It’s fairly clear, even after reading only a few verses, why Lucretius’s didactic poem, On the Nature of Things – De Rerum Natura – made such an impact on thought, philosophy, religion and science in the Renaissance. It must have been like a lighthouse in the dark night; a “Eureka” moment for
Continue readingTag: literature
Molly'sBlog: Milton: A Master of Run-On Sentences
MILTON: A MASTER OF RUN-ON SENTENCES: I’m about halfway through the collected works of John Milton. It’s a project that’s taking some time. Mercifully the poetry is at the front of the volume. That’s good because most of Milton’…
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Milton: A Master of Run-On Sentences
MILTON: A MASTER OF RUN-ON SENTENCES: I’m about halfway through the collected works of John Milton. It’s a project that’s taking some time. Mercifully the poetry is at the front of the volume. That’s good because most of Milton’s prose writings have little intrinsic interest. Aside from a few
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Milton: A Master of Run-On Sentences
MILTON: A MASTER OF RUN-ON SENTENCES: I’m about halfway through the collected works of John Milton. It’s a project that’s taking some time. Mercifully the poetry is at the front of the volume. That’s good because most of Milton’s prose writings have little intrinsic interest. Aside from a few
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Weird World of Plotto
I came across Plotto a few years back – references to it in other works, rather than the actual book. it sounded strange, complex and wildly over-reaching. I couldn’t find one – it was long out of print. It wasn’t until I got my own copy that I realized how
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Writers’ stimulants
I still think most of these would be whiskey, not coffee. (h/t to Mark Victor Young.) Alltop is a stiff drink of humor.
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Circuitous Path from Bulge to Budget
If tinkers may have leave to live, And bear the sow-skin budget, Then my account I well may, give, And in the stocks avouch it. Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, Act IV, Sc. III, Shakespeare These lines got me thinking about the town’s finances. Sow-skin budget? What does that mean? And
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Survival of the Fittest
Charles Darwin has long been associated with the phrase, “survival of the fittest.” For a century and a half people have used it to refer to their understanding of his explanation of how species evolved. But it wasn’t his. And it has obscured the understanding of Darwin’s own theory. It
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Reading Mark Twain…’Christian Science’
Reading Mark Twain…’Christian Science’ ‘Christian Science’….Mark Twain, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1907 I was continuing my task of reading anything available, in print or on the internet, when I came upon this book, over a century old, in the recesses of one of my storage boxes. The volume
Continue readingTrashy's World: Reactions of selected Canadian politicos…
…upon hearing of Alice Munro winning the Nobel Prize for Literature Pauline Marois – “The Parti Québécois does not recognise this award because her writings are clearly counter to our Charter of Values. And I’m told that she doesn’t speak french”. Stephen Harper – “Because of my extensive literary experience gained
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The (sometimes violent) urge to write
As of this writing, I will have published 253 posts since I began this blog at the ending week of December, 2011. Two hundred and fifty three posts in 21 months. Just over one post every two-and-a-half days, on average. Plus 30 or so still in draft mode. Another half-dozen
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Three Archy poems by Don Marquis
pete the parrot and shakespeare i got acquainted with a parrot named pete recently who is an interesting bird pete says he used to belong to the fellow that ran the mermaid tavern in london then i said you must have known shakespeare know him said pete poor mutt i
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Hell 2.1, a small update
I left you in my exploration of the Encyclopedia of Hell pondering which version of the Faustus story was better: with or without his final redemption. Personally, I prefer without, because it offers greater dramatic opportunities. I also don’t like the notion of redemption: it seems like a “get out
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Kill the Apostrophe? Rubbish! Keep it!
A site has popped up with one of the stupidest ideas about English I’ve read in the past decade or two. It’s called Kill the Apostrophe. Subtle. At first, I thought it was a joke, a spoof. After all, how can one realistically get rid of perhaps the most significant
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: What in Hell…?
Hades, you know, isn’t a place. It’s a guy. The Greek god of the underworld. His territory consists of a bunch of domains, including the rather unpleasant Tartarus, where souls – called shades – suffer eternal punishment. Hades wasn’t a fun god. If you weren’t getting your skin ripped off
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Game of the Book of Thrones
No, it’s not about that heavyweight book series by George Martin, or the TV series based on it (or even about how you really need to read the books to understand anything that is happening in the TV series). It’s … Continue reading →
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Finnegan’s Wake, Page 29
Reblogged this from a soon to be dead blog because A) Everyone should read at least one page of Finnegans Wake if only once in their life, and B) I find this totally fascinating as it builds up to the last word, which was the name of the soon to
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Marilyn Monroe Reading Ulysses
A great picture. And she appears to be reading the last page which is, quite awesome!
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Gravity’s Rainbow Illustrated
A screaming comes across the sky…Above him lift girders…the carriage, which is built on several levels…drunks, old veterans…hustlers…derelicts, exhausted women with more children… On a Giant’s Shoulders: Zak Smith Illustrates Gravity’s Rainbow By Creon Upton April, 2005 Illustrating Gravity’s Rainbow is like putting Ezra Pound’s Cantos to music, or writing
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Musing on Melville’s Poetry
I came across a poem last night that I had not read in the past (always a pleasant thing to discover something new in one of your books)*. It is by Herman Melville, an author I associate with novels and … Continue reading →
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