Today my students created some Blackout Poetry (an idea that is all over Pinterest). I am smitten with their brains. Forgive the image quality. She was talking to me I hardly even know but I felt funny so I opened the wardrobe What I found was too private. I didn’t want to talk But it was […]
For me, being a teacher is never more enjoyable than the month of April because I get to read some of the world’s best poems with my students. This week, when I introduced the unit, I shared my favorite poem (Who Knows if the Moon’s by E. E. Cummings). I’m always enamored with how other (younger) sets of eyes react to my most treasured words.
When I collected all of the papers at the end of the day, I found this annotation scribbled at the bottom of one: “So, are the flowers suicidal?” How brilliant. Who Knows if the Moon’s (1925) E. E. Cummings
who knows if the moon’s
a balloon,coming out of a keen city
in the sky–filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should
get into it,if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we’d go up higher with all the pretty people
than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody’s ever visited,where
always
it’s
Spring)and everyone’s
in love and flowers pick themselves
I thought I’d share a Cummings-esque poem of mine and a collection of some more vintage airshow images from France (source).
Zeppelin Bend
We’re from a golden era, you and I.
The kind where people were found facing upwards
looking for Hindenburg and the flames.
We could almost hear the film reels and the loud flash bulbs.
Everyone is discussing the tragedy
at the party (the kind Gatsby would throw)
in their feathers and beads.
“And How!”
We’re vintage, you and I.
Strong as antiqued-canvas,
Our memories pulled taut
over an alloy structure—
and we’re inside, floating toward
an unknown destination.
The best part is that it will
take forever to get there,
because the engine is in
reverse.
I love celebrating Twelfth Night for so many reasons. To start, I’m an English nerd and anything Shakespearean tickles my fancy. It also gives me something to look forward to after Christmas and bringing in the New Year. Lastly, if you haven’t checked out my About page (Behind the Quill), I explain how my blog’s namesake connects to Shakespeare’s play of the same name. So, it goes without saying that this is an obligatory holiday for Twelfth Light to celebrate, right?!?!
There is so much history involved with this holiday, but I’ll focus my post on the Twelfth Night Cake, also known as the King’s Cake.
Here’s a little background knowledge for my history-seekers out there:
“The Twelfth Night Cake is an often-ornate confection into which a bean, a coin or a tiny carved or cast metal version of the Baby Jesus was placed. During early evening ceremonies, the cake was cut and its pieces distributed to guests who were advised to chew carefully. The person who found the icon then became the king or queen of Twelfth Night. By the late 18th century in England and America, the selection of Twelfth Night’s “royalty” was also alternately accomplished by the distribution of paper slips with each piece of cake. The slips were opened and the person holding the one with a special mark inside was declared king.
Some believe this paper ballot tradition was instituted as a matter of safety to prevent often-inebriated and distracted guests from inadvertently choking to death on hard beans, coins or a cast metal Jesus hidden in wads of cake” (Levins).
Twelfth Night CUPcakes!
I wanted to bring Twelfth Night into this century, so I created a Twelfth Night CUPcake contest at my school for my colleagues. I just didn’t have time to make my own cupcakes like I wanted to originally, but the bakery ones were oh-so-yummy and my friends didn’t seem to mind. 🙂
I added quotes to the cupcakes from Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night like this:
To make the little quote banners you’ll need: 1. Cardstock quotes 2. Toothpicks 3. Scotch tapeLeave about an inch on the left of the quote and two inches on the right. Cut a V into the right side. Don’t fear it being uneven. The more random, the better. Next, fold a crease on the left-hand side.Flip it over toward you and tape a toothpick at the crease. Make sure that when you’d flip it over the quote would be face-up.Fold the flap over at the crease and add another piece of tape to secure. This process as worked for me several times without fail and prevents the paper from sliding down the toothpick into the pretty icing.When you’re done, you’ll have a collection of adorable little cupcake flags.Tada!!! ❤
Presentation
The reason for the odd, double-cupcake liner was to find the winner of Twelfth Night! I didn’t want my friends to choke on something in the cupcakes, so I did this, instead:
I hope everyone at school had fun playing along today! Congratulations to one of our secretaries, Deb, for being crowned the Queen of Twelfth Night. Along with bragging rights, she won a $15.00 Starbucks gift card. Hopefully Deb can find something at Starbucks that’s as sweet as she is.
To wash down all that cake, I’d suggest a traditional Wassail beverage (the name comes from the old English term “Waes hael” meaning “be well”). Here’s a lovely recipe from Cookie + Kate!
Image credit: Cookie + Kate
Happy Twelfth Night!
Waes hael,
Destiny
PostScript:
The winning cupcake quote?? 😉
“Fate, show thy force. Ourselves we do not owe /
What is decreed must be; and be this so.”
~W. Shakespeare
