In any event, our own wonderful Kate has put forth the topic for this round:
Post pictures, songs, movie clips, poems, or novel excerpts that make you feel. Feel what, you ask? Feel anything. Happy. Sad. Angry. Nostalgic. Hopeful. Hopeless. Jealous. Joyful.
I have read in several different places that YA novelist John Green said of his latest novel, The Fault In Our Stars that he wants to make his readers "Feel All The Things." I would love that someone could go through this blog chain and through what we all choose to post have that same Feel All The Things feeling.
When I sat and thought about this, I instantly ran out to find a clip from my favorite writing movie Stranger Than Fiction:
I really love this clip because it shows such a personal and emotional scene in the movie. Here you get a really great sense of who these characters are and you see the emotional tie building between them. It's only one of the great scenes in the movie, but it's one of my favorites. This movie is one of the most inspirational writer movies I know, and every time I watch it I have to break out my tablet and start writing.
Another source of feeling for me comes from a well known poem by Dylan Thomas:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
The funny part about this poem is that I first heard of it while watching the movie Back To School with Rodney Dangerfield. The movie may be a B movie and not necessarily a source of much intelligent thought, but it exposed me to this poem and that makes it good enough in my book. Who can argue with the feelings this poem invokes in the reader? It's an awesome piece, demanding that we refuse to give in.
Lastly, there is one song that demands feeling from me every time I hear it:
It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing. When I hear this song, I have to pause and listen. I have to feel it resonate deep within myself. It is the greatest tragedy that Phil Collins is no longer able to play drums (because of back and wrist problems I believe), but songs like these that he has given us will continue to play long after he is gone. I have almost every song he's ever been a part of and this is my favorite.
