Brandon Learning Centre: British Education - process, preparation and practicalities

We are familiar with Western poetry about the Spring but English speakers may be less familar with the following poem which has been sensitively translated by TC Lai: Spring - Chun Kwan (1049 - 1100) Spring has sprayed the paths with flowers As scores of thrushes Rishing from the bushes Burst out like fireworks to announce their joy. I lie in the shade of an old oak, drunk. The clouds overhead race; Tigers, dragons and bears Changelings each other chase Till the evening sun steals in and bathes In the quick-gold of the lake unawares. I love the contrast between the poetic flights of fancy which are punctured by the prosaic description of him being"drunk." He goes from this simple statement of condition to musing even more complex imaginings. The juxtaposition of the literary and mundane reminds me of Oscar Wilde's "we are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars" This poem is a glorious snapshot in time which will come back to

Spring is a time for new life, a message paralleled in the glory of the Resurrection. Even in Hong Kong, I can see signs of spring through the pollution! A.E. Housman's work A Shropshire Lad contains the following poem which is ideal for this time of the year. The beauty and simplicity of the images attracts the listener to the poem's key message of seizing opportunities to enjoy nature's beauty now. I particularly like to think of cherry trees wearing white for Easter. Read this and then go for a walk... from A Shropshire Lad II Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide. Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy springs a score, It only leaves me fifty more. And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow. Ad Gloriam Dei.

Technically this is a hymn but it reads wonderfully and is perfect for a children's Easter recital. What could be more joyous and reflective of rebirth at this time of year than the voices of children? At Eastertime the lillies fair And lovely flowers bloom everywhere At Eastertime, At Eastertime, How glad the world at Eastertime Delightful and to the point. Perfect!