Health matters

Chinese writer, philosopher, translator, and poet, Lin Yutang (1895 - 1976), wrote more than 35 books in English and Chinese, and brought the classics of Chinese literature to western readers.

In 1919, at the age of 23, he received a half - tuition scholarship to attend Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He married at this time and moved with his wife to the United States. At Harvard he worked toward his doctorate in comparative literature and counted literary scholar and editor Bliss Perry and humanist Irving Babbitt as his professors. Next to T.S. Eliot, Lin has been called the most influential of Babbitt’s students. Lin was perhaps the only writer to feature Babbitt in one of his own poems, having mentioned him in “Autobiographical Poem of the Author at Forty,” written in Chinese, and again forty years later in his Memoirs of an Octogenarian.

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Writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through its meaning, sound, and rhythm. It may be distinguished from prose by its compression, frequent use of conventions of metre and rhyme, use of the line as a formal unit, heightened vocabulary, and freedom of syntax. Its emotional content is expressed through a variety of techniques, from direct description to symbolism, including the use of metaphor and simile.

In its broadest sense, writing that aims to present ideas and evoke an emotional experience in the reader through the use of meter, imagery, connotative and concrete words, and a carefully constructed structure based on rhythmic patterns. Poetry typically relies on words and expressions that have several layers of meaning. It also makes use of the effects of regular rhythm on the ear and may make a strong appeal to the senses through the use of imagery. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” and Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass are famous examples of poetry..

Ever heard of Amnesty International or “AI”? Let’s delve into this matter today:
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About Amnesty International

(An official Amnesty International video that they screened at the AIUK AGM meeting 2006. Some amazing footage and a really motivating video - I got a copy to show my Amnesty youth group at our meeting and it really inspired them to get active. I have decided to share it as it is amazing viewing, and I think it will spark the imagination and enthusiasm of most audiences.)
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