Favorite Poetry: Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is one of my favorite poets.  I quite envy her ability to express herself in such short poems.  I read once that she wrote all these little pieces during her life and locked them in her desk drawer, where they were found and published after her death.  She never knew she would be famous.

Since they are so short, I'm posting two at once.

This one particularly struck me when I first read it.  I had never thought of victory or success in the way Emily Dickinson portrays it before.

I couldn't find a picture to go with this piece, so I made this with Pixlr.

Success is Counted Sweetest

By Emily Dickinson

Success is counted sweetest

By those who ne'er succeed.

To comprehend a nectar

Requires the sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host

Who took the flag today,

Can tell the definition,

So plain, of victory,

As he defeated, dying,

On whose forbidden ear

The distant strains of triumph

Break, agonizing clear. 

It took me a couple re-readings before I understood the point of this second one.  It's the essence of poetical thinking, really. 

via my pinterest

To Make a Prairie

By Emily Dickinson 

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee - 

One clover, and a bee,

And reverie.

The reverie alone will do

If bees are few.

Poll Results + Changes

So...eleven people voted on the poll I set up to help me decide what to change about my blog's design.  That's more than I expected, but considering that I have forty-three followers, not much.  ANYWAY, one person said new header, six said new background, two said completely different layout, three said that they loved it and I shouldn't change anything, and five said to change the tan post background.

Well, so far I've done a new background and taken away the tan.  I think I shall change the header, as well, simply because it doesn't match all that well.  I'm sorry, whoever said don't change anything. (Emily?)  But this is fun. I hope you all like the (still in-progress) new design.  Comment and tell me. :)

Song Saturday

I haven't done this in a long time.

I'm sure most of you know the poem The Lady of Shallot from Anne of Green Gables, don't you?  To be honest, when I first heard this song, I forgot that it was even a poem to begin with.  But anyway, it's lovely, and listening to it is a good way to memorize the poem.  And memorizing poetry always makes one feel cultured and intellectual, doesn't it?  :)

We Mourn the Passing of Picnik

...But we do not despair!  For lo, picnik was not the only photo-editing program in the universe! *shocked gasps*

After much frantic searching, I've found two fairly good programs.  I shall proceed to review them for your especial benefit.

First there's  PicMonkey, one of the programs (I think) recommended by Picnik itself.   What's nice about this one is that it is extremely similiar to our dearly departed itself, with a nearly identical setup and much of the same options.  There are two things I dislike about it, though.  The first is that there aren't all that many interesting fonts.  It has a couple quite pretty ones, but there isn't that much of a selection. (At least, not to my font-devouring mind.)  The second thing is that, like Picnik, there are "premium" features that you have to pay for.  What's nice, though, is that they're free for now!  I'm just thinking forward to when the freebies go bye-bye.  I'm not sure how soon it'll be.

The second program I've been using is Pixlr.  It has cool stuff, people.  First of all, it has some elements of the makeup suite we all adored, including airbrush, teeth whiten, and touch up.  Then it has effects.  LOTS of effects, including pop art and lots of choices for old-fashioned-looking photos.  There are also lots of overlays (like the textures that Picnik had).  TONS OF THEM.  Space, fireworks, film leaks... you name it.  It has a fair selection of borders, though a lot of them look the same to me, and I'm not much of a border fan in general.  Pixlr has some stickers, though not much of interest to me.  Enough swirly things to get by with, though.  Last but certainly not least, the fonts.  They are awesome!  Lest I do not do them enough justice, I made a sampling for you of my favorite ones.

One thing I must say.  Though the fonts are extremely cool, they're not exactly what I'd call pretty.  Just unusual and interesting.  There aren't enough swirly-girly ones.  But you can't have everything, right?  (By the way, that pic started out as a photo of trees.  I just did major editing on it so I could use it as a background.) 

Speaking of my pictures, I edited one in both programs so that you could sorta get an idea of what they're like.  I didn't use anything "premium" on PicMonkey, just so you know.

The original

PicMonkey

Pixlr.  I didn't realize until now how washed-out it looks. :p

In general, I'd recommend PicMonkey for those who just want an editing program to make their photos look more professional (that is, basic editing), and Pixlr for those who just want to play around and have fun making things look cool.  One thing that I'm a bit disappointed about is that neither program seems to have layering or collage-making capabilities.  That was a bit of a bummer.  But my brother has an old version of photoshop that I'm going install and try to learn how to use, so hopefully I can supplement with that.

So.  Have you used either of these programs?  Which do you like best?  If I've inspired you to try one, tell me what you think, and - dare I say it - tell me if my review was accurate!  TELL ME EVERTHING. 

:)

New Design?

I'm starting to feel like my blog's looking just a bit fusty and tired nowadays.  It needs to be springified.  I'm itching to redo it, but I'd like to have your input. I'm putting up a poll, and I'd love you if you'd vote on it and/or comment telling me what, in your opinion, should be changed, and what should stay.  It is of course my blog and I shall do what I please, but I'm rather an indecisive person, and I'm curious as to what y'all think of it.

Well, it's sort of relevant.  Kinda.  Maybe.