im supposed to do a speech on fear, and its this wednesday. not only am i absolutely terrified of giving speeches, but i have been working on this one for weeks and i cant seem to get anywhere with it. so for my intro, i finally deicided to do a short poem about fear that i can easily memorize, so if anyone knows of such a poem, feedback would be lovely. thanks so much.

When I Have Fears
by John Keats


When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.


Perhaps this will do.

john

Fear Not, Dear Friend, But Freely Live Your Days


Fear not, dear friend, but freely live your days
Though lesser lives should suffer. Such am I,
A lesser life, that what is his of sky
Gladly would give for you, and what of praise.
Step, without trouble, down the sunlit ways.
We that have touched your raiment, are made whole
From all the selfish cankers of man's soul,
And we would see you happy, dear, or die.
Therefore be brave, and therefore, dear, be free;
Try all things resolutely, till the best,
Out of all lesser betters, you shall find;
And we, who have learned greatness from you, we,
Your lovers, with a still, contented mind,
See you well anchored in some port of rest.

---Robert Louis Stevinson

[www.eapoe.org]

[www.eapoe.org]

[www.eapoe.org]

I recommend that you write it down, and not depend fully on memory.

Good luck!

pam

The Bene Gesserit Littainy against Fear.
From Dune by Frank Herbert

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

I don't know why, but this one always gives me feelings of trepidation:

[www.bartleby.com]

If you are terrified of speaking, you can start by talking about that!

If you need an anecdote on the subject of fear, there's one involving the late Sir John Gielgud rehearsing with the cast for Peter Brook's production of Seneca's 'Oedipus' at the National Theatre in London. The rehearsals were not going well. The actors were being put through exercises intended to increase their ability to make the audience feel the fear felt by the characters. Brooks asked them to improvise on whatever frightened them the most. He said "I want you to come on stage and say something that will TERRIFY me". When it was Gielgud's turn, he just walked to stage-front and said "We open in two weeks".



Post Edited (10-30-04 08:20)