Lucretius and the Renaissance
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,…
literature
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Marilyn Monroe Reading Ulysses
A great picture. And she appears to be reading the last page which is, quite awesome!
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…