Mosaic Monday: Tennyson

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

This last line of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's great poem Ulysses will be engraved in the 2012 Olympic village, to serve as inspiration to the world's athletes when they come to London later this summer for the Olympics. For the entire poem, which is one of my favorites, click here. It is a beautifully written dramatic monologue, in which the now aged hero of the Trojan War, and ruler of the kingdom of Ithaca, looks back on his past exploits and longs for the freedom to explore new worlds. (Yes, I am an English Literature nerd.)

The poem was originally published in 1842. My copy shown here is in an 1873 edition, published in Boston. The pages are thin and delicate, and hard to read. My favorite part of the book, though, is the inscription written on the fly-leaf. I always wonder about Emma and John -- were they friends, lovers? Was she happy with his gift? What were their lives like in 1874?

Of course I will never know the answers to any of my questions. But this is why I love antiques, for the real and undeniable connection to past lives and history. Come to think of it, that is probably why I love literature, too. :)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here! Drawing to be held on Wednesday morning. :)

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.