i.am.large

Down/Up Loading Files

1. Download the file to your computer
2. Unzip the files to somewhere you can find them
3. Plug your iPod into your computer
4. Go to My Computer, find the icon for your iPod
5. Open it, go to the Notes folder
6. Drag-and-drop the files into that Notes folder
7. Eject your iPod by proper means

> If Mac users want to make this endeavor more Mac friendly, I'm all for it. Just show me the way.

Email comments to antonow@gmail.com

Why innocence, why experience?

Deeper than they appear, but can by thoroughly enjoyed at their lyric level. Brief enough to memorize within a couple of reads. These small puzzles marked the kickoff to a new way of writing. Much of it driven by the surrounding cultural chaos - 1790s Europe was the radical 60's of the time. No muddy Woodstock, but both France and Ameica in midst THE BIG political revolutions. Violent transformation as part of human destiny. On this side of the pond we would become the feared Vietnam for the Brits - "if the Americas go solo, well it's too good a redwhiteandblueprint for the rest of the muggles." They guessed right - with three quick generations our whole political world was inverted. Blake's writing in a time with that kind of tension between one order and perhaps total chaos, and he's remarkably aware of that power.

Add to his cocktail a spiritual deep-dive of modernist proportions. He read literally everything in the 'Inspiration' section, both old school Indian Vedas as well as edgy new agers like Jakob Boehme and Swedenborg. But he wasn't a dabler, he was on a quest - searching for others who had spoken with angels. By halftime, he had pretty much inveted his own system of thought as well as a mythology rich enough to run a culture on. Unlike other lazy idea people, he also happened to include pictures which are as equally profound. 100 years later heavy-hitter Yeats tipped his hat to him, republished him into the 20th century, and then Jim Morrison gave him a nudge in naming 'The Doors' after a book titled after one of his lines.

When I get a moment, I'll iPodify selections of some of the longer, later works.

R E A D . M E . F I R S T

1. All the posted downloads are TEXT for use with the Apple iPod.
2. They are formatted for use as iPod Notes.
3. Longer documents have links pointing you to the next note.
4. All documents are in the public domain unless otherwise noted.
5. Questions, comments, feedback to Eric Antonow is appreciated. Send to antonow@gmail.com

> For download help (clink)
> For an INDEX of available downloads (clink)

Index and Beyond

Completed:

> Blake's Songs of Innocence
> Blake's Songs of Experience
> More Haiku, Issa for the iPod
> U.S. Constitution
> Billy Collins Poems
> Declaration of Independence
> Two Lincoln Speeches
> Selected Haiku
> Shakespeare Monologues
> Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
> 3 Gilbert and Sullivan Lyrics

Forthcoming in the Podified format:

> Tao Te Ching
> W. B. Yeats Poems
> The Art of War
> Shakespeare's Sonnets
> Hayak's 'The Use of Knowledge in Society'
> Book of Psalms

Send on any additional suggestions for consideration. antonow@gmail.com

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M I S S I O N

Wanting to memorize some Blake's poems I figured I'd put them on my iPod, then open them up whenever in line, in transit or so moved.

Once that was done, I was itching for others. Maybe they'll eventually echo like pop songs, great lines to simply emerge and chorus in consciousness whenever appropriate.

And with even 10 minutes a day you can learn a lot despite yourself. Shocking to come so far as a bunch and yet we forget about these great things. Will continue to add items so that we'll have some bit of brilliance for the train, brood on over lunch.

Questions, comments, feedback to Eric Antonow at antonow@gmail.com

[Oh, and the "I am large" bit comes from a Walt Whitman quote: Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)]

[NOTE: on Oct 12 with a mention in iPoding and iPodlounge, we had more than 1,500 downloads. Shocking.]

Stash of Substance on your iPod

Now you can have the TEXT of great poems, speeches, rants, philosophical doctrines, aphorisms and more on your iPod. It started as a project to memorize a few sundry poems and, well, it's grown. Never again will you be stranded without something to memorize, recite or brood over.

Scroll down or choose one from the I N D E X.

> Blake's Innocence & Experience
> More Haiku, Issa for the iPod
> Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
> Selected Haiku
> Two Lincoln Speeches
> Shakespeare Monologues
> U.S. Constitution
> Declaration of Independence
> 3 Gilbert and Sullivan Lyrics
> Billy Collins Poems

William Blake

Complete poems of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. Formatted for iPod Notes. Once it's loaded up, begin with the .Contents. file within either book (folder) and the poems will be linked in their proper order. You'll figure it out.

Download: Songs of Innocence (11k)
Download: Songs of Experience (15k)

More Haiku, Issa for the iPod

This download includes 300 selected poems of Issa (1763-1828), one of the four old-school masters of the Haiku. He wrote more than 5,000 poems, including 16 poems on Sumo wrestling, 5 on Earthworms singing, 9 on snakes entering holes. Given his street names "Priest Cup-of-Tea" and "Shinano Province's Chief Beggar", he could have clearly secured a post in the posse of Public Enemy or the Wu-Tang Clan. The selection here is generously provided by translator David G. Lanoue, who will be continually updating the poems (this version: 10.23.04). David has translated thousands of Issa poems which are available with the Japanese originals and more on his site - see here.

Download Issa Haiku (10k)

Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (no way...way)

For the uninitiated, some folks think that this small volume written in 1922 is the peak of all logic/philosophy since then. A total purist, he begins the book up as an attempt to artculate clearly EVERYTHING that was knowable (the rest he would remain silent on). A mere 526 very short paragraphs later, he puts his pencil down and he's done.

Unless you already belong to the cult, browse this and don't get too hung up on the logic part (or anything else you can't understand after a few dozen intense readings). Taking a cue from someone who clearly understands this text better than we do (Jonathan Laventhol), you might try to dip into the following sections:

4.11 about the nature of science, philosophy
5.6 about the limits of language; solipsism
6.3 about causality, science as description; what ``natural laws'' are
6.4 about ethics, death, mysticism
6.5 about scepticism; limits of philosophy
7 about when to stop speaking

For the devotees, I apologize for not linking the paragraphs according to their hierarchy and instead choosing a linear format. The tradeoff was burning out your clickwheels along with the frail sanity of the rest of us. Plus, I figured it was more important to those folks that I first focus my effort on including a side-by-side in the original German. UPDATE: I have now included the original GERMAN text.

Download Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (English) (61k)
Download Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (German) (64k)

Other Selected Haiku

A few dozen Haiku from Basho, Issa, Shiki, Buson - the BIG FOUR of the little poem. It's all about using CONCRETE images to reveal something ephemeral. You'd think that it's simple - 3 lines divide 17 syllables in the order 5/7/5, but if you're a traditionalist there are an additional 65 rules you must follow. Have a little more to say? There is the older Tanka-style poem where you get two bonus lines (7 syllables each) to try to summarize all of existence. CREDITS: Haiku for People.

Download Selected Haiku (2k)

Two Lincoln Speeches

In the midst of the war and doubt he barely snags re-election. Here's the Second Inaugural Address which is famous for being both profound and remarkably brief. And besting that by 435 fewer words is The Gettysburgh Address.

Download: Lincoln Speeches (4k)

The Declaration of Independence

Those pithy lines in the preamble that should still send electricity down our spine.

The West Wing's Jed Bartlet put the whole thing into evolutionary context:

'We hold these truths to be self-evident,' they said, 'that all men are created equal.'...strange as it may seem, that was the first time in history that anyone had ever bothered to write that down.

Download: Declaration of Independence (2k)

Shakespeare Monologues

For the budding actor or fan of the Big Man, some select speeches from brooding to humorous. Demand of your co-workers over lunch, "he which hath no stomack to this fight, let him depart, his Passport shall be made." Also includes a brilliant selected passage from Bernard Levin highlighting how many of our words and ideas literally flowed from this man's head.

Download Shakespeare Monologues (11k)