Aug 31– “The American Scholar” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)

 In most countries Ralph Wally Emerson

Aug 31– “The American Scholar” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)

Summary: Has there ever been a commencement address that didn't suck?

Commentary: It's nice to know that, almost 200 years ago, they were still having hucksters give commencement addresses, and they were still eye rollingly bad. Emerson gives a typical transcendalist anti-society ramble, peppered with slightly better asides about being independent and well rounded. It's interesting to read this after Meditations, which give much of the same advice, but in a way that's both more succinct and actionable. Emerson blabs on for a half a page about how we need to listen to nature in order to find God, who is our true selves. Aurelius says decide who you want to be, and judge your actions based on whether they match that.

Aug 30– "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius translated by George Long

 This is some interesting weird/creepy CG

Aug 30– Meditations by Marcus Aurelius translated by George Long

Summary: Do stuff. Be honest with yourself.

Commentary: I enjoy Marcus Aurelius overall, but not a huge fan of this translation. Even for the time (1862) the language is unnecessarily archaic. Being needlessly old-fashioned and wordy doesn't feel very Stoic to me.

I think #11 is my favorite from today's section:

11. About what am I now employing my own soul? On every occasion I must ask myself this question, and inquire, What have I now in this part of me which they call the ruling principle? and whose soul have I now,—that of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast?

How are you living your life? Is it consistent with what you want to be? A lot of Meditations revolves around this theme of being yourself, doing what's right for you, etc., but I think this is (out of this selection/translation) the best presentation of that.

Aug 29– "Antony" from Plutarch’s Lives translated by Dryden and revised by Arthur Hugh Clough

 Cleopatra, probably

Aug 29– Antony from Plutarch’s Lives translated by Dryden and revised by Arthur Hugh Clough

Summary:

Commentary: Plutarch is doing the, "accidentally made X sound cool" thing with Cleopatra here. She speaks all these languages, yanks Antony around for a while, seduces him, and out pranks him. She also manages to be the original Manic Pixie Dreamgirl:

  To return to Cleopatra; Plato admits four sorts of flattery,

  but she had a thousand.  Were Antony serious or disposed to

  mirth, she had at any moment some new delight or charm to meet

  his wishes; at every turn she was upon him, and let him escape

  her neither by day nor by night.  She played at dice with him,

  drank with him, hunted with him; and when he exercised in arms,

  she was there to see.  At night she would go rambling with him

  to disturb and torment people at their doors and windows,

  dressed like a servant-woman, for Antony also went in servant's

  disguise, and from these expeditions he often came home very

  scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten severely, though

  most people guessed who it was.  

This was slightly more interesting than the other Lives but Plutarch is, as usual, unfocused and light on detail. 

Casually Completing Classics #6: The Odyssey Book 8

 Book 8 Summary/Note: They throw a party. Odysseus wrecks a guy at discus and cries when the bard sings about the fall of Troy.

They call pigs TUSKERS, which is fun. 

Some guy stars shit talking Odysseus and says he has no skill and was the skipper of "some tramp" so Odysseus tells him that he has "an empty noodle" and beats him at discus throwing. 

A harper tells the story of Ares and Aphrodite's affair, which involves Hephaestus calling her a "damned pigeon." He catches them in a metal net, but Hermes is like "doesn't matter, had sex."

There's a reference to a singular God here, which I think is Zeus in other translations. I'm guessing the original might've been something like father-god? Interesting translation quirk.

I believe this is the first account of the Trojan horse. It's brief, basically just that the Trojans brought it in while the Achaeans hid inside. At the end of this section, Odysseus starts crying and Alcinous asks who he is, which prompts Odysseus to finally tell us how he wound up lost at sea in the next section. 

Aug 28– From "Faust" by Goethe (1832) translated by Anna Swanwick

 I'd be pretty tempted to sell my soul to be really good at fighting games.

Aug 28– From Faust by Goethe (1832) translated by Anna Swanwick

Summary: Faust kills his babymama's brother. 

Commentary: I always think of Futurama when I read Goethe's Faust. Faust is just an extra horny Bender, with Mephistopheles following him around singing and goading him to be even worse behaved.

Aug 27– BURNNSSSSSSSSS

 This scene makes me cry everytime

Aug 27– BURNNSSSSSSSSS

Summary: Bad poems

Commentary: Not content with subjecting me to more Burns, Eliot makes me skip around in the selections tonight. I think there was only one other place he did this. This set is sort of the standard Burns set (minus "To A Mouse" which was already featured) that tends to get picked for anthologies and the like. They're still bad, but at least they're short. 

 

Aug 26– From "Froissart’s Chronicles" translated by Lord Bernes edited by G. C. Macaulay

 LEGO

Aug 26– From Froissart’s Chronicles translated by Lord Bernes edited by G. C. Macaulay

Summary: Longbow good.

Commentary: This is very much in the "list of names" style of history, without a ton of interesting detail or anything. I had to stop and reread some parts two or three times, since my eyes just kept glossing over them. I didn't really miss much the first time.

Reflections on Week 34 (Aug 19-25)

Link to readings

I was going to say I was in the home stretch, but I have to make it to next week to hit two thirds of the way through the year.

Quick review on this week's readings:

Aug 19 Journey to Diverse Places by Paré: 3/5 16th century white noise machine!

Aug 20 Paradise Lost by Milton: 1/5 It's still bad!

Aug 21 Confessions of St. Augustine: 1/5 Fundamentalist Christianity is not compatible with a liberal education, no matter how much fundamentalist Christians advocate for it!

Aug 22 Two Years Before the Mast by Dana: 3/5 Weird, but mostly inciteful, sailor expressions!

Aug 23 From A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful by Burke: 2/5 Less the origin of beauty, and more what isn't beauty.

Aug 24 Pliny the Elder’s Letters by Luther: 3/5 First person disaster account is pretty cool.

Aug 25 "The Tides" by Kelvin: 3/5 I now understand how tides work.

Average: 2.29 An aggressively average back half of the week.

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

Workmanlike:

: characterized by the skill and efficiency typical of a good workman

also : competent and skillful but not outstanding or original

Workmanlike is how I'd describe about half the selections this week. And that's fine. Yeah, it's great to read some Keats or something, but I'd rather a week with four good selections and three okay ones than one great one and six stinkers.

I learned several interesting things this week, and mostly avoided having to slog through anything.

Aug 25– “The Tides” by William Thomson AKA Lord Kelvin (1882)

 I think I got this album from my college radio station when they were throwing out the cds they used to use for programming.

Aug 25– “The Tides” by William Thomson AKA Lord Kelvin (1882)

Summary: Tide goes in, tide goes out. Lord Kelvin can explain that.

Commentary: Not as interesting as some of the other scientific selections we've gotten, but I do know how tides work now. I didn't really grow up near an ocean, big river, etc. so it wasn't super relevant. Like, I knew they existed, but it was just one of those things you saw on the news (high tide is at 6:31 tonight) or in books (YOU FOOL! IT'S LOW TIDE! YOUR MERMEN ARE POWERLESS!). I vaguely knew the moon was involved, but that's about it. Now I know that the tide is caused by the moon "pulling" and that they're more extreme around the new moon. Now, I've gotten through life for 35 years without this knowledge, so maybe it's not the most important thing to know, but I am glad I know it now. I think Kelvin is overstating the effects of the sun, but I'm not entirely confident on that. His pictures are helpful though. Aside from that, I guess I wonder how hard it was to get into a lecture like this then vs now. Obviously we have the advantage of video now, but could you just walk into where he was speaking and listen? Were there tickets? Invite only?

Aug 24– From Pliny the Younger's Letters translated by William Melmoth and revised by F. C. T. Bosanquet

 This is really cool!

Aug 24– From Pliny the Younger’s Letters translated by William Melmoth and revised by F. C. T. Bosanquet

Summary:

Commentary: It's been a while since I said "yay, more first person historical accounts!" The story of Pompeii is interesting, and I didn't actually realize there were any first person accounts, just archeological reconstructions.

How much does the fame of human actions depend upon the station of those who perform them! The very same conduct shall be either applauded to the skies or entirely overlooked, just as it may happen to proceed from a person of conspicuous or obscure rank.

Is a good quote, though I'd go so far as to say it might not just be overlooked, but looked down on if someone from the "wrong" class does it. The classic example is probably classy: mimosas at lunch trashy: drinking a beer before noon.

 Normally, I don't comment on the video choice, but I today's is actually really cool. Take a little time and watch it, you won't be disappointed.

Aug 22– From "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1840)

 Dana probably tied a bunch of these

Aug 22– From Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1840)

Summary: TWO! people get flogged, the crew is depressed, Dana goes ashore.

Commentary: Lots of good quotes today:

 "if you once give a dog a bad name"—as the sailor-phrase is—"he may as well jump overboard." 

I've heard "may as well hang him" but not jump overboard. I guess it makes sense on a boat though.

 I like "The more you drive a man, the less he will do" It's a more direct version of "you catch more flies with honey..." and other similar proverbs. It's not just that being nice will often make people more likely to do what you ask, but that being an ass will actively discourage them.

Finally, "Can't a man ask a question here without being flogged?" which I swear I've seen other versions of, "can't a man X without Y" but Google isn't being forthcoming.

Aug 23– From "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" (1757) by Edmund Burke

 It's ok, 1D figured it out.

Aug 23– From A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) by Edmund Burke

Summary: Beauty is not purely defined by proportionality or function.

Commentary: You know how they say you can't prove a negative? Burke gives a great demonstration here by going on for pages about how some things aren't what makes something beautiful, but still fails to define beauty.

Aug 21– From "The Confessions of St. Augustine" (400) translated by Edward B. Pusey

 Augustine OF HIPPO

Aug 21– From The Confessions of St. Augustine (400) translated by Edward B. Pusey

Summary:

Commentary: I don't know how many more ways I can write, "Old Testament Christianity is incompatible with a Liberal Education!" but here I am.

I can conceivably go along with some kind of generic "it's good to remember you're fallible, there's always something bigger than you," but this is very specifically Christianity is the TRUTH with passages like this:

to that age a worshipper of idols, and a partaker of the sacrilegious rites, to which almost all the nobility of Rome were given up, and had inspired the people with the love of

Anubis, barking Deity, and all

The monster Gods of every kind, who fought

'Gainst Neptune, Venus, and Minerva:

Not much room for flexibility in your higher power there.

Likewise, I guess I can go with some degree of, "well, Christianity is important, so you should know about it," and that's fair too. But it feels like that should mean it's selected occasionally, and maybe with some secondary sources to help put it in context. Instead, it's weekly first person accounts of how awful we all are and Bible verses, while the Quran pops up once in the year. I don't think there's been any Jewish writings (other than the ones shared with the Bible). 

I dunno, at one point I wondered if Eliot purposefully picked bad Christian writings/Bible selections as a sort of back door apostasy, but it feels like he's laying it on too thick for that now.

 

Casually Completing Classics #5: The Odyssey Books 6 and 7

 Book 6

One of the fun parts of this project is finding the origins of popular names, quotes, etc. Book 6 features Nausikaa, which I'm going to assume is the origin of the titular Nausicaä in the Ghibli movie.

Continuing the hospitality theme, Odysseus is helped out by a princess after he washes assure. Athena helps him wash himself, and it sounds like a shampoo commercial for a bit:

Athena lent a hand, making him seem

taller, and massive too, with crisping hair

in curls like petals of wild hyacinth,

but all red-golden. Think of gold infused

Maybe he's born with it, maybe Athena-line.

Short book, my whole summary was "Odysseus washes ashore and is helped by a princess."

Book 7

Summary (I really should type these in, not just the parts I mark up): "Odysseus meets King Alkinoos, who is very friendly."

Athena suddenly turns vaguely British at one point:

"Oh yes, good frandger, sir, I know, I'll show you" and so on. I'm going to assume she's impersonating someone from a certain background that gets turned into a weird dialect in Homer, and that's Fitzgerald's way of replicating it. I feel like that used to be more popular as a translation convention.

"A cheerful man does best

in every enterprise-- even a stranger."

Put that in a fortune cookie or a cat poster.

Odysseus reiterates not giving consent to Kalypso again. UNLIKE CIRCE! Apparently he's good, but not that good.

 

Aug 20– From "Paradise Lost" by John Milton (1667)

 Metallica comes up when you look for Paradise Lost on Youtube. Apparently due to a documentary title.

Aug 20– From Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667)

Summary: Satan is stuck on Earth, so he goes to creep on Adam and Eve.

Commentary: Maybe after most of a year of reading THE CLASSICS I'll have a newfound appreciation for Milton.

I do get the famous "Fainting Victorian Satan" engraving today:

"His Lithe Proboscis; close the Serpent sly"

That's a real line in this poem.

Milton is still bad.

Reflections on Week 33 (Aug 12-18)

        Link to readings

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was great!

Quick review on this week's readings:

Aug 12 "A Courtin'" by Lowell: 0/5 This could be a Burns poem!

Aug 13 “After Blenheim” and "The Scholar" by Southey: 1/5 Well, at least these ones are readable..

Aug 14 Two Years Before the Mast by Dana: 3/5 Reasonably interesting story, and we could all learn to take a joke..

Aug 15 The Song of Roland: 3/5 Casually murdering your protagonist 2/3 of the way through the poem is bold.

Aug 16 Plasms 109-119: 0/5 Repetitive and reductive.

Aug 17 Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate by Luther: 3/5 Wow! That's a title.

Aug 18 Cellini's Autobiography: 2/5 Cellini is just weird.

Average: 1.71 Bad poems and questionable religious writing in the same week as good poems and good religious writing.

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

The contrast is really the story this week. Lowell is unreadable and Southey is generic. Roland is exciting and takes some chances with killing the protagonist early. The Plasms are generic "everything is terrible; except God, who is perfect" Christianity, while Luther emphasizes questioning and reasoning. Again, I sometimes wonder how "thematic" Eliot wants to be week to week. This week, it feels kind of intentional, but I don't think he's really going to pick "bad" stuff just to put it next to good.

Aug 19– "Journeys in Diverse Places" by Ambroise Paré translated by Robert Willis

 Opium!

Aug 19– Journeys in Diverse Places by Ambroise Paré translated by Robert Willis

Summary:

Commentary: Before I get to the reading, let's just look at this excerpt from Ambroise's Wikipedia page:

In 1567, Ambroise Paré described an experiment to test the properties of bezoar stones. At the time, the stones were commonly believed to be able to cure the effects of any poison, but Paré believed this to be impossible. It happened that a cook at Paré's court was caught stealing fine silver cutlery, and was condemned to be hanged. The cook agreed to be poisoned instead, on the condition that he would be given a bezoar straight after the poison and go free in case he survived. The stone did not cure him, and he died in agony seven hours after being poisoned. Thus Paré had proved that bezoars could not cure all poisons.

I like how it implies that he just watched the dude die for seven hours and then went, "I told you so!"

Rouen. M. de Bassompierre, colonel of twelve hundred horse,

That's a lot of horse. Also, I like imagining him getting introduced this way. "Now entering, M. de Bassompierre, COLONEL OF TWELVE HUNDRED HORSE!" (insert trumpets and or electric guitar solo).

He has about a page of things sick people should eat, but the most important is obviously the opium:

At night he can take barley-water, with juice of sorrel and of waterlilies, of each two ounces, with four or five grains of opium, and the four cold seeds crushed, of each half an ounce; which is a good nourishing remedy and will make him sleep.

 I do like his sixteenth century white noise machine:

And we must make artificial rain, pouring water from some high place into a cauldron, that he may hear the sound of it; by which means sleep shall be provoked on him.

This was fun/interesting one. Not super deep, but enjoyable. 

 

 

Aug 18– From "The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini" (1723) translated by John Addington Symonds

 Cellini in 2016

Aug 18– From The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (1723) translated by John Addington Symonds

Summary: Cellini forces his lover? to marry his enemy (they're having an affair), then makes her model for him in the nude in uncomfortable positions. Then he has sex with her and beats her.

Commentary: Cellini is at his best when he's at his worst. If someone wrote this story today, we'd dismiss them as some kind of loser edgelord who needs a ton of therapy. But, as "fine literature" and an autobiography, it goes so far beyond the pale that it's hilarious.

Aug 17– "Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate" by Martin Luther (1520) translated by C. A. Bucheim

 Pretty intense documentary by PBS

Aug 17– Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate by Martin Luther (1520) translated by C. A. Bucheim

Summary: People can interpret the Bible themselves.

Commentary: I went through three stages of reading this.

Stage 1: How much do I really care about Martin Luther arguing with Catholics.

Stage 2: I guess this is an important historical document.

Stage 3: Expanded to life in general, this is really what T5FSOB and a liberal education is all about. The only way for a free society to work is if we respect each other's ability to gather information and make decisions. This isn't to say that there can't be any laws or whatever, but you can't have one "pope" or a handful of bishops just dictating everything to everyone.

Aug 16– Psalms 109 through 119 American Standard Version

 Psalm 109

Aug 16– Psalms 109 through 119 American Standard Version

Summary: 109 God curse my enemies and be nice to me. 110 and 111 God curse the bad people and be nice to the good ones. 112 if you listen to God you'll get blessings. 113 God is so great and powerful. 114 is the escape from Egypt. 115 Jehovah is the only real god. 116 Jehovah is merciful (please keep being merciful). 117 Worship God (but shorter this time). 

    118 is longer and more complex than the others, saying that it doesn't matter if people hate you if you listen to God, because he'll take care of you. But punish you. But not to death.

    119 is just the whole reading rewritten as an acrostic poem.

Commentary: I don't think I've complained about a selection's start/stop points this week, so here goes. Eliot puts us smack in the middle of Psalm 109, and then cuts off midway through 119, despite being under the length target (normally 10-15 pages a day, but a page of poem is less than a page of prose). If he wanted to go short, he could've just hit 110-118, or he could've fit the entirety of all of the selections (119 in particular breaks weird) and gone long. Since the selection is really repetitive, I'd probably have gone with all of one section and just cut the other.

    The front (unselected) half 109 is a god ol' Christian mercy poem, praying for God to ruin your enemy's life.

6 Set thou a wicked man over him;

And let an adversary stand at his right hand.

7 When he is judged, let him come forth guilty;

And let his prayer be turned into sin.

8 Let his days be few;

And let another take his office.

9 Let his children be fatherless,

And his wife a widow.

10 Let his children be vagabonds, and beg;

And let them seek their bread out of their desolate places.

11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath;

And let strangers make spoil of his labor.

12 Let there be none to extend kindness unto him;

Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.

13 Let his posterity be cut off;

In the generation following let their name be blotted out.

14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Jehovah;

And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15 Let them be before Jehovah continually,

That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

16 Because he remembered not to show kindness,

But persecuted the poor and needy man,

And the broken in heart, to slay them.

17 Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him;

And he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.

18 He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment,

And it came into his inward parts like water,

And like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be unto him as the raiment wherewith he covereth himself,

And for the girdle wherewith he is girded continually.

    We don't get super specifics on what the adversaries have done (lied and fought against the speaker somehow) but apparently it's enough that they and their entire family need their lives ruined. The second half (Eliot's selection) is about asking God to take care of you, since you deserve it. Eliot has never shied away from OT revenge God before, so not sure why he skipped it here.

    110 is further classic OT, "God's going to kill everyone" fun stuff, again making the removal of the revenge part of 109 seem kind of pointless. 111 pairs with 110 the way the two halves of 109 do. While he's smiting all the bad people in 110, he's taking care of the good ones in 111.

    We get the return of the one word lovingkindness (chesed) in 118, which both looks silly, and is ridiculous in the context of asking God to destroy your enemies a page ago.

    119 is an acrostic with the first eight letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I have no idea why there's this sudden stylistic departure, but here we are. It's about as long as the entire selection put together, and is basically the same content. I think I'd have just have gone with it, personally. You get to do the interesting format and the same content, instead of multiple incomplete sets that kind of repeat each other.

    So, yeah. Standard Old Testament "fuck everyone but me, I love God, please don't hurt me!" repeated in several combinations.

Aug 15– From "The Song of Roland" translated by John O’Hagan

 There were a lot of good musical choices for this one

Aug 15– From The Song of Roland translated by John O’Hagan

Summary: RIP Roland

Commentary: Translated, tells a story, and fewer awkward rhymes than most of the "regular" poems in T5FSOB. Truly, a work of art. Although (I'm not up on my French) I'm not sure everything here rhymes

"My Olivier, my chosen one, Thou wert the noble Duke Renier's son, Lord of the March unto Rivier vale. To shiver lance and shatter mail, The brave in council to guide and cheer, To smite the miscreant foe with fear, Was never on earth such cavalier."

Isn't that Oh-live-ee-ay? I don't think Olive-Ear is a name. Rivier (is that just a fancy river?)

 That said, I have to respect the anonymous poet(s) for killing off their title character at the end of part two of a three section poem. What happens now? 

Casually Completing Classics #4: The Odyssey Book 5

o ODYSSEUS IS FINALLY HERE!

First, is (I think) the first appearance of "O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever," which is used several times.

Hermes is Zeus's favorite son (who else would it be, Perseus?). Hermes is my favorite Greek god, so I'd say he has good taste.

Odysseus apparently hasn't been aging, so is he going to be "younger" relative to Penelope when he gets home? That could be awkward. Not only has he been whoring it up, but he isn't even aging!

My translation makes it pretty clear that Odysseus is raped by Calypso (he repeatedly "doesn't consent" or is "compelled") but I've seen some translations that are a little less direct about it. 

Odysseus's first spoken line:

"After these years, a helping hand? O goddess,
what guile is hidden here?"

There's some foreshadowing of the cyclops encounter with:

"Oh forlorn man, I wonder
why the Earthshaker, Lord Poseidon, holds
this fearful grudge-- father of all your woes..."

But yeah, the big thing here is definitely Odysseus finally showing up.  People think the whole thing is just about him getting home when he doesn't even appear for the first fifth of the book. If you accept that it's about the whole family and their struggles/development, rather than just Odysseus, it's a much easier sell. If you're team, "no, it's about Odysseus!" then it's a pretty bold authorial choice by Homer to just not bother with his main character for a whole act.

 

Aug 14– From "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1840)

 Shanty!

Aug 14– From Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1840)

Summary: Sailing is hard in bad weather.

Commentary: Good to be back with Two Years Before the Mast. I think this is the third excerpt, and I enjoyed the earlier two. That said, it's also one of the hardest pieces in here to read broken up. It's very narrative, and reading a chapter here and a chapter there is rough. Still, enjoying it very much and have it on the list to finish later. Dana sure seems to have some crappy weather on his voyage. Here's the grab for tonight:

 He had just got to the end of the windlass, when a great sea broke over the bows, and for a moment I saw nothing of him but his head and shoulders; and at the next instant, being taken off of his legs, he was carried aft with the sea, until her stern lifting up and sending the water forward, he was left high and dry at the side of the long-boat, still holding on to his tin pot, which had now nothing in it but salt water.

But nothing could ever daunt him, or overcome, for a moment, his habitual good humor. Regaining his legs, and shaking his fist at the man at the wheel, he rolled below, saying, as he passed, "A man's no sailor, if he can't take a joke." The ducking was not the worst of such an affair, for, as there was an allowance of tea, you could get no more from the galley; and though sailors would never suffer a man to go without, but would always turn in a little from their own pots to fill up his, yet this was at best but dividing the loss among all hands.

No matter how bad your day was, it's probably better than the guy who got knocked into a lifeboat by a crane and lost his tea. And if that does happen to someone, give him a hand up.

 

Aug 13– “After Blenheim” and “The Scholar” by Robert Southey (1796)

 The first poem

Aug 13– “After Blenheim” and “The Scholar” by Robert Southey (1796)

Summary: Aggressively generic poems.

Commentary: Maybe these were more profound 200 yeas ago. As it stands now, they're just "war is sad, even when we say we win," and "I'm grateful for old dead people" poems numbers 1413 and 134112 respectively. Some questionable meter and rhyme choices aren't doing them any favors.

On the plus side, readings are pretty quick so far this week.

Reflections on Week 32 (Aug 5-11)

       Link to readings

And back to normal.

Quick review on this week's readings:

Aug 5 "Cotter's Saturday Night" by Burns: 1/5 Highest scoring Burns poem!

Aug 6 “Locksley Hall” by Tennyson: 3/5 Goodish poetry after garbage.

Aug 7 Phaedo by Plato: 1/5 Socratic dialogues are the worst form of writing ever invented.

Aug 8 The Odyssey by Homer: 3/5 I think the Circe chunk of The Odyssey is one of the most poorly interpreted in all of literature.

Aug 9 The Life of Dr. Donne by Walton: 1/5 The worst biographies you'll ever read.

Aug 10 Reflections on The Revolution in France by Burke: 2/5 This feels like two incomplete selections squished together, but it's kind of interesting.

Aug 11 The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Crossley: 2/5 I still don't love that this is in the collection, but this selection had some good/interesting parts.

Average: 1.85 This week was a grind.

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

Back to the "a little ahead" schedule, and I'm liking it. I got this week's Star Wars post started, did some Odyssey, and am up a little for the main readings. It's a good fit, not a big rush, time to think, timely readings. But also a little buffer for busy days.

I'm far enough in the year to start seeing the last of some of the "bad" readings. BURNSSSSS is still with me, but I'm out of Walton's Lives at least. Really looking forward to not having to shove through them again. Not sure if I'm out of dialogues, but no more by Plato at least. I don't think I've ever seen a more asinine form of writing. "I'm going to set up an argument between someone who I've already decided is right, and someone I've decided is wrong. Then I'll convince the wrong person with the right person!" It's like winning a card game where you know what's in everyone else's hand. It's fine to address common disagreements to your point of view, but don't pretend you're having a real discussion and set up all this nonsense. Just say, "Some people think this. This is why that's wrong," and get on with it.

Aug 12– “A Courtin’” by James Russell Lowell (1864)

 Loving this old school visualizer

Aug 12– “A Courtin’” by James Russell Lowell (1864)

Summary: Lewis Caroll is less nonsensical than this.

Commentary: What is with Elliot and the phonetic/dialect poetry? Was it a thing at the time? Was it something he was just interested in?

Also, in "Froggy Went A Courtin'" why did he need a sword and pistol? Was he expecting to duel for her hand? Apparently it's sword and buckler in some versions.

Aug 11– The Golden Sayings of Epictetus translated and arranged by Hastings Crossley (1903)

 Is PewDiePie still cool? (Trick question, Epictetus wouldn't care.)

Aug 11– The Golden Sayings of Epictetus translated and arranged by Hastings Crossley (1903)

Summary: Questionable collection/translation of mostly good stoic stuff.

Commentary: Again, I don't really love (or even understand) how this wound up in T5FSOB. It's not a great translation, and it's not original. Eliot mostly focused on complete, original works for the collection, which makes sense. For some reason, this random collection of questionably compiled/translated sayings made it through. Instead of just whining, I'll highlight my favorite one for tonight:

CLXXIII

It stamps a man of mean capacity to spend much time on the things of the body, as to be long over bodily exercises, long over eating, long over drinking, long over other bodily functions. Rather should these things take the second place, while all your care is directed to the understanding.

I think this is a good way of talking about moderation. Often we just get, "Don't overdue X," or "Do only as my Y as your need."

Second place means you can still care about and enjoy them, just focus instead on your priorities.

Aug 10– "Reflections On The Revolution In France" by Edmund Burke (1790)

 I've probably used this before

Aug 10– Reflections On The Revolution In France by Edmund Burke (1790)

Summary: "I have strong opinions, but I cannot express them."

Commentary: I think it's fine to say that you believe in moderation, that you want to see the full effect of things before passing judgement, etc. The French Revolution being only around a year old when he wrote this. But to take page after page to say so is a bit much. The rest looks like background, preparing to compare the difference between England and France, but it cuts off in the middle of the line of reasoning in this selection.

Aug 9– From "The Life of Dr. Donne" by Izaak Walton (1670?)

 Written by Dr. Donne

Aug 9– From The Life of Dr. Donne by Izaak Walton (1670?)

Summary: The least interesting tale of forbidden love ever written. 

Commentary: I'm so glad this is the last one of these. Every single one has been boring, pointless, and uninformative. HE WROTE A PERFECTLY GOOD FISHING BOOK! (Although it appears to have a Socratic Dialogue in it for some reason...)

Aug 8– "The Odyssey" by Homer translated by S.H. Butcher and A. Lang

 One of the better ad campaigns Nintendo has done

Aug 8– The Odyssey by Homer translated by S.H. Butcher and A. Lang

Summary: Circe turns Odysseus's crew into pigs (they get better) and bangs him for A WHOLE YEAR!

Commentary: This has always struck me as one of the odder, and more pointless encounters in The Odyssey. Odysseus and co. land on an island. Some of the men go inland, find Circe, eat the food she offers, and get turned into pigs. A huge part of The Odyssey is hospitality to guests, so Circe using that against the men should be just as bad (or worse!) than Polyphemus. Instead of being inhospitable, she uses hospitality to harm her guests. Instead, she (depending on who you ask) is generally considered one of the less bad (or even sympathetic) obstacles in Odysseus's way.

Meanwhile our great hero of "many devices" pauses his journey (and only sort of looks after his men, some of which are guarding the ships) to sleep with her for a year. 

We're supposed to be cheering for this guy to get back to his wife, and he spends a whole year fucking a woman who wanted to turn his men into pig slaves! Even if we accept that he and Penelope are swingers or something, I don't think anyone would be okay with their missing spouse taking a year long hall pass without any contact.

It's even weirder since it's so similar to the earlier encounter with Calypso (where Odysseus at least generally makes it out like he's being held captive, instead of willing.) Is Homer just so into men being stuck on islands with hot demi-goddesses that he needed two different versions of the same story?

There's an interesting arc in the middle chunk of The Odyssey where Odysseus, after initially being introduced as this genius/awesome guy, seems to get dumber and douchier as time goes on. It doesn't really follow all the way through (he's mostly smart/good once he returns to Ithaca for the last third of the book) but it's interesting while it lasts. It'd be interesting if Penelope just told him to go back to see when he got home, or if he was going nuts or time or something.

Aug 7– "Phaedo" by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett

 I like when there are songs with the same title as the reading.

Aug 7– Phaedo by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett

Summary: OMG Socrates, you're so smart!

Commentary: Another dialogue, another contrived textual fellating of Socrates. It's really easy to convince people of things when they can't actually ask you questions (except ones obviously designed to make you look smart) and have to agree with everything you say.

Casually Completing Classics #3: The Odyssey Books 3 and 4

 Book 3

This book (like several others, and some scenes within books) starts with a sunrise. Usually it's described as having rosy fingertips or something like that. Telemachus goes to visit Nestor, who tells him about the war and returning and has a big feast for him (contrasting the greedy suitors who take advantage of Telemachus and Penelope.) We get the first (I think) appearance of a repeating line "Spare me no part for kindness' sake," as Telemachus asks for news. I think the contrast with the feast is the main point of this chapter, which is relatively short. Beyond that it's just Nestor sending Telemachus to Menelaus.

Book 4

This book has an even stronger contrast with the suitors:

You were no idiot before, Eteoneus,

But here you are talking like a child of ten.

Could we have made it home again-- and Zeus

give us no more hard roving!-- if other men

had never fed us, given us lodging?

You tell 'em, Menelaus. He tells Telemachus more about the war and journey, and Menelaus tells him that his hand and feet are like his father's. As someone with huge feet that he got from his dad, I can relate.

Helen talks about how Odysseus snuck into Troy, and that she recognized him, but didn't give him away. At one point, Menelaus tells about meeting some nereids who use sealskins as (very smelly) disguises. Kind of like a selkie. Always interesting to see parallels in mythology like that. He fought Proteus, who revealed that Odysseus is still alive! We find out he's been trapped with Kalypso for some time, partially explaining the ten years he's been missing.

Back on Ithaca, the suitors find out what Telemachus is doing, and make plans to trap and kill him.

If the first two books set up Telemachus and his quest, these two fill us in on the Trojan war background, and show how terrible the suitors are. Next week: Odysseus finally shows up!

 

 

 

Aug 6– “Locksley Hall” by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1842)

Off the shoulders of Orion...

Aug 6– “Locksley Hall” by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1842)

Summary: Sad rejection, pretty nature, and some (satirical?) sexism

Commentary: What a contrast with last night's disaster. I think I've identified one of the things that separates a "good" poem from a "bad" one, at least for me. (Besides sappy imagery, awkward forced rhymes, etc.) A good poem (much like good fiction) shows how someone struggles and aspires to something. The speaker "Locksley Hall" is in love (but rejected by) a woman, then goes and admirers nature for a while, and predicts a brighter future (though I'd prefer more of seeing him work towards that future and less just predicting.)

Aug 5–“Cotters’ Saturday Night” (1786) by Robert Burns

 Illustrated AND read aloud!

“Cotters’ Saturday Night” (1786) by Robert Burns

Summary: Buuurrrrrrnnnnnnsssss

Commentary: The timing on this one is weird. For my part, I just got done promising I'd not rush the readings this week, let them marinate, etc. And then I get a Burns poem. Usually I read the first half page or so of a Burns selection to make sure he still sucks, skim the rest, fill in the blog. I can only tolerate so much non-English/garbage poetry in one night. I soldiered through and read (and listened, since poems are usually better aloud) this one a little more closely. 

I wrote a whole paragraph about how Eliot should've picked this for a Saturday, before realizing that Saturdays shift (unless we go to a fixed calendar!) but he also could've put it in last week on its own publication date. He did note that today is Burns's anniversary. Had I not had a brain fart about the Saturday thing, I'd probably have accepted that as a good enough reason without thinking about the publication date part.

In terms of the actual reading, I still don't "get" Burns. Some of it, I assume, is the language issue. The "Scots dialect"/borderline EME is a pain to read. Even with "translation" it feels pretty straightforward in meaning (quiet country life and family good) and it doesn't have any particular lyricism, clever rhyme, imagery, etc. I feel like, if anything, it'd work better as a straight flash piece (or maybe prose poem) about the evening. I still don't know that it'd be good but I'm imaging it as kind of comfy. In his stronger moments:

But hark! a rap comes gently to the door;

Jenny, wha kens the meaning o the same;

Tells how a neebor lad came o'er the moor,

To do some errands, and convoy her hame.

The wily mother sees the conscious flame

Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek;

With heart-struck anxious care, inquires his name,

While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak;

Weel-pleas'd the mother hears, it's nae wild, worthless rake.

He's kind of cute. If it wasn't crammed into an awkward poem, you could get a nice paragraph about a girl bringing a boy home here. Burns would probably still be sloppy but, "A gentle rap comes to the door." would be a bit of an improvement. 

He's like the poetry version of Thomas Kincaid. Everything is pretty and blurry, without anything to think about.

It's got a reference to the famous mouse poem in "The miry beasts retreating frae the pleugh." I guess it's good at least that I learned enough about Burns to recognize his references to himself? 

I really tried on this one, but it's still bad.

Reflections on Week 31 (July 29-Aug 4)

      Link to readings

Looking back a whole week!

Quick review on this week's readings:

July 29 "Stonehenge" by Emerson: 1/5 Who wants to talk about real monuments when you can whine about museums and conspiracy theories?

July 30 “Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s Voyage To Newfoundland” by Haies: 2/5 I've read several of these colony founding pieces, and this was the most drawn out and boring.

July 31 Education of Woman by Defoe: 4/5 Has some good points about education that are still relevant today, but also obviously old fashioned in a way that might make them stand out a bit more..

Aug 1 The Institutes of the Christian Religion by Calvin:1/5 Proves that whiny lunatics haven't changed much in almost 500 years.

Aug 2 Poems by Drummond: 1/5 Generic bad poetry.

Aug 3 The Aeneid by Virgin: 3/5 Can't go wrong with the Trojan Horse

Aug 4 "The Ugly Duckling" by Andersen: 3/5 Long, but I can't fault Eliot for putting in the original version.

Average: 2.14 If this week was a pie, it'd be like 40% tasty pie and 60% gross and weird.

Overall Thoughts on The Project:

The best individual piece for the week is Defoe's. 

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the lustre of it will never appear.  And it is manifest that as the rational soul distinguishes us from brutes, so education carries on the distinction, and makes some less brutish than others.

This is some core Liberal Education stuff.  All people have potential, but education and learning to think is what makes you a good person. A few of his other essays look interesting, and I popped him on my read more list. But overall, I think this is one of the best quotes for distilling the whole idea of this project down to a paragraph or less.

Beyond that, last week's "do the whole week at once" experiment wasn't great. My comments are obviously light, and I feel like I didn't have enough time to let stuff marinate. While I could try to stay a week ahead and just rush less (do two or three a night vs four or five), there are some things I like about the more timely arrangement.

1. A lot of the readings are picked to align with a specific event. It's one thing to read the "Declaration of Independence" a couple days early on July 1st, but to push it out a full week loses some of the luster.

2. I like doing the Reflections "in real time." It's a nice way to start/end the week. Doing them too far ahead makes them less significant. Doing them on time (but well after I read the pieces) makes it harder to reflect.

Overall, I think I liked the project best when I was a couple days ahead (so I could miss a night if something happened), but not a full week. I'll try to get back to that point this week.

Aug 4– “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen (1843)

 As a ballet!

Aug 4– “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen (1843)

Summary: The duckling is a swan.

Commentary: A very long version of a story that is usually only a few hundred words.

Aug 3– From "The Aenied" by Virgil (19 BC) translated by John Dryden

Virgil was in this show. He's the bird.

Aug 3– From The Aenied by Virgil (19 BC) translated by John Dryden

Summary: The Greeks jump out of a wood horse and kill everyone because they're losing the war.

Commentary: We get one of the few direct accounts of the Trojan Horse (why is it the Trojan Horse? Shouldn't it be the Achaean Horse?) here. There's a few spots in T5FSOB where we get multiple versions of the same story (Faust comes to mind). It'd be cool to see them clustered a little more, as opposed to weeks or months apart when it's hard to compare them. It's interesting how little "first hand" information we have on the horse. It's not in The Iliad at all, and only briefly mentioned in The Odyssey. I think this passage is actually the longest description:

 

And armed hosts, an unexpected force,

Break from the bowels of the fatal horse.

Within the gates, proud Sinon throws about

The flames; and foes for entrance press without,

With thousand others, whom I fear to name,

More than from Argos or Mycenae came.

To sev’ral posts their parties they divide;

Some block the narrow streets, some scour the wide:

The bold they kill, th’ unwary they surprise;

Who fights finds death, and death finds him who flies.

The warders of the gate but scarce maintain

Th’ unequal combat, and resist in vain.’

[...]

And some, oppress’d with more ignoble fear,

Remount the hollow horse, and pant in secret there.

“But, ah! what use of valour can be made,

When heav’n’s propitious pow’rs refuse their aid!

Behold the royal prophetess, the fair

Cassandra, dragg’d by her dishevel’d hair,

Whom not Minerva’s shrine, nor sacred bands,

In safety could protect from sacrilegious hands:

It's  still not very much. A lot of mythology is really like that. You think there'd be a whole novel about Medusa, but she gets a line here, a paragraph there in a half dozen places.

Aug 2– Poems by William Drummond

One of the poems for today

Aug 2– Poems by William Drummond

Summary: Probably better than Burns. Barely.

Commentary: Cliché subjects, forced rhymes, blah blah blah. Generic bad poetry is generic.

Aug 1– Dedication to "The Institutes of the Christian Religion" by John Calvin (1559) translated by John Allen

 Text in various side by side translations

Aug 1– Dedication to The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin (1559) translated by John Allen

Summary: If people don't like my book, they're evil!

Commentary: This is some quality insane guy screaming without taking a breath. I would totally plug this into some sort of AI Alex Jones rant generator thing. There's no argument or reason here (even by the standards of Christian apologetics) it's just Calvin insulting anyone who disagrees with him, and saying they're evil.