Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is said to be "a landmark of modern fiction"; however, I'm having serious difficulties following the story. Who knows, maybe I'm just not getting into it, but I am finding this novella very difficult to read.

My Antonia

I am really enjoying My Antonia, by Willa Cather. Cather's style of writing greatly reminds me of my favorite childhood author, Laura Ingalls Wilder. I get the same vibe from My Antonia as I get from works like Little House in the Big Woods or These Happy Golden Years.

To the Muse

"To the Muse" was written in 1911 by Tsarskoye Selo; this poem was also translated from Russian into English.

The Muse my sister looked in my face,
her gaze was bright and clear,
ans she took away my golden ring,
the girft of the virginal year.

Muse! everyone else is happy-
girls, wives, widows-all around!
I swear I'd rather die on the rack
than live fettered and bound.

In time I'll join the guessing-game,
pluck petals from the daisy's wheel.
Each creature on this earth, I know,
must suffer love's ordeal.

Tonight I pine for on one,
alone in my candlelit room;
but I don't-don't-don't want to know
who's kissing whom.

At dawn the mirrors, mocking will say:
"Your gaze is not bright or clear."
I'll sigh: "The Muse my sister came
and took the girft of girfts away."