time to pen for us!
Lastly for today, there is a funny post by someone who is a more regular commentator than poem poster and the post is not written by him but by Johnny Carson RIP. Really worth a look as Mr Carson was well known for his wit and here is a fine example of it.
A Note abonut
Plagiarism aka stealing other people's words/poetry
I've seen it myself many a time, it's a free site and the mods seem reluctant to spend the time to monitor or even deal with it when it's reported. If anyone reading the poems in the poetry corner spots someone cheating this way, please please report it as I believe the squeaky wheel gets the grease so to speak. You may not be reporting it for your own benefit, but think of the poets on the corner who put together their words and offer them up from their own hearts and hands - they deserve better than to be insulted by cheaters being posted without question right beside them. Personally, I've reported plagiarism with a modicum of success, I've been abused in my mail box and on my poetry by people who know I've reported them and they always seem to be surprised by my distaste for their un-efforts!
In advance I thank anyone who does the real poets this huge favour, I have no way to return it except to offer you the best of what we have from our own hearts and minds.
Stay cool and be happy
I have a new poet today with a very sad poem - technically not wonderful but so full of emotion I just loved it. sdrar may go the way of many a one time poster before him, but I hope he doesn't.
After such a sad poem, here's one to cheer you up from Jazzy. I have called Jazzy the queen of brevity because her poems are usually short and shot at us like cannon balls, but this is an oldie from Jazzy and it shows a completely different style from her.
cool huh?
Here is a mystery for you - can you tell if this person is real or unreal? Hurry before their gone!
Pick any of their 'poems' and look at their profile, like being a detective? I bet their not real, see what you think - and think 'google'
Lastly - here is an offering of my own for the weekend,
enjoy and stay safe and happy.
I've only one poem today,
and it's from the queen of brevity herself,
Jazzy throws poems at us and runs for the hills, I think she is someone who actually has a real life! Which must be a rare thing on this site.
Her poetry runs from the short and sweet to the hilarious and I always enjoy reading it. Have a lovely day and hopefully by the weekend I'll have more offerings.
I have a new poet to the corner today - I don't know how long he will hang around posting poetry but I thought this was worth a look at. His profile name is Suntvobisunum (I've no idea what that's supposed to mean!?
)He posted a number of poems en masse, but this was the only one that I really liked.
The other poem I came across is by one of my favourite poets here. Sophiasummer, she has a wonderful knack for brevity as you'll see in this gem.
I have to stick in a third one today, one of the regular posters on the Poet's Corner posted this the other day and it caught my eye.
Cafetwo is what I would call a 'social poster', he doesn't take himself too seriously and posts poetry as much for the fun and the banter as any other reason. I'm sure he'd kill me for saying it, but as much as I enjoy reading his poetry (and there is a lot of it) it's not often that he comes up with a gem like this one.
Sorry Cafe if you read this...
Have a good day everyone and hope you enjoy my picks for today
Hi, I've decided to just post the blog when I have something to post in it! So some days there just may be nothing.
I've two really great poems today by two quiet poets. Scarwolve doesn't post a lot so his treasures are few and far between. Elo takes his poems off after a short time so the link may be useless after a few days.
Scarwolve posted this
Elo posted this one - look quick before it disappears!
Both of them are just so wonderful I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
I don't know if anyone is interested but I thought I'd do a poetry news blog. I have read a lot of poetry here and know the poems I like and can recommend some each day or week to people with less time. Well we'll see what happens. I'll do it using links so it's even easier, you don't have to comment on the poetry unless you feel really moved to.
My favourites today for just really good poetry are as follows.
This is from Watersandthewild, he's an amazing poet and I do believe that one day he'll be published despite himself
The next is from fjamesj9701,
Well, they are the best of the poetry for today, so I suppose if you like what I like you'll like what I write and at the moment I have two poems up
Now in some ways the more interesting part of being on the poetry corner is coming across poetry that isn't really poetry, but an ongoing conversation between the poets as though they are in a large pub and shout the occasional question or answer across a busy room at each other. For instance the most lovely person in the world felt she had upset someone and wrote a poem as an apology.
The poet's name is Paloma and she's the gentlest of creatures, so I'm thinking if it was someone who is not good at english that misunderstood her that's kind of normal. But if it's someone who is really good at english, then they misunderstood on purpose to hurt or offend her. If anyone has a thought about this please say so.
The funniest 'poem' that is posted at the moment is this one by backuplover, who yea I think it's a fake profile and someone's having a laugh or a hard time but it's worth a look all the same.
Still think poetry is boring? Sometimes the comments are the best thing about the poems, they tell loads more about what's going on between the poets or characters than the poems ever do.
Have fun and a lovely day.
Have had an interesting life so far. I like travelling - there is nothing quite like feeling the power of aircraft engines pulling you away from the earths gravity. The excitement of seeing landscapes that seem so alien to those that surround your home, walking through new cities, listening to people speak so differently yet saying the same things 'how are you?', 'Do you know the way to...?' 'Isn't it a busy day?' etc...The strange smells of food, spices and sweat, the heat, the cold, the different colours and sounds.
Have seen a little of China, a lot of Iceland, a slice of India, and lived in Zambia for two years. There are many other, nearer places that I have visited and I hope there are many places that I will visit in the future near and far. Have never seen the Northern Lights, set foot on the continent of America - north or south, Australia - New Zealand, Eastern Europe and North Africa. All of these are destinations that are yet to be discovered. I would like to travel on the orient express, go on a cruise - and yes if i won the lotto, and it was big enough i would probably book a flight to the edge of space...
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