"Let all your things be done in Love." (1 Corinthians 16:14)
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Introduction:

My photo
Current: Danbury, CT, United States
Welcome! A few years ago, I discovered an application that artists employ in their works to bring cultural awareness to their audiences. Having discerned this semiotic theory that applies to literature, music, art, film, and the media, I have devoted the blog,Theory of Iconic Realism to explore this theory. The link to the publisher of my book is below. If you or your university would like a copy of this book for your library or if you would like to review it for a scholarly journal, please contact the Edwin Mellen Press at the link listed below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Announcements

I will present or have presented research on Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan) or my semiotic theory of iconic realism at the following location(s):

2023-2025: I will be researching and writing my third book on iconic realism.

April 2022: American Conference for Irish Studies, virtual event: (This paper did not discuss Sydney Owenson.) "It’s in the Air: James Joyce’s Demonstration of Cognitive Dissonance through Iconic Realism in His Novel, Ulysses"

October, 2021: Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT: "Sydney Owenson’s use of sociolinguistics and iconic realism to defend marginalized communities in 19th century Ireland"

March, 2021: Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, North Carolina: "Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan): A Nineteenth Century Advocate for Positive Change through Creative Vision"

October, 2019: Elms College, Chicopee, Massachusetts: "A Declaration of Independence: Dissolving Sociolinguistic Borders in the Literature of Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan)"

02 October, 2025

Hope

My focus here is an individual, trying to catch a break, the proverbial 'brass ring on the carousel of life', feeling the dizziness and fatigue of the ride (or running in circles...multiple meanings there, too), parched for answers and passionate with hope.





Hope

Tears amid the cheers
reaching for the brass, 
spinning,
thirsting for the flow
only to turn away parched,
tongue swelling in dry air 
hot 
with the fever of hope. 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me recite this verse, please click HERE.

01 October, 2025

Upon listening to "Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis" by Ralph Vaughn-Williams

 

I took this photo of the moon in a cloudy sky, framed by the shadows of maple trees. 
The clouds seemed to form a landscape of their own. 

Click HERE to listen to the lovely, musical piece, "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis," performed in the Gloucester Cathedral, where Ralph Vaughn-Williams first performed it in 1910. 


I wrote the verse below upon listening to the above piece,
 composed by Ralph Vaughan-Williams.


Fantasia

Yearning for serenity,
an unsettled mind
drifts gracefully, 
flowing in paralysis,
a paradox offering
of a spiritual triad:
sweet malady
sweeter melody
sweetest memory.

A core surge 
caresses
in Divine rhythm.
Echoes...
from arched bones,
guarding this heart
in solemn surrender 
to stillness,
fill the repose  
with sweet assurance.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos


(To hear my reading of this poem, click HERE.)

30 September, 2025

Mercy Otis Warren, Muse of the American Revolution, 1776

Painting of Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren, given the title by some historians of Muse of the American Revolution, is often neglected in the U.S. historical memory. However, her motivation for contributing numerous literary works on the subject of independence demonstrates virtues found in the common individual while pointing out the discrepancies in a non-representational government. In her 1773 play, The Adulateur, Warren describes the issue of individual rights through the speech of her main character, Brutus:

 

The change how drear! The sullen ghost of bondage
Stalks full in view—already with her pinions,
She shades the affrighted land—the insulting soldiers
Tread down our choicest rights; while hoodwinked justice
Drops her scales, and totters from her basis.
Thus torn with nameless wounds, my bleeding country
Demands a tear – that tear I’ll freely give her. [1]


Using the rebellious poetic format of blank verse, Warren creates an image of the capture of justice, illustrating the conception that human beings might be inherently good, but their thirst for power could cause a diminishing of spiritual truth, thus leading to contrived allegiances to governments and other forms of false leadership. 

 

We thank such brave intelligent writers as Mercy Otis Warren for their insights regarding historical perspectives of justice. 

[1] Mercy Otis Warren, The Adulateur, Act I, Scene I, Boston: New Printing Office, 1773.


29 September, 2025

Finding the Way

                 
The lovely pathway that I walked in Castleknock, Ireland 
from my hotel to the bus stop to catch the bus to Dublin.

Finding the Way

As we walk along life's path, 
eventually, we acknowledge
 that creative ground which supports our steps. 
Longing to find the way, 
we clear the path of debris, 
 as we accommodate His Divine footsteps
 that gently lead us forward.
 Fortitude emerges with the recognition
 that we have the power to
 adjust, adapt, attempt, achieve, affect.  
We move toward the goal. 
We make a difference.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me recite this verse, just click HERE.

28 September, 2025

Bubbles

http://www.software-dungeon.co.uk/images/594_amazing-bubbles-3d-screensaver-640-1.jpg

         
         Level bubble from Duck-Duck-Go images


Bubbles

A bubble floats across warm seas,
or saunters back and forth 
in the boundaries of a level,
in sync with those other bubbles
recently settled.
Through their assembly,
each translucent sphere 
contributes structured eccentricity, 
globular bodies of air 
traveling through a liquid,
transforming chaos 
into serene resolve.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

27 September, 2025

The Song - An Amhran

Below, I've posted a small poem that I wrote having taken a few Irish Gaeilge classes. I'm still not sure if the grammar is correct, but I think you'll get the idea anyway. I took the photograph just as I was leaving a conference at NUI Galway. I didn't know just how gorgeous the beach was until I was on my way out of town and passed this view heading out on my way to Sligo. 

         I took this photo of Galway Beach, Ireland.


The Song                                                       An Amhran

On the wind, the song sails              Ar na gaoth, an amhran ag sceoladh 
to another who will hear                  do an eile an té cloistrail
the sweet language that blesses.       an teanga binn ag beannú.
Gathering the creed of Love,           Ag bailigh an creid de Ghrá,
the song is forever,                           ta se an amhran go deo, 
sweet and praising.                           milis agus ag moladh.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos                          © Á Siobhán I. Glasaire

26 September, 2025

Love through Laughter




Love through Laughter

Love:
open-faced
 to the laughter
that unites 
dares with dreams
acceptance of perfection
accompanied by flaws
we amble
through doubts
and fill up on hope 
united
through the discovery
of Love 
through Laughter.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos



(To hear my reading of this poem on Pod-omatic, click HERE.)