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Arnold’s early poems
Matthew Arnold 1840-1849 (A man of intellect and of spiritual sensitivity contemplates the purpose of life and its struggles.) “Unwelcome shroud of the forgotten dead,/ Oblivion’s dreary fountain, where art thou”. What a dark way to begin one’s poetical efforts, at 18 years of age! And we need read no further to suspect (correctly) that in Matthew […]
“On Taste”
Edmund Burke 1759 (What does it really mean for an opinion to be “a matter of taste”?) When we say “it’s just a matter of taste”, a bold and negative message lies behind the word “just”. Whether intended or not, the word creates a whiff of denigration. We discredit the thing we’re describing, reducing it […]
Njáls Saga
(Njála) anonymous (Icelandic) 1270-1290 (A sage in medieval Iceland attempts to restore order in the face of bloody vengeance and warrior’s honor) The mighty deeds of a free people in struggle are frequently represented in timeless literature—such stories will never go stale. Whether tossed on the stormy Mediterranean, afoot in the forests and scrublands of […]
Lyrical Ballads, and other early poems
William Wordsworth 1785-1799 (A poetic sage takes lessons on goodness and beauty from nature.) A man of wisdom, a poet of nature, is Wordsworth. These are the goals to which he aspires, goals that are discernable in his work from a very early age. He wrote many of his greatest poems in the years covered […]
Apology of Socrates
October 3, 2014 / Leave a comment
(Απολογια Σωκρατους) Plato 4th century BC (An innocent man delivers an inspiring speech to the court before he is executed.) Socrates is a bit of a mystery, if you insist on being a real evidentiary hardliner. He wrote nothing himself, so we have to rely on others’ characterizations of him. Xenophon paints him as the […]
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