Difference between revisions of "Abstract"

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(Created page with "===Verse 1=== I put on my bowler hat and my best tweed jacket<br /> And I go to the lecture hall I'm a stuffy academic at a conference of professors And I fully mean to rock ...")
 
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I put on my bowler hat and my best tweed jacket<br />
 
I put on my bowler hat and my best tweed jacket<br />
−
And I go to the lecture hall
+
And I go to the lecture hall<br />
−
I'm a stuffy academic at a conference of professors
+
I'm a stuffy academic at a conference of professors<br />
 
And I fully mean to rock them all.
 
And I fully mean to rock them all.
−
I've the notes for my talk and an abstract to boot
 
−
Western Literature's the topic today
 
−
But there's more! For I compare the subject with thermodynamics
 
−
An original perspective, I should say.
 
  
−
The structure is as follows: I have five main points
+
I've the notes for my talk and an abstract to boot<br />
−
And the classics are the focus of the first.
+
Western Literature's the topic today<br />
−
Homer, Virgil, and the Bible, Dante, Chaucer, William Shakespeare
+
As a counterpoint, I draw upon thermodynamic laws<br />
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Constitute the mythic works of verse.
+
An original perspective, I should say<br />
−
This period continues right until the Metaphysicals
+
It's something like
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The final poets, in my estimation
 
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Who were able both to think a feeling and to a feel a thought
 
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In perfect unity of reason and the passions.
 
  
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After this, the Restoration is the term which I employ
+
===Chorus===
−
To connote the writers who came next:
 
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There's Milton and there's Dryden and there's Alexander Pope
 
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And by and large, they drew upon their intellects.
 
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In fact, I argue that this emphasis was rather detrimental
 
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To poetic feeling in their major feats.
 
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To correct this came Romantics such as Coleridge and Shelley
 
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William Wordsworth, Byron, William Blake, and Keats.
 
  
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Personal emotions, egotistical sublime
+
Literature and thermodynamics<br />
−
The Romantics thought these notions paramount
+
Reflecting common themes<br />
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But the mind of Europe's more important than one's personal experience
+
Thermodynamic history<br />
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Which is what the Modernists espouse!
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And literary scenes<br />
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No more lofty symbolism or pantheistic pap;
 
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Now we concentrate on dry, hard things.
 
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Perfect balance 'twixt the feeling and refinement of the poem
 
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As the Classics had been wont to write and sing.
 
  
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Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, William Butler Yeats, and Joyce
+
Literature and thermodynamics<br />
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And HD bring us to the present time.
+
Despite their different names<br />
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But what shall follow after? This is how thermodynamics
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From universe's start to end<br />
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Enter into this discussion of mine.
+
The song remains the same
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For the laws thereof necessitate the universe entire
 
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Progresses t'ward a state of entropy
 
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A balance, equilibrium through energy dispersion
 
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But unsuitable for life, regrettably.
 
  
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So the final state of all existence is cold death
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===Verse 2===
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And the primal state is chaos, formless, void.
+
 
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But in the billion billion years that shall occur betwixt the twain
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The very first of literature concerns creation myths<br />
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Comes the ideal age, before we're all destroyed.
+
And I have to say, that stuff is pretty swell<br />
−
And the same is true of literature! From early myths to end:
+
This swellness, if you will, continues through the Metaphysicals<br />
−
And I wonder, of what shall this end consist?
+
The last to feel a thought and think a feel.
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But for now the better age is here! of World Wars and Imagism,
+
 
−
And one classic Anglo-Catholic monarchist!
+
After them, it goes to pot: the Restoration's got no soul<br />
 +
And the Romantics only care about their angst<br />
 +
The Modernists, however, have achieved the perfect balance<br />
 +
'Cause they concentrate on dry, hard thangs.<br />
 +
Let me hear it now!
 +
 
 +
===Bridge===
 +
 
 +
LITERATURE<br />
 +
LITERATURE AND THERMODYNAMICS<br />
 +
LITERATURE AND THERMODYNAMICS<br />
 +
LITERATURE AND THERMODYNAMICS<br />
 +
LITERATURE!
 +
 
 +
===Verse 3===
 +
 
 +
The second thermal law dictates the universal system<br />
 +
Moves toward a state of equilibrium:<br />
 +
Total entropy as heat's dispersed and meets its death<br />
 +
Perfect balance, but for life, a zero-sum
 +
 
 +
So sometime before apocalypse, we humans can survive<br />
 +
An ideal age, like Modernism now!<br />
 +
But what of after this? The entropy of literature?<br />
 +
What form will future writing take, and how?

Latest revision as of 04:07, 14 September 2014

Verse 1[edit]

I put on my bowler hat and my best tweed jacket
And I go to the lecture hall
I'm a stuffy academic at a conference of professors
And I fully mean to rock them all.

I've the notes for my talk and an abstract to boot
Western Literature's the topic today
As a counterpoint, I draw upon thermodynamic laws
An original perspective, I should say
It's something like

Chorus[edit]

Literature and thermodynamics
Reflecting common themes
Thermodynamic history
And literary scenes

Literature and thermodynamics
Despite their different names
From universe's start to end
The song remains the same

Verse 2[edit]

The very first of literature concerns creation myths
And I have to say, that stuff is pretty swell
This swellness, if you will, continues through the Metaphysicals
The last to feel a thought and think a feel.

After them, it goes to pot: the Restoration's got no soul
And the Romantics only care about their angst
The Modernists, however, have achieved the perfect balance
'Cause they concentrate on dry, hard thangs.
Let me hear it now!

Bridge[edit]

LITERATURE
LITERATURE AND THERMODYNAMICS
LITERATURE AND THERMODYNAMICS
LITERATURE AND THERMODYNAMICS
LITERATURE!

Verse 3[edit]

The second thermal law dictates the universal system
Moves toward a state of equilibrium:
Total entropy as heat's dispersed and meets its death
Perfect balance, but for life, a zero-sum

So sometime before apocalypse, we humans can survive
An ideal age, like Modernism now!
But what of after this? The entropy of literature?
What form will future writing take, and how?

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