Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. Following this ground-breaking work, he gave a speech entitled "The American Scholar" in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence".

Flying over America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcuDdPo0WZk

I want to get some boots

bootlegger 販賣私酒者

magical feet 詩的韻腳

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that would become a new nation—the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was unanimously approved on July 2. A committee had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on independence.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2] 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). He was a spokesman for democracy and the rights of man with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France.

Rip Van Winkle

"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819 as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. Although the story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains, Irving later admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills."

Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKdq249uOGs

I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair

Borne, like a vapor, on the summer air

I see her tripping where the bright streams play

Happy as the daisies that dance on her way

Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour

Many were the blithe birds that warbled them o'er

Oh! I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair

Floating, like a vapor, on the soft, summer air

I long for Jeannie with the day dawn smile

Radiant in gladness, warm with winning guile

I hear her melodies, like joys gone by

Sighing round my heart o'er the fond hopes that die

Sighing like the night wind and sobbing like the rain

Wailing for the lost one that comes not again

Oh! I long for Jeannie, and my heart bows low

Never more to find her where the bright waters flow

I sigh for Jeannie, but her light form strayed

Far from the fond hearts round her native glade

Her smiles have vanished and her sweet songs flown

Flitting like the dreams that have cheered us and gone

Now the nodding wild flow'rs may wither on the shore

While her gentle fingers will cull them no more

Oh! I sigh for Jeannie with the light brown hair

Floating like a vapor, on the soft summer air

Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as the "father of American music", was an American songwriter primarily known for his parlour and minstrel music. Foster wrote over 200 songs; among his best known are "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races," "Old Folks at Home," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," "Old Black Joe," and "Beautiful Dreamer." Many of his compositions remain popular more than 150 years after he wrote them.

A Psalm of Life

"A Psalm of Life" is a poem written by American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Longfellow wrote the poem shortly after completing lectures on German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and was heavily inspired by him. He was also inspired to write it by a heartfelt conversation he had with friend and fellow professor at Harvard University Cornelius Conway Felton; the two had spent an evening "talking of matters, which lie near one's soul:–and how to bear one's self doughtily in Life's battle: and make the best of things". The next day, he wrote "A Psalm of Life".