It's nice to be home.
Quick review on this week's readings:
June 24 "The Story Told by the Christian Broker" from 1001 Nights: 1/5 I really liked the first couple 1000 Nights selection, but they've gotten kind of boring and repetitive. I'd probably have whacked off her head by now.
June 25 Poems by Robert Herrick: 3/5 Not the most creative poetry, but it knows what it is and it gets on with it.
June 26 Beowulf : 2.5/5 Beowulf in T5FSOB? Yes. Beowulf in the reading guide? Yes. This section of Beowulf in the reading guide? Ehhhhh.
June 27 "Of Friendship" by Bacon: 3/5 Much like the Herrick poems, this isn't terribly profound, but it is effective.
June 28 The Voyage of The Beagle by Darwin: 3/5 Darwin screws up hunting, and it's pretty funny. Not quite as informative as some other sections.
June 29 Macbeth by Shakespeare: 2/5 I gave the Beowulf section a pass. This one is just a bad choice
June 30 "On Liberty" John Stuart Mill : 4/5 It's nice to read a "tyranny of the majority" essay that isn't just whining by a guy who would thinks it should be legal to own people.
Average: 2.6/5 A week that broadly improved as it went on.
Overall Thoughts on The Project:
I feel similarly to Herrick as I do about Rosseau from a few weeks ago. He's not the most profound poet (a decent Shakespeare sonnet is certainly better than anything in this sample), but he's very readable, and its clear what he's trying to do in his writing. I think he'd be a great middle ground between "silly kid poems" like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "serious adult poems" that would help people be able to better read and understand poetry.
I've both Beowulf and Macbeth the last couple years. What the heck is going on with those selections? Beowulf, at least we got a major scene. Not one I'd have picked, but it's a major scene. But who goes, "You know what I love about Macbeth? The dinner!" You've got to be a theatre/Shakespeare nerd to even know that one exists.
Mill is great. I'm really looking forward to digging into his stuff in general once I get some time.
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