Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 21: 207-236 (Jealousy, Posterity, A Country Life, Art and Project, Industry)

Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 21: 207-236 (Jealousy, Posterity, A Country Life, Art and Project, Industry)

Bonus: 

Country Roads to A Country Life

Summary: Be reasonably jealous of your kids in the country and their projects/industry.

Commentary:

208. Be not fancifully Jealous: For that is Foolish; as, to be reasonably so, is Wise.

I don't think I've ever heard jealousy described as Wise before.

214. If we would amend the World, we should mend Our selves; and teach our Children to be, not what we are, but what they should be.

215. We are too apt to awaken and turn up their Passions by the Examples of our own; and to teach them to be pleased, not with what is best, but with what pleases best.

216. It is our Duty, and ought to be our Care, to ward against that Passion in them, which is more especially our Own Weakness and Affliction: For we are in great measure accountable for them, as well as for our selves.

I think this is a pretty concise parenting manual:

1. Be a better person to help your children be better.

2. Don't accidentally teach your children your 

 We get more "country good, city bad" I wonder what these classical writers would say about the suburbs. Probably bad.

232. As many Hands make light Work, so several Purses make cheap Experiments.

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235. Never give out while there is Hope; but hope not beyond Reason, for that shews more Desire than Judgment.

Figuring out which is which is the hard part.

Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 20: 191-207 (Fidelity, Master, Servant)

Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 20: 191-207 (Fidelity, Master, Servant)

Bonus: 

Release!

Summary: William Penn's BDSM Contract

Commentary:

191: Avoid responsibility, but do what you're responsible for.

That's oddly frank, but accurate.

207: You master is second only to God!

Of course he is.

Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 19: 174-190 (Obedience To Parents, Bearing, Promising)

 Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 19: 174-190  (Obedience To Parents, Bearing, Promising)

Bonus:  

 

How I felt trying to figure out the 186 comment.

Summary: End of part 2! (The par

Commentary:  

174. If thou wouldest be obeyed, being a Father; being a Son, be Obedient.

175. He that begets thee, owes thee; and has a natural Right over thee.

The first one is kind of a nice, "you have to give respect to get respect." The second, I wonder if it's a typo for "owns", or some archaic uses of "owes" 

186. Rarely Promise: But, if Lawful, constantly perform.

Underpromise, overperform 

 

Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 18: 159-173 (Right - Timing, Knowledge, Wit)

Some Fruits of Solitude By William Penn (1682) Part 18: 159-173 (Right - Timing, Knowledge, Wit)

 Bonus: 

Fruit of the Mandela Effect

Summary: Judgement is really important.

Commentary: 

159. Do nothing improperly. Some are Witty, Kind, Cold, Angry, Easie, Stiff, Jealous, Careless, Cautious, Confident, Close, Open, but all in the wrong Place.

"If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right" vs "If it's worth doing, it's worth half-assing" is one of the great philosophical questions. I think cooking is one of my favorite examples. If you're really tired, depressed, hungover, sick, whatever, it's more important to eat than to make a beautiful sandwich. But half-assing stuff does tend to cause issues down the line. (And is less rewarding in the present.)

Knowledge is mostly just Judgement>Knowledge rearranged a couple times.

Wit is similar, but does have, "Wit is an happy and striking way of expressing a Thought." which is a good way of putting it. Is it "an" because H is a soft, "vowel-like" sound?

Poetry Takeaways

After a month of doing poetry, here's my big three takeaways.

1. Sturgeon's Law is really pronounced for poetry. Most poetry (same as most prose) is bad. The problem is, bad poetry is obnoxious in a way that's hard (and sometimes unintentionally funny) for bad fiction.

2. Most of the things that make fiction good also apply to poetry. Faust is fun, because it has dramatic characters. Whitman is good, because he has a sense of adventure. THE NIGHTINGALE VS THE LARK VS FLOWERS XXX 9001 is bad, because it's not actually about anything interesting and it's been done a million times.

3. Meter and rhyme are bullshit. Both in that they sometimes force weird lines that would be better without, and because people ignore them. A lot. Good for them, they should.

That's some kind of life lesson by the way. Ignore the rules/customs when it makes doing the thing they're supposed to do harder.

 So, in the end, fan of good poetry, hater of bad poetry, and there's a lot of bad poetry.

I assume they'll be a more formal reflection at some point as part of the challenge. 

Further filler?

 Went back and fixed the two unposts from earlier this month.

 

 

I submitted to an anthology!

 This is my first time submitting anywhere since grad school. Excited, but not hoping for much. No, this isn't filler while I recover from A to Z...