Acquainted With the Night -- Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
O luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

One of very few poems I have once memorized. It uses terza rima rhyme scheme, most famously found in Dante's Divine Comedy, and Shelley's Ode to the West Wind. Frost excels.

The Dog -- Goya

Of all of Goya's Black Paintings, I find this one the scariest. Even scarier than Saturn Devouring His Children, which is pretty spooky in its own right.

The Waking -- Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.

One of my favorites. Kurt Vonnegut quoted this poem in Slaughterhouse-Five. I still will always contend that this poem is more pretty than it is meaningful.

Weary Herakles -- Lysippos

A somewhat ironic image: Although giant, Herakles must lean on his club for support out of fatigue. While we are on the subject of scrapers (see last post) it is worth checking out Lysippos' Apoxyomenos (the Scraper).

The Floor-Scrapers -- Caillebotte

Caillebotte is the man. A super rich guy who helped out a lot of struggling Impressionists, including Monet, he produced some pretty sweet works on his own. Most people are familiar with Paris Street, Rainy Day (a painting in which no rain is falling, and no one is looking at anyone else) but I enjoy his series of floor-scrapers. Also good is his portrait of his brother Rene looking out the window.

Old Greek piece. Evidently, there are rumbling, drunken, disturbed Dionysian forces alive underneath the sleeping stone.