O Captain! & Edith Wharton

ART POETRY & LIFE QUOTATION

Art: Poetry: O Captain! My Captain!

A long time ago, my high school teacher told everyone in class that each pupil will memorize a poem and recite it in front of everybody. So I looked over our book and chose "O Captain! My Captain" because there was only a few lines to memorize and it sounded easy to memorize.

So come the day of my turn to recite my poem, I stood in front of my all boys' class and recited:

Oh Captain, My Captain!

Oh Captain, my Captain, our fearful trip is done.

That is all I remembered of that poem now, though back in those days, I remembered it completely and recited it dramatically. However, I did not know that Walt Whitman wrote it in response to Abraham Lincoln's death.

With applause,

John Sindayen

Life: Quotation: Edith Wharton

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." -- Edith Wharton.

To interpret a quotation, you must interpret it as an analogy. In this case, "spreading light" is about spreading knowledge or spreading wisdom or spreading facts. Knowledge, wisdom, and facts can be spread through books. websites, or other forms. But many of today's knowledge, wisdom, and facts are only reflections from other sources.

To be a candle means you have to be the source of the knowledge. For example, Albert Einstein was the candle of "e = mc^2" and other scientific knowledge. It is hard to be a candle, one can only try. Not many are born to be a candle. But many are born to be a mirror.

Mirror, mirror on the wall ...

John Sindayen