'Songs of love' for romantics

February 14 is a day to recognize the romantic relationships in their lives - but why is this important? And how do you create a special day for your loved one?

Western Psychology professor Lorne Campbell is an expert on adult relationships, romantic relationships and interpersonal communication. He says it is important to celebrate a least one day a year, a time when partners make an extra effort to be romantic, given these partners have a strong association with our physical and mental wellbeing.

A romantic person is imaginative, visionary and idealistic. However, Campbell says romance means different things to different people.

"In many cases we don't take the time to go to the movies or out to dinner, especially someplace fancy," says Campbell. "So doing something we enjoy but don't normally take the time to do or finding something unique and different can all be stimulating if doing it with someone you love."

When humans are happy and excited, he says it's easier to have feelings of love.

Campbell says while there are things most people perceive as romantic, such as the nice dinner or a non-functional gift like jewellery, ultimately it is important to figure out what the partner enjoys and tailor the special day (or days) around it.

Western News asked individuals on campus what they consider to be "the most romantic" in their areas of expertise. We hope their ideas put you in a Valentine's mood.

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Great romantic moments in literature, by Western English professor and specialist in Canadian literature, David Bentley.

From William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet:

Juliet:
Yond light is not daylight, I know it, I.
Therefore stay yet -- thou need'st not be gone.

Romeo:
Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death,
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I'll say yon gray is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;
Nor that is not the lark whose notes do beat
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads.
I have more care to stay than will to go.
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.
How is't, my soul? Let's talk. It is not day.


From John Milton, Paradise Lost (Eve to Adam):

With thee conversing
I forget all time,
All seasons and thir change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest Birds; pleasant the Sun
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flow'r,
Glist'ring with dew ….

Nor grateful Ev'ning mild, nor silent Night
With this her solemn Bird,
nor walk by Moon,
Or glittering Star-light without thee is sweet.


From Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "Silent Noon":

All round our nest, far
as the eye can pass,
Are golden king-cup
fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley
skirts the hawthorn-hedge,
'Tis silence visible, still
as the hour-glass.

Deep in the sun-searched
growths the dragonfly
Hangs like a blue thread
loosened from the sky:
So this winged hour is
dropt to us from above,
Oh! clasp we to our hearts,
for deathless dower,
This close-companioned
inarticulate hour
When twofold silence
was the song of love.


Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, January 1893:

Your slim gilt soul walks between passion and poetry. I know Hyacinthus, whom Apollo loved so madly, was you in Greek days.
Why are you alone in London, and when do you go to Salisbury/
Do go there to cool your hands in the grey twilight of Gothic things, and come here whenever you like. It is a lovely place - it only lacks you; but go to Salisbury first. Always, with undying love, yours.


Leonard Cohen, "Song":

I almost went to bed
without remembering
the four white violets
I put in the buttonhole
of your green sweater

and how I kissed you then
and you kissed me
shy as though I'd
never been your lover

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The top five novels (with comments) by Communications Manager of The Book Store at Western, Carolyn Young:

1. The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. - Sandra Gulland. "First book in the trilogy of Napoleon's & Josephine's tempestuous relationship in terrible times."

2. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte. "Tragic and timeless."

3. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje. "Pure love & ultimate tragedy."

4. Anne of Avonlea - Lucy Maud Montgomery
"Classic Canadian love story in third book of all time favorite series."

5. Breath of Snow & Ashes - Diana Gabaldon. "Latest book in time travel/fantasy series. Handle with care. It's very sexy stuff."

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Music Professor Torin Chiles is a singer, a Lyric Tenor, so for the most romantic music, he chose vocal music from "romantic" periods of the Western Art Music tradition:

The duet "O soave fanciulla" - from Act 1 of La Bohème G. Puccini (1858-1924)
À Chloris - R. Hahn (1874-1947)
Dialogue on a Kiss - Henry Lawes (1596-1662)
Die Nacht by Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Merry Widow Waltz - F. Lehar (1870-1948) -This operetta is playing from Feb 10 to 13 in Talbot Theatre www.uwopera.com

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Acting Chair of Film Studies, Chris Gittings, offers the following movies as selected with his colleagues.

Casablanca
The New World
The Philadelphia Story
Gone with the Wind
There's Something About Mary
Chocolat
Brokeback Mountain
All That Heaven Allows
Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind
Singin' In the Rain
Better Than Chocolate
Flirting
Mahjong
Bringing up Baby
It Happened One Night
The Seven Year Itch

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Adjunt Professor in English, Irena Nikolova, chooses her top five romantic locations to travel to. She notes most of these locations have a strong connection to to a romantic writer:


Mont Blanc (Shelley wrote the "Mont Blanc" poem)
Nikolova says: I have not been there yet, but I am hoping to go this coming summer

Rome (Keats lived there, and there is a Keats-Shelley Memorial House in the Piazza di Spagna) Nikolova says: I find all the ancient ruins particularly inspiring

Athens in Greece
Nikolova says: I chose this because of the Dionysian theatre, the Elgin Marbles in the museum of the Parthenon, and the Hellenic heritage of the city

Apollonia (a town on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria, an ancient Greek colony in the 2-3rd c. BC) Nikolova says: It is very picturesque, the hub of artistic life

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain (Washington Irving! 's Tales of the Alhambra were inspired by this castle)

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Chocolate may be the ultimate food of love. Great Hall Catering sold more than 1,000 chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine's Day last year. A special twist on the popular treat is Tuxedo Strawberries, which includes white chocolate. Here's how Western's food magicians create these works of art.

Ingredients
1 cup sweetened white Bernard Callebaut chocolate (other brands can be used but this is considered among the best - available at the Bernard Callebaut store in London, some Bulk Barns and Loblaws stores.)
½ cup sweetened dark Bernard Callebaut chocolate
6 - 8 large strawberries
You will need two glass bowls, parchment paper, Ziploc bag and small pastry cups

Directions:
Wash and dry strawberries (making sure there is no water left on them)
Melt chocolates separately in glass containers, either by using a steam bath or microwave (note: if microwaving, set it at 15 second increments, checking each time until chocolate is completely melted).

Hold strawberry by the stem and dip it ¾ of the way in the white chocolate
Place on parchment paper and set in the refrigerator to set (about 5-10 minutes)
In the meantime, you can make a simple pastry cone using the parchment paper, or a Ziploc bag; fill it with some of the dark chocolate.

Once the strawberries are set, take out of the refrigerator and it's time to dip in the dark chocolate.

Dip each strawberry on an angle, so you get the V shape in front and set on parchment paper.

Then take the pastry cone and cut a small hole at the tip (or for the Ziploc bag, make a pinprick hole in one corner)
Make an X near the stem and fill in sides of the X (to make the bowtie). Then place three small dots for the buttons.

Put the strawberries in the refrigerator to set (about 5-10 minutes). Once set, place them in pastry cups and serve!