As a commoner, I do not agree with the king's orders, once again. It is a constant battle to try to provide for a family and take care of the children with my husband gone now. The king is not helping at all. He forces his own beliefs upon us and we cannot even worship the way that we would like. I work hard constantly, but it never shows and I feel like my work is never done. As a woman it is hard enough to be seen and taken seriously, but with my husband gone I do not have a choice. He fought for what he believed in and he ended up dead, and now I must fight for my family. I do not want to be Catholic merely becuase it is forced upon me. I want my children to live with their own independent beliefs, but King Louis refuses to listen, especially to a commoner as myself. We are simply the lowly class, never heard, never put into consideration.

http://www.reformedevangelist.com/images/Luther.jpg

http://www.reformedevangelist.com/images/Luther.jpg" \*


*I couldn't get my visual to paste, so this is the hyperlink to my picture of Martin Luther and his 95 Theses- going with my explanation of his role in the Reformation.

Along with many other issues of this time period, the Thirty Years War was caused by a multitude of different thing, but nostly by the religious conflicts of the time and the economic failure. Religion had not only become an isse between othernations, but it had become a civil issus where people were battling their own government and their claim of power over their religious opinions. The Thirty Years War was destined to come eventually considering all of the internal conflict going on in Europe, but the Reformation sparked new ideas of religion and expressing new opinions publicly. Therefore this opened new doors to freedom that the government did not want to acknowledge. The efffects of the Thiryt Years War were like many other wars, economic depression, lack in trade, failure in ecomonmy in general, and price issues. Prices were being raised and less people were becoming wealthy. Like many wars before and after it, the Thirty Years War caused the economy to become extrememy slow and the culture therefore suffered. The effects of this war were extremely evident all over Europe for many years.

In contributing to the Reformation, Martin Luther played a huge, influential role. Not only did he finally stand up for what he, and many others, believed against the Catholic Church, but at the time the church was also the government and political power so he risked everything to come out in the public with his beliefs. Though the government attempted to force him to take back all he had said and done, he refused to give in. His 95 Theses are a huge mark in history, making him a huge contribution to the Reformation. Martin Luther began the start of new ways of thinking, and not only thinking but acting upon these opinions in public. Before Luther people had been scared and passive, but he brought his opinion out aggressively in public, which sparked a fire in other believers; marking the beginning of the Reformation.

Poetry #3

Love and Sleep
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909)
Lying asleep between the strokes of night I saw my love lean over my sad bed, Pale as the duskiest lily's leaf or head,Smooth-skinned and dark, with bare throat made to bite,Too wan for blushing and too warm for white, But perfect-coloured without white or red. And her lips opened amorously, and said--I wist not what, saving one word--Delight.And all her face was honey to my mouth, And all her body pasture to mine eyes; The long lithe arms and hotter hands than fire,The quivering flanks, hair smelling of the south, The bright light feet, the splendid supple thighs And glittering eyelids of my soul's desire.







Author Algernon Charles Swinburne conveys this poem to be very intimate and romantic. I like this poet's style because he uses very indepth details to reveal his affection for his subject, his lover. He describes her appearances, slight actions, connotations, and eveything he feels about her. By using these continued descriptions and imagery he conveys his tone of "delight" and love in general. Swinburne uses imagery to depict what he sees with his own eyes and what he feels, as though the reader is with im in the room. He is constantly using adjectives and actions describing every detail of his lover. I like this style because he is not simply telling you that he is obsessed with this lady, but he describes the emtional attatchment felt with her, conveying the romance of the poem.

Poetry #2

Work Without Hope
Samuel Taylor Coleridge(composed 21st February 1825)
All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair --The bees are stirring -- birds are on the wing --And Winter slumbering in the open air,Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!And I the while, the sole unbusy thing,Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.
Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll:And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,And Hope without an object cannot live.





http://www.mcgill.ca/files/researchoffice/GaultNatureReserve.jpg (hyperlink to my picture, wouldnt copy & paste)





I think that this poem is well represented in this picture because of the serene nature reference. This peom is about nature's features of calmness and beauty, and therefore sense of being in touch with one's own emotions and hope. This picture depocts nature at its best. I shows a beautiful scene in which I merely look into the distance in this picture and can feel the "hope" represented in this peom. Nature's beauty is very deep and intense; this poem conveys that nature brings out more than the eye can see, but what the heart can feel. The most important aspect of this poem and picuture is the fact that they convey hope. By looking into this picture you can feel the emotions of faith and hope through the serenity and intense beauty and simple calmness. That is what the poem is all about interpretting and revealing.