Bill Clinton Reads William Butler Yeats

A prolific reader, former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 2003 released a list of his 21 favorite books. Clinton, who honors his Irish ancestry, has a special place in his heart for  Irish poet William Butler Yeats. To celebrate Bill’s love of poetry and Will’s poetic genius, we include below one of our favorite Yeat’s poems.

WHEN YOU ARE OLD
by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Book Shopping with the Obamas

While we try to avoid politics and polarizing discussions in this blog, whatever your political persuasion, you will have to admit that as an avid reader President Barack Obama is a reading role model to daughters Sasha and Malia (and to the rest of the populace, as well).

In the photo above (from November 2011), Obama and his daughters visited  Kramerbooks & Afterwards Café, an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C., and picked up a stack of reading material. According to an article at examiner.com, the Obamas’ purchases included:

THE BRIEF AND WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: CABIN FEVER by Jeff Kinney

THE TIGER’S WIFE by Tea Obreht

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selnick

The last title — THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, source material for the movie HUGO (2011) — is the volume in the middle of the book sandwich Malia Obama holds in the photo above. Happy reading!

Reading & Curiosity, Quote by Eleanor Roosevelt

“…at birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow the child with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Photo: This 1919 photo shows future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945; in office from 1933-1945), wife Eleanor, and five of their six children, along with Roosevelt’s mother Sara.

Jimmy Carter’s Favorite Poet

Photo: President Jimmy Carter and nine-and-a-half-year-old daughter Amy participate in a speed reading course at the White House, February 1977.

In his latest book,  THROUGHOUT THE YEAR WITH JIMMY CARTER: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President (Zondervan, 2012), the former president states: “My favorite poet is Dylan Thomas.” So, with this in mind, we will feature an excerpt from one of our favorite Dylan Thomas poems.

FERN HILL (Excerpt)
by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
     The night above the dingle starry,
          Time let me hail and climb
     Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
          Trail with daisies and barley
     Down the rivers of the windfall light.

 
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
     In the sun that is young once only,
          Time let me play and be
     Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
          And the sabbath rang slowly
     In the pebbles of the holy streams.

Read “Fern Hill” in its entirety at Poets.org.

Reading and Discovery, Quote by Abraham Lincoln

“A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish and facility for successfully pursuing the unsolved ones.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

PHOTO: President Abraham Lincoln and his 11-year-old son Tad, 1864