Tag Archives: abstract nouns

Zeal & Zealousness Finding the contradictory nature in today’s abstract nouns was an interesting and challenging exercise. Many would say that zeal and zealousness have the same meaning, however, zeal is a feeling and zealousness is being full of or characterized by that feeling. I thought writer Harvey Ardman’s answer to the question of howContinue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 30: Zeal and Zealousness”

Yearning and Yield I still absolutely love the image I made for yearning last year. Much of my current yearning—strong, persistent craving or desire accompanied by tenderness or sadness for something unattainable or distant—to create thought-provoking images that express the contradictory nature of life, began last year during the A to Z challenge with myContinue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 29: Yearning and Yield”

Xanadu & Xylography Last year I had a lot of fun with Xanadu, the mythical paradise from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan, and the muse’s roller-rink in the Olivia Newton John movie. I made a rollerskate filter and attempted a shape poem in the shape of a rollerskater. Today and tomorrow, with this wonderfulContinue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 28: Xanadu and Xylography”

Wonder & Wisdom Encyclopedia.com says wonder is “a state of mind excited by the perception of novelty or of something strange or not well understood. Both plato and aristotle speak of wonder as the point of origin for philosophy. In the Theaetetus, Socrates is recorded as saying, “Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, andContinue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 27: Wonder and Wisdom”

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others. Marcus Aurelius Value & Vanity I found the contradiction of value and vanity in the definition of vanity itself:Continue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 26: Value and Vanity”

Urge & Use An urge can come from without—an act of urging; impelling action, influence, or force—or within—an involuntary, natural, or instinctive impulse. An urge may come from within but then one may urge another to act on one’s urge. I’m not sure how I’m going to place urge on my chart. I found thisContinue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 25: Urge and Use”

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt Thrill & Tiredness Yesterday I felt a bit of a thrill—a sudden wave of keen emotion or excitement—while cutting out and arranging all of the photographs I’ve created and chosen to post this month. I’ve felt a tiredness—a stateContinue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 24: Thrill and Tiredness”

Sadness & Satisfaction Satisfaction has two different meanings. It can be a feeling of contentment, fulfillment, or gratification. But it can also be the opportunity to redress or right a wrong; or compensation for a wrong or injury. In this way satisfaction is tied to revenge. Its relationship to sadness—distress caused by loss, affliction, disappointment;Continue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 22: Sadness and Satisfaction”

Reality & Romance The question of defining reality continues to be one of the main questions of philosophy, psychology, and every belief system. I’ve explored it while reading Calvino’s memos in my post Visibility: Fantasy in Reality, and Reality in Fantasy and in contrast to dreams in my post #SoCS: The Reality of a Half-full PlateContinue reading “Poetry Month Challenges Day 21: Reality and Romance”