Ludwig Van Beethoven returns to Vienna after being ordered to recover from his worsening deafness in a village outside the city. Upon his return, music still rages inside him and he cannot write quickly enough to ease the roiling sensations. Though deaf, he cannot stop listening to the sounds around him. He presents a new symphony and piano variations upon returning to the city, reflecting his perseverance through adversity.

1. Ludwig Van Beethoven's
Return to Vienna by
Rita Dove
5 April 09 http://www.poets.org/poemADay.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beethoven.jpg

2. Ludwig Van Beethoven's Return to Vienna
( Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do
you wrong me.... The Heiligenstadt Testament )
Three miles from my adopted city lies a village where I came to peace.The
world there was a calm place, even the great Danube no more than a pale
ribbon tossed onto the landscapeby a girl's careless hand. Into this
stillness I had been ordered to recover. The hills were gold with late
summer;my rooms were two, plus a small kitchen, situated upstairs in the
back of a cottage at the end of the Herrengasse. From my window I could
see onto the courtyard where a linden tree twined skyward - leafy
umbilicus canted toward light, warped in the very act of yearning - and I
would feed on the sun as if that alone would dismantle the silence around
me.
Continued……

3. Ludwig Van Beethoven's Return to Vienna
At first I raged. Then music raged in me, rising so swiftly I could not
write quickly enough to ease the roiling. I would stop to light a lamp,
and whatever I'd missed - larks flying to nest, church bells, the shepherd's
home-toward-evening song - rushed in, and Iwould rage again.
I am by nature a conflagration; I would rather leap than sit and be
looked at.So when my proud city spread her gypsy skirts, I reentered,
burning towards her greater, constant light.
Call me rough, ill-tempered, slovenly - I tell you, every tenderness I have
ever known has been nothing but thwarted violence, an ache so
permanent and deep, the lightest touch awakens it. . . . It is impossible
Continued……
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20618

4. Ludwig Van Beethoven's Return to Vienna
to care enough. I have returned with a second Symphony and 15 Piano
Variationswhich I've named Prometheus,after the rogue Titan, the
half-a-god who knew the worst sin is to take what cannot be given
back.
I smile and bow, and the world is loud. And though I dare not lean in
to shout Can't you see that I'm deaf? - I also cannot stop listening.
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20618

5. Rita Dove
Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1952. She served as
Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995.
Among her many honors are the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in
poetry, the 1996 Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities
and the 2006 Common Wealth Award. President Bill
Clinton bestowed upon her the 1996 National Humanities
Medal. Her books of poetry include American Smooth (W.
W. Norton, 2004); On the Bus with Rosa Parks (1999),
which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the
Year and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle
Award; Mother Love (1995); Selected Poems (1993); Grace
Notes (1989); Thomas and Beulah (1986), which won the
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Museum (1983); and The Yellow
House on the Corner (1980). In addition to poetry, Dove
has published a book of short stories, Fifth Sunday (1985),
the novel Through the Ivory Gate (1992), essays in The
Poet's World and the verse drama The Darker Face of the
Earth (1994). She also edited The Best American Poetry
2000. Dove is Commonwealth Professor of English at the
University of Virginia, where she has been teaching since
1989. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of
American Poets in 2006.
http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/185

6. National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of
poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The
concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media
— to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic
heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic
range and concern.

7. THANK YOU
Presentation by Neelima
http://www.slideshare.net/Neelima.A