Do you strive to be perfect?

Or do you strive to be human?

And which is more difficult?

Jesus’ saying „Be ye perfect“ plagued me all my youth – now that I’m older, I try to be something else.

My essay „How Not to be Perfect“ and Oliver Wendel Holmes’ classic heartland parody about perfection, „The Deacon’s Masterpiece, or The One-Hoss-Shay.“

Watch the entire series “The Wisdom of 101 Famous Poems” on Vimeo/com/HulaInk. Remember to subscribe!

This video contains:

- The poem
- a short biography of the poet
- my essay.

––––––––––––––––––––––

WHAT IS “THE WISDOM OF 101 FAMOUS POEMS”?

I love this classic American collection of “101 Famous Poems” because a past age’s poems wisdom and philosophy that we have forgotten, but that we all desperately need.

These poems are full of dignity and truth, poetry and music and intelligence as they look out on a world and in many ways understand it. Their values are the same ones that made America - and all the Western World – great, and I fear that if we forget these values, our society will decline.

Each poem is a poem about life; they are inspiring poems, often philosophical and spiritual; some are openly motivational, full of good advice for success in life and personal development; it’s no coincidence that many have become a firm part of our pop culture, even of pop philosophy, and are repeatedly quoted in books, videos and speeches devoted to motivation, to inspiration, to self improvement and self help.

I think a lot of us are so caught up in the fashionable concerns of our time that we lose sight of the more fundamental values, the ideas and beliefs our world was built on – it’s time we all looked back and reminded of the great thoughts that bought us to where we stand today.

In my video series “The Wisdom of 101 Famous Poems” I take one poem from the collection every week and let it inspire to me write and essay about it – then I publish the poem and the essay in a video.

My companion podcast “Wisdom for the Rest of Us” is a loosely structured monologue that chronicles my experiences with these poems and in my journey in search of wisdom.

Join me on my journey und subscribe to podcast and the video series!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Who are Lothar Rosengarten and E.T. Hansen?

The music in this audio- and videobook was taken from a Prelude by Francesco Molino plus variations and an original score composed and performed by our producer and editor, Lothar Rosengarten (he also composed the opening jingle). One music piece is by Lothar is a musician living and performing in Berlin. For more information about him, visit his website at www.lothar-rosengarten.de.

E. T. Hansen is an American writer of fiction and non-fiction, in German and English, and lives in Berlin.

He writes fiction and non-fiction in English and German (Neuntöter, Blutbuche, Wassertöcher, Losing My Religion, The Cat Tales, Do Cats Have Souls?, The Art of Worldly Wisdom and more).

Many of his books and stories are published as complete videobooks on Vimeo.com/HulaInk.

You can support the Hula Ink by:

– subscribing to Vimeo.com/HulaInk and sharing their videos;
– or by becoming a patron at Patreon.com/HulaInk.

But mostly we hope you enjoy and get something out of our work – thanks for your support and we wish you all the love, luck and happiness in the world.
______________________________

Poets in this series include: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allen Poe, Alfred Tennyson, Percy Byssche Shelley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Wadsworth, John Milton and more.

#WritingCommunity​​​ #book​​​ #readingcommunity​​​ #poetry #classicpoems #love #quotes #poetrycommunity #poem #poet #life #feelings #thoughts #selfhelp #selflove #selfcare #motivation #mentalhealth #love #inspiration #personaldevelopment #mindfulness #selfimprovement #healing #mindset #personalgrowth #lifecoach #quotes #selfdevelopment #anxiety #positivity #success #meditation #motivationalquotes #spirituality #loveyourself #happiness #selfhelpbooks #psychology #philosophy #personalgrowth #personaltransformation

______________________

The 2 music pieces used in this video are either copyrighted by Lothar Rosengarten (opening jingle) or in public domain (soundtrack for the poem). The performance is copyrighted by Lothar Rosengarten.

The image of the poet and the text from which his or her biographical notes were adapted from Wikipedia.