wutheringss:

A Romantic Poetry Rec List
a (very) brief selection of love poems

• The Sun Rising • The Canonization - John Donne
• Bright Star - John Keats
• Brown Penny • He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven - W.B. Yeats
• Wild nights! Wild nights! - Emily Dickinson
• Anne Hathaway • Valentine - Carol Ann Duffy
• She Walks In Beauty - Lord Byron
• To His Coy Mistress • The Definition of Love - Andrew Marvell
• Traveler - Heather Sommer
• One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand - Edmund Spenser
• O Tell Me The Truth About Love - W.H. Auden
• Love’s Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley
• In Paris With You - James Fenton
• Love Sonnet XVII • Every Day You Play - Pablo Neruda
• Sonnet 130 - Shakespeare
• somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond • i carry your heart with me • if everything happens that can’t be done - e.e. cummings

(via softshinythings)

okayophelia:

Archetypes | ARIADNE + THE MINOTAUR

Theseus knows immediately when he comes to her, still covered in the blood of the Minotaur, carrying the broken horns from its head that he had raised for the screaming, chanting mob. He asks her how, screams in his rage, how she could have loved the monster. She stands before him with salt tears on her face and lightning in her veins, shaking with the power of what she has done with a simple ball of thread from her sewing box and the love raging beneath her breast. She wonders how can she begin to explain that the kingdom was a cage, that the Minotaur was the dark beating heart of its power, hidden away in the labyrinth so nobody would have to look at the ways his monstrous flesh was near-human. That she knew this, because she had hidden the beast in her body away behind a labyrinth of lace and charm and beauty. That she loved the Minotaur because she saw him in the dark behind her closed eyelids, would dream of carnage and growing horns, because she felt her soul snarling like an animal beneath her thin shell of humanity and would muffle her screams with cushions in the night while the roars of the bull would echo throughout her bedchamber. How to explain to this beloved and brightly shining martyr prince, who loves her for her honour and her beauty, that she loved the monster and hated him as she loved and hated herself, and that they were both trapped here by her father like beasts. And how they aren’t anymore. That the Minotaur was hunger and she is love, and in their raging, divine extremes there was no difference there at all.

She raises her lips to Theseus’ to taste the blood. ‘He was my brother,’ she whispers, and doesn’t tell him a thing.(x)

hierophiliac:

okayophelia:

Archetypes | JUDAS

A traitor is never just a traitor. He walks the field at night retracing his steps over and over until his feet bleed and his throat burns from the screaming. His betrayal is overwhelming, rippling out through his past and future until there is no end in sight, until the choice seems to have been all his life was ever meant to be. Could he have been so blind to his own evil nature, his own cruel lips, his base tongue, his own twisted soul? God roars through his dreams, the flames leap through his destiny, and always but always, he remembers the words of Jesus, as he gripped his face with a terrified fire in his dark eyes, and told him to do what he would do, and have it done quickly. Like it was scripture written onto his soul, Judas could not have done otherwise, consumed with a need that was never just for silver. It was too much, to be beloved of the son of God; it was always too much light to bear.

Like a dream, his lips ghost over and over the face of Jesus, giving the damning kiss, and silver falls through his hands, burns cold into his lips where the skin of the messiah he had loved was so warm. He desecrated his own soul that the children of God might be saved, he understands that now, but does not trust to the redemption it promises him, not when he is wracked with such a pain of remorse his bones ache and crack with it. Not when he cannot stop screaming out the name of Christ, his brother, like a prayer. He will die by his own hand, hanging in the field of blood with the word of God like love on his lips. 

#nothing crueller than loving and being loved by a prophet #the love of the disciples was overwhelming and so was their jealousy #would jesus not have chosen the one he loved best to destroy him; to raise him up on the cross that humanity might be saved? #would he not have wanted love to be the driving force behind his pain?#would that not have made the unbearable bearable? #if judas was driven by a greed; by an evil; was gripped by satan as they say #would it not have crept in through the faultlines in his soul #left gaping wide open by exposure to the sheer force of adoration and transcendence #that always breaks us all wide open #and sends us running terrified from what we see there? #was judas acting in fear or in greed or in love or in holiness or evil? #the answer is always; has always been; all of it #the son of god does not die by accident #not by the hand of random malice or greed #no; he dies by love; every time #the kingdom of god is within you because you ate it #my judas feels are incomparable and overwhelming and highly unique#a traitor is never just a traitor #(well that’s it in a nutshell)

(via okayophelia)

(Source: simply-quotes, via razairazerci)

okayophelia:

[made rebloggable by request]

Because the prophet, the revolutionary, the messiah, the human embodiment of a cause is … godtouched; he or she sees and feels and moves through the world with divinity of some kind or another running through his veins. It doesn’t have to be literally divine - though it usually is in some way - but it is something that lifts them beyond, that makes them holy to other humans, and when that happens, when disciples gather, they love him or her for it, they become utterly devoted.

And even if the prophet loves back, even with all the love in the world; his highest realm of love is reserved for something mere mortals cannot touch; his eyes lift over and beyond the horizon of reality, they look towards something greater. for the disciple, the love is the greatest and smallest part of that glory they can ever hope to hold.

it’s hard enough if you just love the prophet wholly, for who they are, for the ideal they embody, for their divinity

but to be loved back, to have that, but to know that no matter what that their love for you can never measure up to the engulfing love you feel for them, because so much of the prophet is sacred space, reserved, devoted to something beyond human, to the transcendence, the divinity, the cause - not even consciously, it’s just their nature -

that. that is cruel.

i can’t say it well, just read this poem, and this one

and look through my tags; they blink and reality shivers, nothing crueller than loving and being loved by a prophet, and disciples who love their messiah too much, (bonus for subversive judas iscariot feelings) they are all essentially the same concept. i have three fucking tags for this concept. i cannot be held accountable for my actions.

(via wutheringss-deactivated20130425)

art-of-swords:

Sword Facts & Myths

• All Medieval swords weighed at least 12 pounds – FALSE

Most Medieval swords weighed around 2.5 lbs - even long hand-and-a-half and two-handed swords weighed less than 4 lbs.

• Medieval swords were not sharp - FALSE

Some surviving samples of Medieval swords are still sharp - many are razor-sharp.

• All swords should balance within 2” of the guard - FALSE

A sword’s balance should be determined by its function, not an arbitrary standard. Swords intended for cutting often balance 5 or 6 inches from the guard.

• Swords were made to cut through armour - FALSE

Period armour was often work- and case-hardened and curved such that it is difficult to hit at a right angle. Late Medieval thrusting swords, even the ones with a reinforced point, were used to thrust into the gaps in armour, not through the plate.

• Viking swords were heavier than Medieval swords - FALSE

The Viking sword was a very highly developed sword form. Often the blades were quite thin in cross section, and as a result, were often the same or lighter in overall weight than other similarsized swords.

• There is no such thing as the “perfect” sword - TRUE

There are only “perfect” swords for their intended purpose and the tastes of the owner.

• A “good” sword should be able to bend past 90 degrees without taking a set - FALSE

Flexibility is only one of the aspects of the steel properties that is important in a sword. Too flexible, and it is inefficient in the thrust and the cut. Too stiff and it is prone to breakage. Most makers are content if a sword will bend to 45 degrees without taking a set.

• Real swordfights were just like they are in the movies - FALSE

Swordfights in movies are choreographed for entertainment not authenticity. Edge to edge parries and fancy techniques are designed to heighten drama in a scene. An actual swordfight would be short, brutal and much quieter.

• Japanese swords are the sharpest and best swords ever made - FALSE

Japanese swords have many admirable qualities and were well-suited to their intended use, but they are not necessarily sharper or better than a properly designed and sharpened Medieval sword. 

• Medieval swordmakers were uneducated barbarians - FALSE

It is apparent from even a cursory study of surviving Medieval swords that blademakers and cutlers were highly skilled artisans with a profound understanding of mathematics and proportion.

• Not all swords should be as sharp as a razor - TRUE

The sword’s intended purpose is always the guide to use — thrusting swords are not intended for cutting, so some may not even have an edge at all, just a well-defined and reinforced point.

• Swords were tempered in urine or blood - FALSE

The steels smelted in Medieval Europe required either clean water or oil for quenching. Urine or blood would not allow a blade to temper properly.

• The “blood groove” is on a sword to release pressure in the wound and allow the sword to come back out - FALSE

“Blood groove” as a term is a recent invention — “fuller” is the proper name for the groove or grooves on a sword blade. The purpose of the fuller has nothing to do with “blood” — fullers reduce weight, assist in the proper distribution of mass in a blade, and help make the blade more stiff.

• A good sword can cut through a concrete pillar - FALSE

Swords were intended to cut through flesh, clothing, and (in earlier swords) leather or mail armour. They are not intended to cut wood, concrete or metal pillars, even though that is often seen in films.

• A sword will fall apart if you don’t clean the tang of the sword - FALSE

The tang of a sword, if properly made and the rest of the sword properly maintained, will not require any maintenance for generations of use. 

• Japanese folded steel is superior to European sword steel - FALSE

Folding steel was a technique used by Japanese smiths to try to get the best steel they could from very poor ore sources. Folded steel blades are more likely than modern monosteels to have large, unseen inclusions of impurities that may in fact critically weaken a blade. By folding the steel billet many, many times, they achieved a more even distribution of carbon and worked most of the impurities out of the steel. The result is stunningly beautiful, but we have to believe that if a 16th C Japanese smith had access to modern monosteels, he would have switched in a heartbeat.

• Pattern-welded steel is superior to mono-steel - FALSE

Like folding steel, pattern-welding was a technique used to try to get the best steel from very poor ore sources.  Pattern-welding is the art of hammering together, and then twisting and re-hammering layers of iron (often of varying carbon content). The Celts as far back as the 5th century BC may have made swords by pattern-welding, and this technique was used extensively until at least the end of the 10th century.  After this, better, more consistent iron ore was obtainable, and furnace technology improved, making this laborious technique unnecessary. Also like folded steel blades, pattern welded blades are more likely than modern monosteels to have large, unseen inclusions of impurities that may in fact critically weaken a blade.

• Swords are just big knives - FALSE

The design of a sword is far more complex than a knife. Flexibility  balance and vibration are far more critical in a sword-length blade than in a knife-length blade.

Info source: © 2005 Albion Armorers, Inc.

Photo source: © Royal Armouries

(via lawrylewin)

gingerhaze:

Sometimes I go through my art and open old PSD files and I find these extra hidden layers. They contain false starts, aborted sketches, and sometimes mindless little side doodles that have nothing to do with the final saved image.

Today I found this. I’m not sure what I meant by it.

(via okayophelia)

okayophelia:

Archetypes | REVOLUTIONARY

The city is burning around them, and they dance a dance made of gunsmoke, trembling cathedrals and the splatter of blood against a police shield. On their bodies is writ the story of a kingdom come tumbling down; in their bones are the towers, in their fingers the laws coming unbound, in their eyes shine the electricity thundering through the streets, and in their hearts nothing but freedom. Princes and society girls are screaming, queens are bowing on their balconies to the ravening crowds, and presidents are losing the iron grasp of their armies. The internet is ablaze, the books are burning, the priests are gasping, and the soldiers are warring with the police on the steps to parliament. The city lives tonight; in the fires, in their blood, in the roaring of the maddened crowd as they come alight to the cracked, holy voice of the revolutionary, who sucks the air out of every room, who is unbearably beloved, who is a violent black hole of hope; who is everything and nothing but this.