April 30th– Washington’s First Inaugural Address (1789) (Z is for zeroeth)

He'll kick you apart, he'll kick you apart!

April 30th– Washington’s First Inaugural Address (1789) 

Summary: Just when he thought he was out, they pulled him back in!

Commentary: If George Washington was a computer, he's start counting at zero. Checkmake, oneists.

By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." [...]

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them.

    The call out to specific amendments and duties is what I find most interesting here. First, because I feel like it's only done in a very general way now, "blah blah freedom of speech, blah blah, religious liberty," as opposed to Washington's discussion of specific duties (with quotes!).

    Now, I think that's partially due to our second reason, which was how much less he had to know. The constitution (with current amendments, so even longer) is under 8000 words. The foreign aid bill that passed the house two weeks ago is longer than that.

    I don't know that I want to espouse the theory that the entire laws of a country should be limited to 10,000 words or so, but I can certainly see its advantages.

And that's AtoZ! Thanks to everyone who stopped in to read or comment, I hope you enjoyed and/or learned something. I assume I have to do a wrap up post or something later, so maybe I'll see you then. I think I tried a little harder on the blog the last couple weeks, especially when things with the new house were crazy. Always good to have a little extra push. I found a couple fun blogs that I look forward to following going forward, at https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/ magic plants are cool! And https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/ for old school D&D stuff.

April 29th– From "The 1001 Nights" translated by AW Lang (Y is for "yeet your burden onto my head")

 Sinbad!

April 29th– From The 1001 Nights translated by AW Lang

Summary: Sinbad listen's to a rich guy's story, and carries burdens on his head.

Commentary: I generally like the 1001 Nights selections, but this one was a little dull. Sinbad is carrying stuff around on his head, stops to rest and talks about class warfare (not exactly...) and a rich dude invites him into his house to listen to a story of him almost drowning. No people turned into animals, no hiding from giant monsters, nothing crazy! 

We do get this interesting little sentence:

He was a man in poor circumstances, who bore burdens for hire upon his head.

Which makes it kind of sound like he's carrying metaphysical burdens. It's eventually clear that they're physical ones, but it's a neat idea. The rich hire people to take their stress. It's so close to true that barely even a metaphor.

"Yeet your burden" is kind of a stretch, but it's also a fun phrase, so I'll roll with it.

April 28– Ecclesiastes 1-5 KJV

Turn! Turn! Turn!

 April 28– Ecclesiastes 1-5 KJV

Summary: Life sucks, and then you die.

Commentary: I've had a theory since the first or second week that T5FSOB is actually an concealed piece of apostate evangelism (there's probably a better word for that). It's not surprising that we get selections from the Bible, and numerous Christian authors. They'd been a powerful cultural force for centuries at that point, and America was obviously very Christian at the time. But Elliot's choices are interesting, doubly so in the 15 minutes a day plan. There are all kinds of stories in the Bible. Some of them are exciting, some of them are inspiring. The beatitudes and the story of the prodigal son pass on the kind of morals Elliot seems to generally support. Revelations has some crazy cool stories about beasts attacking. David and Goliath is exciting and inspirational. And we get none of that. We get Job, where God and Satan decide to fuck over the most righteous guy they can find in a weird test. We get Ecclesiastes, where a king rambles on about how great he is, and how none of it matters and life sucks and then you die (and sounds fabulously selfish when he complains about how people after him will benefit from his labor).

2:18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

What a dick.

We get the lyrics to Turn! Turn! Turn! which I knew was biblical, but not exactly where.

3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

So that's cool.

3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

Everything is pointless and FEAR GOD!

Long story short: I think Elliot purposely chose the Bible passages (and some other writings) that make Christianity sound awful. While he seems to have been nominally Christian himself, I find it hard to believe anyone trying to convert people to Christianity, or inspire and inform believers who hadn't read the Bible before, could pick these sections.

April 27– “Beauty” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1860)(X is for Xenophile)

Have some Emerson quotes, I guess.

April 27– “Beauty” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1860) 

Summary: Maximum hipster!

Commentary: I broadly oversimplify the transcendentalists as a bunch of hipsters naval gazing and trying to pretend they're not a bunch of spoiled brats. This is peak hipster navel gazing. Almost every paragraph is some variant of, "X was cool before we ruined it by studying it," or "beauty is natural, we ruin it by not appreciating it." You just don't get it, botanists. You just have to feel the plants instead of studying them. That's it, that's the whole essay, over and over again, for 10 pages or so.

Which leaves me with how to get X is for something in here. I chose X is for Xenophile, loving things that are different or strange. I think this goes well with Emerson's thesis. He talks a lot about overstudying things (or studying them wrong) or losing imagination. Strange might not quite be accurate (I think he appreciates becoming familiar with plants or whatever). Novelty is really what I think he's going for. He wants a new eXperience that he can interpret and imagine in a new way. 

April 26– From "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" by David Hume (1748) (W is for witnesses)

 It's prom season!

April 26– From An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume (1748)

Summary: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Commentary: 

Here's our pull summary for the day:

 'That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavours to establish; and even in that case there is a mutual destruction of arguments, and the superior only gives us an assurance suitable to that degree of force, which remains, after deducting the inferior.' 

 Somewhat earlier: 

 there is no species of reasoning more common, more useful, and even necessary to human life, than that which is derived from the testimony of men, and the reports of eye-witnesses and spectators.

Which gives us our W for Witness. We're now a bit more doubtful of eyewitnesses, but that feels like a whole 'nother topic.

And even earlier:

Though experience be our only guide in reasoning concerning matters of fact; it must be acknowledged, that this guide is not altogether infallible, but in some cases is apt to lead us into errors. 

I really appreciate this section. A lot of the philosophers talk about how reasoning is everything, but this seems to understate how you can sometimes reason incorrectly despite your best efforts.

Beyond that, pretty reasonable notes about the dangers of hearsay, how to find good evidence, etc. This quote is fun:

But it is nothing strange, I hope, that men should lie in all ages.

Very quoty today, not a ton of my own writing. I like Hume though, adding him to he list to come back to. 

 

April 25–"Germany" by Tacitus (98), translated by Thomas Gordon (V is for Virgins)

 Sure, this is Tacitus

April 25–Germany by Tacitus (98), translated by Thomas Gordon

Summary: Germany had a lot of tribes.

Commentary: I enjoyed his long rambly list of tribes at first, but it went on for awhile and I kind of lost interest. Literal pages! It starts off kind of neat in that RPG sourcebook kind of way I've mentioned a few times, but imagine if there were like 50 tribes of elves in yours sourcebook with one paragraph each. You'd probably get over it.

Better still do those communities, in which none but virgins marry, and where to a single marriage all their views and inclinations are at once confined. Thus, as they have but one body and one life, they take but one husband, that beyond him they may have no thought, no further wishes, nor love him only as their husband but as their marriage. To restrain generation and the increase of children, is esteemed an abominable sin, as also to kill infants newly born. And more powerful with them are good manners, than with other people are good laws.

V is for Virgins! I personally find it hard to believe no young Germans ever snuck off into the bushes or pulled out, but Tacitus says so.

April 24– From "The Origin of Species" (1859) by Charles Darwin (U is for Unsustainable growth)

Beagle music?

April 24– From The Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin

Summary: If things didn't die, there would be too many of them.

Commentary: I like Darwin a lot more as a travel/wildlife/sourcebook writer. This section is basically him just talking about how if something didn't kill animals (or destroy eggs, etc.) they'd multiply out of control, followed by an explanation of how it relates to food webs.

April 23– From "King Lear" (1606) by William Shakespeare (T is for tragedy)

Watch here!

April 23– From King Lear (1606) by William Shakespeare 

Summary: Crazy king talks to blind guy. Son tricks father. Daughter betrays father. Other daughter comforts him. He dies.

Commentary: That poor squirrel prop. I don't think I've read King Lear in about a decade and a half, so it took me a bit to refresh on who everyone was. This is certainly a fun scene with all the craziness, even if it's a bit confusing without preceding 70% or so of the play. Since the whole thing is based around knowing the familial relationships between the characters, it doesn't really hit fully without it. The production I found is an interesting one. I like these "halfway" productions that are staged a bit more than a traditional theatre set, but not quite a full movie/tv production. 

Reflections on Week 16 (April 15 to 21)

 Link to readings

In which I reread poetry because I was drunk. I think Saturday is the closest I've come to missing a day.

Quick review on this week's readings:

April 15 "Oh Captain My Captain" and others by Whitman: 3/5 Exactly meets the bar for an acceptable selection. Would've probably gone up a point if Elliot added the other two "Lincoln Poems" which are both short and good.

April 16 The Divine Comedy by Dante: 2/5 I like The Divine Comedy well enough, but Elliot picks the weirdest sections and puts them out of order.

April 17 Autobiography by Franklin: 3/5 For once, I'll blame this one on Franklin, not Elliot. All of the sections that make up this selection are fine and interesting, but they don't really flow together well. 

April 18 Don Quixote by Cervantes: 4/5 A CHAPTER ONE, HOLY CRAP! And it's a good one. 

April 19 "Concorde Hymn" by Emerson: 3/5 Better sung than read, but a fair piece either way.

April 20 Assorted Poems by Byron: 2/5 I sort of read these drunk the night they were assigned. I went back and reread them sober tonight. They're not great.

April 21 Introduction To The History of English Literature by Taine: 2/5 Art is a fossil of a person/culture is a neat metaphor. Art is pointless except as a way to study the people who made it is questionable.

Weekly Average: 2.71 I spend a lot of time in these reviews whining about good piece-bad selection, but it really stands out with DQ and TDC this week. Give us the beginning for context, or an especially strong part that illustrates the whole piece! Instead, we often get seemingly random middle chapters (and then get first chapters after two or three others). The poetry selections are similar. Whitman gets pages to ramble on in "When Lilacs...", but we couldn't get the less than one page for the other two Lincoln poems? 

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

I like when we get readings on subjects similar to T5FSOB. Obviously you can't have too many, but reading Taine and his comments were interesting to compare to the notes in the reading guide. I think Elliot and the other people who worked on T5FSOB would agree with me that using literature to learn about a culture is valuable, but not the only reason to read. They talk a lot about entertainment, if nothing else. I don't know if learning about philosophy, morals, etc. directly counts. On the one hand, you learn about the philosophy of the writers, but if you care more about philosophy for its own sake than philosophy in 1750s Manitoba or something.

April 22– From “Fundamental Principles Of The Metaphysic Of Morals” by Immanuel Kant (1785) (probably) translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (S is for Supreme Good)

The Good Place Theme

April 22– From “Fundamental Principles Of The Metaphysic Of Morals” by Immanuel Kant (1785) (probably) translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott

Summary: Being good makes everything better for everyone.

Commentary: We haven't gotten any "hard" philosophy in a while (Leviathan would be the closest, and that was like two weeks ago). I have kind of a love/hate relationship with these. I took a god awful intro course in undergrad that could be summarized as, "everyone is an idiot, nothing matters, I'm going to walk out of the middle of class to go smoke pot in my office." The prof left in the middle of the final, which was full of typos that he wouldn't answer questions about. It was interesting.

A part of the reason I'm doing this whole 5FSOB thing is because I feel like my undergrad was, in general, pretty underwhelming. In my Master's I talked to people a little about how I talked to some older people with Masters and Doctorates who had to be fluent in a foreign language or do other things outside their "major," and how I wished we had to learn more of that. Most people just wanted to get their degree and get out ASAP. While I'm interested in learning more about a whole lot of things, I think philosophy really represents the core of my motivation as a subject that I feel like I didn't learn about in the past, and want to find out more about now.

On the other hand, it does feel like an awful lot of philosophy can be summarized as, "everyone is an idiot and/or evil, nothing matters and/or is real, I'm better than all of you," which makes it hard for me to get into. 

I was excited when I saw Kant pop up today, since my basic understanding of him from pop culture, Wikipedia, etc., is that the key to his philosophy was "what is a good person?" which implies it is both possible to be a good person, and it somehow matters. 

This is a very dense reading. I saw less than nine pages and thought it'd be quick. I was wrong. As always, I have to wonder if there's a better translation that's newer. 

"Supreme good" appears in the middle of a paragraph here, so there's not a single pull quote to define it. I think the closest summary would be something like, "doing good means that you try to help others, and people are happy when they do good." He does later say:

To secure one's own happiness is a duty, at least indirectly; for discontent with one's condition, under a pressure of many anxieties and amidst unsatisfied wants, might easily become a great temptation to transgression of duty.

Which is a good thing to keep in mind. I almost did "S is for secure one's own happiness" but that felt wordy.  You do have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others.

April 21– “Introduction to The History Of English Literature” by H.A. Taine (1872) translated by Henry Van Laun (I think)

 Prologues!

April 21– “Introduction to The History Of English Literature” by H.A. Taine (1872) translated by Henry Van Laun (I think)

Summary: We study literature to understand the people who created it.

Commentary: 

through literary monuments, we can retrace the way in which men felt and thought many centuries ago. This method has been tried and found successful.

    Ok, pretty good so far. That is kind of the point of this whole exercise.

You say to yourself that the work before you is not of its own creation. It is simply a mold like a fossil shell, an imprint similar to one of those forms embedded in a stone by an animal which once lived and perished. Beneath the shell was an animal and behind the document there was a man. 

And that's a pretty cool way to look at art in general. It's an impression of the artist.

In the same way do you study the document in order to comprehend the man; both shell and document are dead fragments and of value only as indications of the complete living being. [...] It is a mistake to study the document as if it existed alone by itself. That is treating things merely as a pedant, and you subject yourself to the illusions of a book-worm. 

This part, less good

 I had a middle school social studies teacher who said something like this about stereotypes: When someone says a group of people is always something, they're always wrong.

I think a broadened version of this is actually good philosophy. If someone tells you something is always, never, or only X, they're probably wrong. After introducing the thesis in early, the intro explains all the reasons why literature can be useful to find out about a person, time period, culture, etc., but fails to prove that's the only (or even best) reason to read literature. People obviously read, watch, etc. for other reasons, and seem to enjoy it, better themselves by it, etc. In the absence of harm (and, in fact, presence of benefit) of reading for entertainment, other information, etc. (so many etcs tonight) a compelling argument would be needed for why we should only read for a specific reason, and Taine doesn't advance one.

April 20– Byron Poems (1816) (R is for rusted with vile repose)

 "Prisoner of Chillon"

April 20– Byron Poems (1816)

Summary: Chillon sucks, bros and sises.

Commentary: I'm drunk. 

Rusted with vile repose has TWO r words in it.

April 19– “Concorde Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837) (P is for Phases Coined)

The whole thing.

 April 19– “Concorde Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)

Summary: So short today, I'm just going to post the whole poem here:

Concord Hymn

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;

   Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;

And Time the ruined bridge has swept

   Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,

   We set today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

   When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare

   To die, and leave their children free,

Bid Time and Nature gently spare

   The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Commentary: That's it, that's the whole thing. Today is the anniversary of the battle of Concorde.

It's fine as a poem, much better sung.

About once a week in T5FSOB I get to find out the origin of a popular phrase, and today we got "the shot heard round the world." It's not the most important information or anything, but it is a fun part of the project.

April 18– From "Don Quixote" by Cervantes (1605) Translated by Thomas Shelton (O is for olla)

 Good thing there's a whole musical for this. And I think an opera too.

April 18– From Don Quixote by Cervantes (1605) Translated by Thomas Shelton

Summary: Don Quixote sets out on his quest!

Commentary: It's kind of weird getting a chapter 1 after how many times I've gotten random bits from various books. I think this is the 3rd or 4th DQ, which makes it even odder.

Cervantes received the last rites today in 1616, though he'd hang on for a few more days.

DQ is always a good time. A swashbuckling satire of chivalry novels, it feels surprisingly modern. 

An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income.

I had to look up what an olla is. Apparently it's a clay pot you can use for cooking or irrigation. Learning! 

 “the reason of the unreason with which my reason is afflicted so weakens my reason that with reason I murmur at your beauty;” or again, “the high heavens, that of your divinity divinely fortify you with the stars, render you deserving of the desert your greatness deserves.” Over conceits of this sort the poor gentleman lost his wits, and used to lie awake striving to understand them and worm the meaning out of them; what Aristotle himself could not have made out

Cervantes wastes no time in calling out bad writing.

In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest notion that ever madman in this world hit upon,

We're still in chapter 1 and he's already crazy. As I've discussed before, Cervante's complete frankness with DQ being completely batshit is the key to the whole novel. He's not coy about it, there's no "maybe he's not crazy and just the only one who sees this stuff" he's totally out of his mind, the book knows it, and you just roll with it as the reader.

 Breathtaking 

April 17– From Ben Franklin’s "Autobiography" (1971) (N is for Nupitals)

Ben Franklin invented the "glass armonica"

April 17– From Ben Franklin’s Autobiography (1971)

Summary: Ben Franklin gets married, sets up a library, and reads some letters.

Commentary: This is an odd selection. It sort of jumps around, talking about the founding of the Philadelphia Library, then meanders off, then tells it again in more detail. A good chunk of pages in the middle aren't even by Franklin, but just the texts of letters from his friends. I believe I read the last page or so of this back in on New Years at the start of this whole thing. 

that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man

I highlighted this quote back then, but it's worth hitting again here. 

For our letter, I picked N is for Nupitals, as Franklin gets married in the opening. His wife may or may not have still been married (her husband disappeared, might've been dead, but that wasn't grounds for divorce) so they had a common law marriage

April 16– From "The Divine Comedy" by Dante (1314) (M is for Megaera)

"Dis" map theme from Doom

 April 16– From The Divine Comedy by Dante (1314)

Summary:

Commentary: Today's date note says that on this day in 1311 Dante encouraged attacks on Florence. From a casual Google, it looks like he wrote to a bunch of rulers. Interesting tidbit.

This is more what I expect from a Divine Comedy selection, after we got a Purgatorio bit before. We're about halfway through Hell here, dealing with the deadly sin of Anger and then moving to Heresy. I feel like the next canto (10) might've been more appropriate here, since it's more political, if we're doing the anniversary of Dante's beef with Florence.

For our letter, M is for Megaera, one of the Furies/Erinyes, not to be confused with Megara, Hercule's wife who is sort of in the Disney movie. 

She shows up in this sweet metal illustration:

    It always surprises me that modern Greek mythology derived fantasy doesn't make more use of the Erinyes. They're the ultimate femme fatales, and you get to do all kinds of female empowerment/revenge stuff with them. Seems like a gimme one way or another for most writers.

Reflections on Week 15 (April 8 to 14)

 Link to readings

Moving is hard catchup 3/3!

Quick review on this week's readings:

April 8 The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus: 3/5 Honestly, it's hard to review the play from that selection, but that production was cool.

April 9 New Atlantis by Bacon: 1/5 I was sorely tempted to give this the rare "Burns Zero" (B authors, why are you all terrible?) but I decided it's unfair to give so low a grade to a rough draft. It's not Bacon's fault someone dug this up and published it before it was polished, or that Elliot crammed it in here.

April 10 First Virginia Charter by James I: 2/5 Less interesting than most of the historical documents I've seen in T5FSOB.

April 11 Faust by Goethe: 2/5 "Repeat after me: Faust likes young girls."

April 12 I Promessi Sposi: 2/5 Still probably a good book, but still hard to read a chapter every two weeks and follow.

April 13 Cellini's Autobiography: 3/5 Cellini has made it to the point where he's so ridiculous that he's fun to make fun of. Was riffing a thing in 1910?

April 14 Drake's Great Armada by Biggs: 3/5 You get exactly one selection on logistics, Elliot. Don't make me read another one. 

Weekly Average: 2.57 A recurring theme I've noticed. It's not that the authors are bad, it's that a lot of these selections are questionable. IPS is not a serial. Stop trying to make it one. Bacon's first selection ("Of Judicature") was solid, why are we reading one of his rough drafts instead of his other finished stuff?

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

I'm caught up! Having made it through ~1/3 of the year, I'm starting to want to start doing some bigger chunks. The sampler approach was fun initially, but I'd like to actually finish some of these books. Not sure how much I'll get to this year, but maybe for my next challenge.

Reflections on Week 14 (April 1 to 7)

Link to readings

Moving is hard catchup 3/3!

Quick review on this week's readings:

April 1 Poems by Browning: 3/5 These are actually some pretty good poems.

April 2 The Voyage of The Beagle by Darwin: 2/5 Another high repeat percentage

April 3 The Life of George Herbert by Walton: 1/5 I think we're done with these now. Thank God.

April 4 She Stoops To Conquer by Goldsmith: 4/5 I wanted to watch the rest! And will at some point.

April 5 Leviathan by Hobbes: 3/5 Historically significant, but a bit overrated.

April 6 Meditations by Aurelius: 3/5 Probably deserves higher, but this is a rough translation.

April 7th Poems by Wordsworth: 3/5 This is the week for poetry selections that don't wow me, but that I don't hate. 

Weekly Average: 2.71 Someday, we'll crack that 3 average.

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

I think I said this before, but this is challenge is doing more than a half dozen professors' attempts to get me to actually appreciate (some) poetry.

Reflections on Week 13 (Mar 25 to 31)

  Link to readings

Moving is hard catchup 2/3!

Quick review on this week's readings:

Mar 25 Hamlet by Shakespeare: 4/5 It's Hamlet! Mostly worth it for the innuendo.

Mar 26 Aesop's Fables: 4/5 It's Aesop! Mostly worth it for the origins of modern sayings that you might not be aware of.

Mar 27 "The Truth of Intercourse" by Stevenson: 1/5 It's "The Philosophy of Composition" but worse!

Mar 28 Wealth of Nations by Smith: 4/5 It's the book that's the supposedly the basis of modern economics that no one has actually read!

Mar 29 The Poetic Edda: 2/5 It's a cool story that's hard to read without any context!

Mar 30 I Promessi Sposi by Manzoni: 2/5 It's awkward to take a novel that isn't intended to be a serial and poorly make it one!

Mar 31 The Life of John Donne by Walton: 1/5 It's a poorly written biography of a guy whose work we should probably just read instead!

Weekly Average: 2.57 It started out so well...

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

If I never have to read another one of Walton's Lives, it'll be too soon. I did put his fishing book on my list though. This one is really drug down by awkward selections, the whole second half of the week could've scored higher if Elliot didn't grab seemingly random bits.

Reflections on Week 12 (Mar 18 to Mar 24)

 Link to readings

Moving is hard catchup 1/3!

Quick review on this week's readings:

Mar 18 A New Way To Pay Old Debts by Massinger: 2/5 This is probably a fine play, but without being able to watch it (and with the beginning being a little slow) hard to really comment on.

Mar 19 An Account of Egypt by Herodotus: 2/5 A mostly repeat entry. Herodotus is fine, but poor selection.

Mar 20 Voltaire's Letters on The English: 3/5 This is a great "in the moment" account of a lot of cool science/math/philosophy stuff.

Mar 21 The Aeneid by Virgil: 3/5 Kind of chill, kind of throwing shade. All around not really in the tone we expect for an epic. 

Mar 22 Faust by Goethe: 3/5 Faust is decent, but I like Marlowe's version better.

Mar 23 1001 Nights: 2/5 We already established the gimmick in another section, and this is the least interesting story we've read from the Nights so far.

Mar 24 “The Defense of Guenevere” by Morris: 2/5 I'm generally not a bit fan of the Arthuian selections in T5FSOB. Can we get some Pearl Poet or something? 

Weekly Average: 2.43 These ratings are a lot harder after 2 or 3 weeks.

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

On the readings? Not much. None of them super stood out, although I have been very busy with fixing (and also screwing up) our new house and am doing these a couple weeks late. I've still managed to hit all the dailies though, which says something about the importance and value of manageable daily goals/habits.

April 15– “Oh Captain my Captain” and “When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d” Walt Whitman (1865) (M is for Memorial)

For my money, the better scene from Dead Poet's Society

April 15– “Oh Captain my Captain” and “When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d” Walt Whitman (1865)

Summary: Lincoln is dead, and Whitman is sad.

Commentary: I think I knew that Lincoln died on "the ides of April" but I didn't remember it until I looked at the readings for today. If only we'd had this Friday so I could've had L for Lincoln. M for Memorial is an easy enough fit.

Can we take a minute to appreciate the fact that the "default" picture of Whitman they usually put on flaps is clearly a grandpa going to LARP as a wizard?

Thanks Wikipedia

Here he is as a younger man:

Again, Wikipedia

He still looks like a wizard, just a trickster one who uses magic to cheat at card games. Look at that jaunty hat cock!

Whitman has a line about "Manhattan with Spires" which led me to lookup the NYC skyline over the years. 

These pieces are great proof of the "poetry is meant to be read aloud" rule. On paper, they're a little slow and dense, but you can find tons of great recordings of them easily, and they take on a lot more vigor.

Whitman wrote two other "Lincoln Poems" which weren't included in the selection, but I've appended in the reading doc. Of the four, "O Captain!" is the most famous. It's the most energetic and fairly conventional, so no surprise there. "The Dust..." is a fairly conventional short epitaph. "When Lilacs..." is the heaviest lift, and could probably stand to be trimmed a bit (being around three times as long as than the other three combined) but still a strong poem with some solid repetition, good lines, etc. I think I like Stanza 15 the best:

To the tally of my soul,

Loud and strong kept up the gray-brown bird,

With pure deliberate notes spreading filling the night.

Loud in the pines and cedars dim,

Clear in the freshness moist and the swamp-perfume,

And I with my comrades there in the night.

While my sight that was bound in my eyes unclosed,

As to long panoramas of visions.

And I saw askant the armies,

I saw as in noiseless dreams hundreds of battle-flags,

Borne through the smoke of the battles and pierc'd with missiles I saw them,

And carried hither and yon through the smoke, and torn and bloody,

And at last but a few shreds left on the staffs (and all in silence),

And the staffs all splinter'd and broken.

I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them,

And the white skeletons of young men, I saw them,

I saw the débris and débris of all the slain soldiers of the war,

But I saw they were not as was thought,

They themselves were fully at rest, they suffer'd not,

The living remain'd and suffer'd, the mother suffer'd,

And the wife and the child and the musing comrade suffer'd,

And the armies that remain'd suffer'd.

Great use of repetition.

I don't think it's a hard argument that "Hush'd Be The Camps Today" is the gem of the lot though. It's more personal than the others, sorrowful, without being overbearing. 

Hush'd be the camps to-day,

And soldiers let us drape our war-worn weapons,

And each with musing soul retire to celebrate,

Our dear commander's death.

No more for him life's stormy conflicts,

Nor victory, nor defeat—no more time's dark events,

Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky.

But sing poet in our name,

Sing of the love we bore him—because you, dweller in camps, know it truly.

As they invault the coffin there,

Sing—as they close the doors of earth upon him—one verse,

For the heavy hearts of soldiers. 

 

April 14– From "Drake's Great Armada" (1588?) by Walter Biggs

 Wrong Drake

April 14– From Drake's Great Armada (1588?) by Walter Biggs

Summary: Mostly logistics, honestly.

Commentary: Like I said, this is mostly logistics. What was on what ship, where did what supply come from, who was quartered where, etc. Which is one of those things that isn't super interesting, but worth reading once. There is a small battle near the end, and a ceremony where they shoot off a bunch of cannons to honor the queen.

We get another 5FSOB list of names for you to use in your D&D game or whatever. Before the internet and name generators that's honestly probably worth something. Mark that page and come back to it when you need one. 

 General called for Captain Sampson, and willed him to go to the governor of the city, to resolve him of two points. The first to know if there were any wars between Spain and England

"Hey, are we at war?" seems like a silly question, but I guess it makes sense pre-radio.

We get a solid paragraph describing coconuts, which we've also seen in Darwin. Elliot just loves coconut descriptions.

April 13– From Cellini’s Autobiography (1887) translated by John Addington Symonds (L is for Love)

This is the only Italy related anime clip I could think of besides Hetalia

April 13– From Cellini’s Autobiography (1887) translated by John Addington Symonds

Summary: Cellini is like a 14 year old writing a self insert fanfic.

Commentary: I get Cellini's autobiography about once a month, and they get more ridiculous every time. I'm kind of surprised there's anyone left not crippled/killed in Italy based on how many times he wipes the floor with a whole room full of people. My comments on this one are basically just a bunch of anime adjacent memes, since he sounds like a kid writing a story about how badass he'd be.

Our letter excerpt comes fairly early: 

Through intercourse together, such love grew up between us that, day or night, we never stayed apart. 

Obviously it's not that intercourse, but "we had intercourse an fell in love" is a fun quote. 

April 12– From "I Promessi Sposi" (The Betrothed) by Allessandro Manzoni (1827) (K is for Knocked Out)

No music

April 12– From I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed) by Allessandro Manzoni (1827)

Summary: Lucia gets kidnapped.

Commentary: This is the third or fourth time I've had an excerpt from this. It's not bad, but trying to read a novel in semi-random chunks once every couple weeks is not really a great way of doing it. If I hadn't read the Wikipedia summary, I don't think I'd have any clue what was going on, who half the characters were, etc.

Today's letter doesn't actually appear in this passage, but I thought it was a fun bit to make work.

 After a few moments of agonized struggle, she seemed to become quieter; her arms sank by her side, her head fell backwards, she half opened her eyelids, and her eyes became fixed; the horrible faces which surrounded her appeared to mingle and flock before her in one monstrous image; the colour fled from her cheek; a cold moisture overspread her face; her consciousness vanished, and she fainted away. [...]

‘The ——! she seems to be dead,’ said one of them: ‘if she’s really dead!’

‘Pshaw!’ said the other: ‘It’s only a swoon, such as women often fall into. I know well enough that when I’ve wanted to send another, be it man or woman, into the other world, it has required something more than this.

"Women just get knocked out at random. They have couches for it in their bathrooms."

They just treat her being a generic damsel in distress as if it's real, it's funny.

April 11– From "Faust" by Goethe (1832) translated by Anna Swanwick (J is for Juevenile)

 Wagner's Faust Overture

April 11– From Faust by Goethe (1832) translated by Anna Swanwick

Summary: Mephistopheles helps Faust get with a hot (barely) teenager.

Commentary: At first, I was like, Yay, more Faust! Who doesn't love a good villianous(ish) origin story? Then this section was about Faust being such a creep that Mephistopheles called him out on it. 

MEPHISTOPHELES

You really talk

Like any gay Lothario,

Who every floweret from its stalk

Would pluck, and deems nor grace, nor truth,

Secure against his arts, forsooth!

This ne’er the less won’t always do.

FAUST

Sir Moralizer, prithee, pause;

Nor plague me with your tiresome laws!

I assume this is actually a reverse psychology type ploy, but when the devil starts moralizing to you, it's pretty bad.

Really, the thing that most sticks out here is how often the word child (23 times) and things like innocent show up. It's one thing to give the villain a hot underaged thing to show how they're evil, it's another to just write "dude's a pedo" every 3rd line.

April 10– "First Charter of Virginia" (1606) by James I

 One of Virginia's TWO State Songs

April 10– First Charter of Virginia (1606) by James I

Summary: King James lets the people founding Virginia make money on it.

Commentary: I've had a few of these historical political documents pop up so far. Conceptually, I think they're neat. In practice, some are pretty interesting, but some are rather dull. Generally, the ones that are more involved in the day to day operations or the philosophy of the organization are more interesting. This one is just King James saying these people can go somewhere and make money off it. You did get a solid list of names you could use for your book, game, etc. 

The most interesting part is probably this long rambly list that gets used several times:

And that they shall have all the Lands, Woods, Soil, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever

Bet they wish they had copy and paste back then.

Also interesting:  

 may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human Civility,

Did they actually think they could "civilize" the Indians? Was this just an excuse to take their stuff? It's weird to think of "civilizing" people like that to our modern morals, but maybe plausible back then. 

 

Star Wars Classics? "Splinter of The Mind's Eye" (I is for Imperial)

 Sort of random post today that will probably get moved to a different blog if I decide to do more. My wife and I moved recently, and I loaded my ereader up with some fluff. It took a little while to get internet setup, arrange my office the way I wanted, etc. so I just wanted something light and easy to entertain myself for a bit before bed or whatever. I decided to dig back into my childhood and read some of the old Star Wars Expanded Universe novels. I could (I think I did at one point) write an essay about how The original EU (now "Legends") Star Wars novels were instrumental in making me into a reader and writer, and I was excited to dip back in and see how they held up (honestly, probably everywhere from absolute crap to great, same as I thought as a kid. It's easy to bell curve when you have a couple hundred books). Initially, I thought I'd start with the X-Wing series, since they were the earliest ones I remember reading (I think I had a couple chapter books before), but I realized how many others I'd missed, read out of order, etc. So, instead, I decided to do the publishing order. I made it about three pages into the novelization of A New Hope before the weirdness of reading a not entirely accurate novelization of a movie I've seen a hundred times kicked in. I jumped to the second book Splinter of The Mind's Eye.

From a purely historical perspective, Splinter is interesting. It's generally considered the jumping off point for the EU, but Marvel technically beats it to the punch for original stories by about 6 months with some comics, and there were also various adaptations of A New Hope even earlier. Splinter was written by Alan Dean Foster, who is probably best known today for his ghostwriting and adaptations. He did the novelization of A New Hope, which I'm going to take a second shot at, and Alien, among other things.

Splinter was partially intended to be a hypothetical low budget sequel to Star Wars. There's minimal space battles, and a lot of opportunities to reuse props, cheap sets, etc. Han Solo is briefly mentioned, but he and Chewie never show up (Ford hadn't agree to do a sequel) but are replaced by Halla (a sort of Han/Obi Wan amalgamation/grumpy old Force lady) a pair of big fury aliens. There's a few things that would later show up in Empire or other movies (Vader flinging stuff at Luke via the Force, force ghosts sort of possessing people, Vader falling down a big hole), and a bunch of stuff that's weird (Leia and Luke obviously want to bone, Vader shooting a Force hadouken,  Vader chopping an officer in half instead of choking him). None of the Imperials recognize Luke or Leia, which seems odd. Luke, maybe, but Leia was famous even before the Death Star.

The plot is pretty by the numbers sci-fantasy adventure. Spoilers for the rest of this paragraph if you care? Luke and Leia crash on a mysterious planet on their way to a diplomatic mission, get captured by the Imperials running a mining camp, get bailed out by bruiser alien sidekicks and weird Force grandma, find a magic crystal that enhances the Force in the statue of Not-Cthulhu (to the point where Luke can bring people back to life) that conveniently only works in that area, fight Darth Vader (Leia holds him off for a while and actually gets a couple hits in before some gratuitous torture. Luke wins after being semi-possessed by Obi Wan) by knocking Vader down a hole, they leave to go to the conference. The whole thing only sort of intersects with the wider EU.

As a novel it's passable. I wanted light and easy, and that's what I got. Foster isn't a great writer (at least here, I haven't read much of his other stuff) but he keeps the plot moving. Leia gets almost as much character development here than in the whole original trilogy, though it's basically all about her having PTSD from the first movie. She spends the front half of the book getting treated like a slave, and Luke's a total asshole about it, then Vader tortures her. I don't think Foster quite knows what to do with her, since she bounces from hyper-capable to worthless and abused every three pages. There's a couple fun body horror scenes, and it's interesting to see what Foster does with the still uncodified Force. He really likes the adjective "batrachian," which means "frog like." It's odd that it shows up multiple times in a 150 page long novel, but at least I learned something.

All in all, this is about exactly how I'd expect the EU to start. A traditional, pulpy side story with lots of weird bits. If you like Star Wars (particularly this era) or want to see what the beginnings of Expanded Universes in general look like, it's worth reading. At ~150 very light pages, it won't take long. If you're a 70s pulp sci-fi fan, go for it. If you've never read/seen Star Wars, I wouldn't recommend it as a first taste, and harder/more modern sci-fi fans can probably skip it. 2/5 mediocre writing partially saved by historical significance.

Check out this beautiful Ralph Macquarie cover art:

Thanks Wookiepedia!

April 9– From "New Atlantis" (1626) by Francis Bacon (H is for Hospitality)

 3 hours for a 1992 video game OST!?

 April 9– From "New Atlantis" (1626) by Francis Bacon

Summary:

Commentary: I'm sure this isn't the first "death day" selection we've had, but it's the first I've noticed. Our letter is H for Hospitality, which is what this story is about. It's fascinating to look at how hospitality is often one of the earliest and most important customs developed by cultures, though the traditional "let the traveler in for the night or you'll get smited" meaning has largely fallen by the wayside. Inhospitableness is (probably) the actual sin of Sodom and Gamorrah.

So that finding ourselves, in the midst of the greatest wilderness of waters in the world, without victuals, we gave ourselves for lost men and prepared for death. Yet we did lift up our hearts and voices to God above, who showeth his wonders in the deep, beseeching him of his mercy, that as in the beginning he discovered the face of the deep, and brought forth dry land, so he would now discover land to us, that we might not perish.

This is the end of the first paragraph of the story. It's an interesting beginning. They just run out of food and give up. They have food for a year, which does seem like a fairly sizable cushion (by my Googling/math the trip would take 2-3 months, 9600 miles at 120 miles a day) but it's still lame that the protagonist and crew just give up 4 sentences in. If you're going to deploy deus ex machina on page one, how do you have dramatics on page one hundred?

They find land and sail there easily (as opposed the the months of sailing in circles/dead wind before), but aren't allowed to land (but can resupply). They negotiate to land (mostly by Bacon cramming "Christianity", "Jesus", and "cross" into the next page as many times as grammatically possible). Hurray, another problem solved by God within a paragraph of introduction!

of somewhat a bluer colour than our brick;

Bacon likes this comparison. We see some parchement that's slightly yellower also.

I do like the expression "twice paid" that the Atlanteans (Bensalemites?) use when the crew tries to tip them. The explanation is that they've already been paid a salary for their service, and that the tip would basically be a bribe.

The narrator (I'm not sure if this is just a first person, or if it's supposed to be Bacon) gives a speech about how they should be good Christians so they don't get kicked off the island, and everyone claps.

Therefore for God's love, and as we love the weal of our souls and bodies, let us so behave ourselves, as we may be at peace with God, and may find grace in the eyes of this people." Our company with one voice thanked me for my good admonition, and promised me to live soberly and civilly, and without giving any the least occasion of offence.

This whole thing reads like one of those Evangelic Harry Potter rewrites. Deliver us from didactism.

 Eventually, we find out the island is named Bensalem. I always assumed that Bensalem was named after Ben Franklin (since the real one is near Philadelphia) but he wouldn't be born for 3/4 of a century after New Atlantis. The town is post-Franklin though, so it's possible it's a case of convergent evolution in naming. The internet seems unsure.

I put almost the same comment in my reading of The Imitation of Christ earlier this year. Bad Christian literature hasn't changed in...ever as far as I can tell. You could modernize the language some (maybe only a little, leave it pseudo-King Jamesy) and put this on a shelf at Waterstones next to Left Behind, and no one would bat an eye. There's a huge demand for books with no functional characters/conflict/setting and poorly written sermons every couple pages, and apparently has been for centuries.

April 7– Assorted Poems by William Wordsworth (~1810) (G is for Goof)

"I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud"

April 7– Assorted Poems by William Wordsworth (~1810)

Summary:

Commentary: Had a little mistake last night, and posted the 8th on the 7th. G is for goofing up!

The hardest part of these collections of a lot of small pieces is finding all of them. Often I wind up adding or dropping one or two, since T5FSOB doesn't pull exactly from an existing collection, and there isn't a super copy and paste friendly version of some of them easily available. I think I got them all right tonight.

I assume I must've read some Wordsworth at some point in college or whatever, but I can't remember any of his poems. 

I enjoyed "To The Daisy" the combination of imagery, whimsy, and appreciation of nature reminds me of sitting out daydreaming in a field in the summer.

A nun demure, of lowly port;

Or sprightly maiden, of Love’s court,

In thy simplicity the sport

Of all temptations;

A queen in crown of rubies drest;

A starveling in a scanty vest;

Are all, as seems to suit thee best,

I like his poem on Cuckoos much better than Milton's.

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What Man has made of Man?

Be better to each other, mankind!

He really liked writing about birds.

A creature not too bright or good

For human nature’s daily food,

This is like, the opposite of putting her on a pedestal, but in a way raises her up higher. 

 

April 8th– From "The Libation Bearers" by Aeschylus (~500 BC)

A really wild staging of the play!

April 8th– From The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus (~500 BC)

Summary: Agamemnon's son, Orestes avenges his dad on Apollo's orders, which gets the furies after him. 

Commentary: 

This were new sorrow, a blood-bolter’s load

 You could just drop this into a 40K game. No one would even notice.

More commentary on the performance than the play here, this version is crazy!

The masks are, I think, traditional, but you don't see them much anymore, even in productions of ancient Greek/Roman theatre. I like that the chorus sings, always a nice touch. Makes them seem more otherworldly. Interesting that the script in the play has a lot of references to "we're just women" that aren't in the one in T5FSOB. The chorus are all apparently captive/hostage women, but I don't see as many references to it in most translations. Overall, I don't know that the video is a super accurate translation, but they need that rhyme/meter. It's probably worth it, and always better to watch a play than read it. Desperado was definitely not in the original Greek.

THE BEACONS RELIT!

April 6– From "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelieus (F is for Foul)

 No music

April 6– From Meditations by Marcus Aurelieus

Summary: What is badness? And how to avoid it.

Commentary: Happy birthday Marky A! A lot of the readings are chosen based on the author's birthday. Today's reading opens with a definition of "badness." or foulness if you will.

Most translations go with something like "evil" or "wickedness" but badness does sound cooler. This translation is a little questionable in general.

It is thy duty then in the midst of such things to show good humor and not a proud air; to understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.

One of the goals of this project is to spend more time doing "valuable" or "useful" things than scrolling reddit or whatever. Does this quote mean that if you spend your time on something that isn't valuable you lose your own value?

7. Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is thy business to do thy duty like a soldier in the assault on a town. 

This is a good thought about modestly accepting help when you need it.

17. Eudaemonia [happiness] is a good daemon, or a good thing. What then art thou doing here, O imagination? Go away, I entreat thee by the gods, as thou didst come, for I want thee not. But thou art come according to thy old fashion. I am not angry with thee: only go away.

The voice here is weird, addressing happiness instead of the reader. Also, you don't hear a ton about happiness in most readings on stoicism.

24. A scowling look is altogether unnatural; when it is often assumed,[5] the result is that all comeliness dies away

MA does not believe in resting bitch face.

65. Take care not to feel towards the inhuman as they feel towards men.

This is an epigraph in my animal-zombie-apocalypse book.

62. Constantly observe who those are whose approbation thou wishest to have, and what ruling principles they possess. For then thou wilt neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor wilt thou want their approbation, if thou lookest to the sources of their opinions and appetites.

Putting this one last/out of order since I think this is a great thing to keep in mind, particularly with modern demagogues. I said to my wife the other day, "even if Ben Franklin came back from the dead and ran for president, I would still want to hear his platform, not just vote for him cause I like Ben Franklin." Value people because they stand for what you believe in, don't stand for something just because someone you admire likes it.

 

 

 

 

 

April 5– From "Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes (1651) (E is for Ethics)

Leviathan by Volbeat

April 5– From Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651)

Summary:

Commentary: It's Hobbes's birthday! Also, E is for Ethics. The page numbers don't really make sense here, unless there's some kind of edition issue. 313 is in the middle of a Rousseau passage, and we've never mixed authors before. 322 is the blank page between the intro and first section. For the sake of sanity, I grabbed the first 10ish pages: Intro, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2. 

Hobbes really likes Es and LLs. Spell check is losing its mind with this one. Then I realized T5FSOB is actually using a modernized spelling edition and tracked one of those down.

Concerning the first, there is a saying much usurped of late, that wisdom is acquired, not by reading of books, but of men

This is not a saying I think I've ever heard. I guess I can quit this whole thing then, since books don't give knowledge.

 So that sense

in all cases is nothing else but original fancy caused (as I have said) by

the pressure that is, by the motion of external things upon our eyes,

ears, and other organs, thereunto ordained.

But the philosophy schools, through all the universities of

Christendom, grounded upon certain texts of Aristotle, teach another

doctrine; and say, for the cause of vision, that the thing seen sendeth

forth on every side a visible species, (in English) a visible show, apparition, or aspect, or a being seen; the receiving whereof into the eye is seeing

We saw a little of this "things only exist because we perceive them" in one of the other readings. I don't think that the opposition is as clear here as Hobbes makes it sound. We only know things are real because we perceive them, but we can percieve them because of what they put off. 

From hence it is that the schools say, heavy bodies fall downwards out of an appetite to rest, and to conserve their nature in that

place which is most proper for them; ascribing appetite, and knowledge

of what is good for their conservation (which is more than man has), to things inanimate, absurdly.

Is this a thing "schools" actually said commonly, or is Hobbes just overly literal?

The entire imagination section feels like someone with no particular imagination trying to explain it to people. 

So when a man compoundeth the image of his own

person with the image of the actions of another man, as when a man

imagines himself a Hercules or an Alexander (which happeneth often to

them that are much taken with reading of romances), it is a compound

imagination, and properly but a fiction of the mind. There be also other

imaginations that rise in men, though waking, from the great impression

made in sense: as from gazing upon the sun, the impression leaves an image of the sun before our eyes a long time after

April 4– From "She Stoops To Conquer" (1773) by Oliver Goldsmith (D is for Drama)

2008 BBC Production

April 4– From She Stoops To Conquer (1773) by Oliver Goldsmith

Summary: A guy gets shy/awkward around high class women, and seduces lower class ones. The women he's supposed to marry takes advantage of a prank her brother plays to pretend their house is an inn and she's wench to seduce him.

Commentary: D for (medium) Drama today. I'd heard of this play, so I was looking forward to it. It seems good, though we only got a short taste of it. No more for the year, unfortunately. I'll add it to the follow up list and finish it at some point.

After several strike outs in a row, I finally got a play with a few easily accessible versions. This BBC production seems accurate and well produced (though it's more television than stage). It has a classy horse fart joke near the end of the selection, and some truly over the top wigs.

A few stand out lines: 

HARDCASTLE. And I love it. I love everything that’s old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine; and I believe, Dorothy (taking her hand), you’ll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.

The old man's still got it.

 Despite knowing it from experience, it still amazes me sometimes how frank some of these old plays are. 

MISS HARDCASTLE. Eh! you have frozen me to death again. That word RESERVED has undone all the rest of his accomplishments. A reserved lover, it is said, always makes a suspicious husband.

A woman wanting a forward husband, and a lover? Gasp!

LANDLORD. Ah, bless your heart, for a sweet, pleasant—damn’d mischievous son of a whore. [Exeunt.]

The ideal way to feel about a rambunctious teenager.

This was a fun one, and a nice break from the dry biographies that've been popping up the last week or two. 

 

April 3– From "Life of George Herbert" (1670) by Izaak Walton (C is for Conquer and clergy!)

April 3– From Life of George Herbert (1670) by Izaak Walton

Summary: Herbert gets married, joins the clergy, and writes some poems.

Commentary: The last of three of these Walton biographies in relatively short succession. We'll get a fourth, but not until late in the summer. I won't particularly miss them. 

Our C word comes from this passage:

This was a fair preparation for a marriage; but, alas! her father died before Mr. Herbert's retirement to Dauntsey: yet some friends to both parties procured their meeting; at which time a mutual affection entered into both their hearts, as a conqueror enters into a surprised city; and love having got such possession, governed, and made there such laws and resolutions, as neither party was able to resist; insomuch, that she changed her name into Herbert the third day after this first interview.

Apparently it was quite a whirlwind romance, though Walton has no particular details to share, just that they were such a match and so in love, etc., etc.

 I said this about one of the earlier biographies we read, it's weird reading a bio of an author that mentions a bunch of their works without having read the works themselves.

On the whole, I don't care for Walton's writing. He's the king of long passages with little detail, and they're just boring and not actually particularly informative. He wrote a good fishing book apparently, maybe I'll give that a try.

April 2– From "Voyage of The Beagle" (1839) by Charles Darwin (B is for Beagle)

The BBC is something.

April 2– From Voyage of The Beagle (1839) by Charles Darwin

Summary: Darwin checks out a native ceremony and some nightmare crabs while studying reefs and atolls.

Commentary: For those of you stopping by for the first time, let me just start by recommending that you go read some Darwin. I'll admit up front that he's very racist at some points, but I think the quality of his writing outweighs that. It helps that he's dead. He makes travel writing sound like a fantasy novel, and it's super cool. I believe this section substantially overlaps the start of the last one I read. I'm not sure why they're like that, but interesting to start seeing some of the pieces fit together.

The dance did not commence till the moon had risen, and it was well worth remaining to behold her bright orb so quietly shining through the long arms of the cocoa-nut trees as they waved in the evening breeze

Like this part here. It's not overly purple (something I feel a lot of travelogues fall into) but it does make the ceremony sound appropriately exotic and beautiful. 

Or take this: 

 A man standing ready in the bow at this moment dashes through the water upon the turtle’s back; then clinging with both hands by the shell of its neck, he is carried away till the animal becomes exhausted and is secured. It was quite an interesting chase to see the two boats thus doubling about, and the men dashing head foremost into the water trying to seize their prey.

 If you ever need a description of how they hunt the STORMTURTLE for your fantasy novel, just crib some Darwin. Maybe leave off the part after this about cooking their shells off them alive and releasing them to die... Or maybe not, some books are dark like that.

Or maybe you could use one random out of place rock (it's really a dragon egg or something):

The occurrence of this one stone, where every other particle of matter is calcareous, certainly is very puzzling.

The rest is a repeat of last time. If you weren't following the blog then, go read about nightmare crabs! 

 

April 1– Assorted Poems by Robert Browning (18XX) (A is for April)

 Browning reads "How They Brough The Good News From Ghent to Aix"

April 1– Assorted Poems by Robert Browning (18XX)

Summary: A bunch of poems, mostly about missing home.

Commentary: If you're here from A to Z, welcome, take a seat, leave a comment. Over the next month I'll be doing exactly what I've done all year on this blog, reading the daily selection from The Harvard Classics with a little commentary. If you're lucky, I put a related song or clip or something. The only change is that every day I have to find a way to link the entry to the day's letter. I've got about a third of the month mapped out already, so it should be a fun, but not too challenging, puzzle. Except the weird letters.

Tonight's was especially easy, with April being in both the selection heading and one of the poems:

O, TO be in England

Now that April’s there,

I really appreciate that most or all of Browning's line breaks occur in natural places. I hate when I'm reading a poem and it's like:

Her lips were

red and her

eyes were blue

and her toes

were yellow

Occasionally there's something to be said for being deliberately awkward to try to shake up your reader, but I feel like a lot of poets are just sloppy/don't think about it enough/get forced into awkward lines to fit their meter.

For comparison, here's the opening of "How They Brought The Good News [...]"

I SPRANG to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;

‘Good speed!’ cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;

‘Speed!’ echoed the wall to us galloping through;

Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,

And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

Nice and clean. Flows well.

Equally appreciated are the unforced rhymes. We've had several poetry selection in T5FSOB where you get really awkward lines lines just to get them to rhyme. They reminded me of when you write a poem in second grade. Who cares whether "I will drive a car in a star with a bar really far!" makes sense (and honestly, that's better than some of them...) you just gotta get those rhymes in.

Hark, ’tis the sparrows’ good-night twitter

Was the Twitter bird a sparrow? Remember the "good old days" when a lot of tech nerds were nerds in general and into classic literature and stuff? Some still are, but they get shouted down by the crpyto-lib-bros.

Fun set of poems tonight, great way to start the month. I hope all you new A to Z peeps have a good time following along.