Friday, April 9, 2010

The Buried Life Poem by Matthew Arnold


Jonnie and Duncan Penn, Ben Nemtin and Dave Lingwood were inspired by the The Buried Life poem written by Matthew Arnold. The guys from MTV’s reality show “The Buried

Life” came up with the concept of hitting the road to complete a list of “100 things to do before you die.”
The group was on the Oprah Show today to share each others’ experiences.In modern times, reading poetry is not on the top of people interests, so name of the Victorian poem on the top of Google Search Trends is quite a remarkable event. Even thou, the top reason of the spark of interest is not directly associated with the famous author Matthew Arnold, the chance to slow down and read beautiful poetry cannot be missed.
This poem, The Buried Life poem, was the inspiration of friends — Jonnie and Duncan Penn, Ben Nemtin and Dave Lingwood to come up with The Buried Life concept. The group was on the Oprah Show today to share each others' experiences.Oprah Winfrey has two big entries on her so-called "bucket list," that collection of goals to accomplish before her time on earth is done: visit the pyramids in Egypt and become a schoolteacher.
Why did Oprah find herself making such a confession on Friday's (April 9) talk show? Because the guys from "The Buried Life," MTV's reality show about four friends who hit the road to complete a list of "100 things to do before you die," had stopped by for a chat.
"It sounds very dark," said co-star Jonnie Penn of their quest. "It's really not a dark project at all. It's the opposite."
Over the course of the series, the friends — Jonnie and Duncan Penn, Ben Nemtin and Dave Lingwood — ended up giving a toast at a stranger's wedding, entering a dance contest, telling a joke on late-night TV and helping deliver a baby. And, at one point, during a trip to the White House basketball courts, they managed to shoot hoops with the commander-in-chief.
"Barack Obama walks from the other side of the court — the president of the United States," Lingwood said. "And he says: 'Oh, hey guys. I heard you guys were in town. I'd love to shoot some hoops with you. I'm a pretty busy guy, but I can shoot some baskets.' "
The idea for the project originated with a poem by the 19th century English poet Matthew Arnold. "It hit us so deep," Jonnie Penn said. "You have things you're almost told to do, but sometimes, those things and all the things that go on in your life can bury you. You can feel like the whole world is on top of you. We wanted to dig through that and live our buried lives."
In addition to checking off items from their bucket list, the guys have helped other folks fulfill their wishes. On the first season, they helped a girl, whose mother died during Hurricane Katrina, travel to Colorado to visit her grave for the first time. "Buried Life" has been picked up for a second season, so the crew will once again be hitting the road to help themselves and others.
"Doing the things on our list is amazing and really cool, but it's one thing to enter a stranger's life," Lingwood said. "It's so lasting, because you create a relationship with them."

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