tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37884909227926912152024-03-13T04:15:36.917-05:00Scribble BibbleFacile the descent to where no birds live;
Night and day the dark gates of the Unchanged;
But to recover the stair and ascend toward the sweet light,
This is the work, this the labor.
- Aeneid 6.124Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.comBlogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-91391913977237021642023-12-04T12:27:00.003-06:002023-12-04T12:32:47.354-06:00Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" - a failed art<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpIorWXaSOEe0m-KShKVFZaqKmiJLFGJJkSjDH_AAI6LQWwESwYRyA_oRB7cgoy1oOcs76H2FrBrtFEkSNMRTaDXdEL9DC06ONAFOmzSboxOtD8rQfcF5a55qPklSb1hyphenhyphenF22_Bw1VHYYfM9t_vkanJueM4ttEt5adABDBlh6Ppyt9FoMz7gGMxRH5hcSo/s650/P-SHHS-1F12316.jpg" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="406" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpIorWXaSOEe0m-KShKVFZaqKmiJLFGJJkSjDH_AAI6LQWwESwYRyA_oRB7cgoy1oOcs76H2FrBrtFEkSNMRTaDXdEL9DC06ONAFOmzSboxOtD8rQfcF5a55qPklSb1hyphenhyphenF22_Bw1VHYYfM9t_vkanJueM4ttEt5adABDBlh6Ppyt9FoMz7gGMxRH5hcSo/s320/P-SHHS-1F12316.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Just finished reading Shakespeare's "A Winter's
Tale." The more I thought about it the more I was displeased by
the play. Couldn't quite put my finger on why.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Listened to this podcast this morning and I think this is
what seemed wrong about the play.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Here is the full episode<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Jen3BVZuSPIXw0tgaz4RB?si=575074aa1c074b73">The Prancing Pony Podcast, episode 1</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Round about 35 minutes in they have a discussion about
Coleridge's "willful suspension of disbelief"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">This rather embodies my criticism of, what I think, is a
nodding of Shakespeare - a C-line play - a "B-side" or "rent
payment".<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUIImZbvlXF9cr1Q8ZI-M1GrLt6ELSOg1D6rXKwDQWxo-p1Sg3ZzDgAIB8h2dVOTK6Bf766WVnmkMGzLXRzBM029lBidN3KIVi2OchyphenhyphengVjNem_x-0reV36M07ILOPQ_tJANf7sNqvHquZ2vRx_3hTV7YBW74sEv8GS2RFUVZK20xfecjBQKofrS5lyCwo/s681/j-rr-tolkein.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="681" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUIImZbvlXF9cr1Q8ZI-M1GrLt6ELSOg1D6rXKwDQWxo-p1Sg3ZzDgAIB8h2dVOTK6Bf766WVnmkMGzLXRzBM029lBidN3KIVi2OchyphenhyphengVjNem_x-0reV36M07ILOPQ_tJANf7sNqvHquZ2vRx_3hTV7YBW74sEv8GS2RFUVZK20xfecjBQKofrS5lyCwo/s320/j-rr-tolkein.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In the podcast the hosts read from Tolkien's essay "On
Fairy Stories" where he addresses Coleridge's disbelief and disagrees with
it. Tolkien writes that a piece of artwork that allows disbelief to arise
very quickly falls apart:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“the moment disbelief arises the spell is broken, the magic…
or rather, art… has failed”</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Contrary to Coleridge Tolkien suggests that in art “we
are not suspending disbelief… we are engaging in a secondary world into which
the mind can enter.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">A secondary world, though, has to be a consistent world,
Tolkien notes</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“inside that world what we read is true to the laws of that
world”</i> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Without consistency within its own laws the artwork allows
disbelief in the audience to emerge and it is disbelief that permits
distraction, breaks the spell, and causes the world to fall apart.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vm7beWEkpa8" width="320" youtube-src-id="Vm7beWEkpa8"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">He goes on to say that in such falling apart we</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>...make excuses for why the art isn’t working for us; we
criticize it; we “try to find what virtue we can in an art which has in fact
failed”</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">But essentially such an allowance for disbelief is a "Fundamental
failure of subcreation".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Art that does not have consistency within itself is <b>failed
art.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYGapkhLKCZ5BPnczqbKQSoeVlsVuTz8yXlMbYPIA5Zo29jFfCqVJM_UFICgou6CIbduuLI55UiPfP-14ZDulHzjHILMAEymXzEvugRdUYj-Y8_gxDxsrdwTv9fW4UdpmdzA0GtvyWJQA7aE6ASMawtn9ND5AOU8pu7lqUZzlHWfXzA0mdVXxPiTsubXP/s1000/a89792d84b69e974616c9c65d8ccb4e0.1000x797x1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1000" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYGapkhLKCZ5BPnczqbKQSoeVlsVuTz8yXlMbYPIA5Zo29jFfCqVJM_UFICgou6CIbduuLI55UiPfP-14ZDulHzjHILMAEymXzEvugRdUYj-Y8_gxDxsrdwTv9fW4UdpmdzA0GtvyWJQA7aE6ASMawtn9ND5AOU8pu7lqUZzlHWfXzA0mdVXxPiTsubXP/s320/a89792d84b69e974616c9c65d8ccb4e0.1000x797x1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">So if, for instance, Shakespeare wanted to create a tragedy
- fine, stick to the rules: great man does stupid thing, people die, great man
falls from greatness and perhaps learns something. If for instance he
wanted to create comedy - fine, bad thing happens at beginning, but by grace,
providence, fortune or whatever things work out and lead to a climax of
reconciliation and joy. If he wanted even to mix the two elements - fine,
I guess, real tragedy at the beginning narrowly averted by sacrificial acts, or
by great generosity, or by epiphanic recognition on the part of the
protagonists could work. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgslLAI8Lg0CqG4IosAhBtCb3pWnM8Qwl4mUktx49f5oGHW2M5jhWUWURLAaUm2NN4HRAmehoBnd7rkQY2zewTMqMy2ZUw9-SPEoqp97-v7TaFvzmxtIDioxT73wHkjvR9e3kEr5IYpHVdVYuTknKC0apYGPHosOR8MwVltSuwodugC8kz6mTPFQ2AmLITS/s1280/09309-1531161000161.jpeg" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgslLAI8Lg0CqG4IosAhBtCb3pWnM8Qwl4mUktx49f5oGHW2M5jhWUWURLAaUm2NN4HRAmehoBnd7rkQY2zewTMqMy2ZUw9-SPEoqp97-v7TaFvzmxtIDioxT73wHkjvR9e3kEr5IYpHVdVYuTknKC0apYGPHosOR8MwVltSuwodugC8kz6mTPFQ2AmLITS/s320/09309-1531161000161.jpeg" width="320" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">But to have such abysmal calumny, violence, death right at
the beginning; a character (Leontes) who seems to go through a psychotic
or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia">schizophrenic </a>episode
(or perhaps porphyria); a woman who seems the paragon of virtue put to death
and/or exile for 16 years - that's some heavy stuff. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RA1icqyiBeK_qciWWrC1-tm9g9VPd_dMMXxWwzFM3PPjKZD0MtHZe53-wqb_VhkWgwCfE9drR7ZhEHQit6GTMu_rtYAUUf_kOTZZV3ZLCJsMVL-uiU8C3ktqpICtc8se57mUT-g9r2JrrXNy_HrOaK85xe0rqzpLxLcSAeGhztAa7K0kQsl0lswD6b-E/s2699/main.jpg" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1799" data-original-width="2699" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RA1icqyiBeK_qciWWrC1-tm9g9VPd_dMMXxWwzFM3PPjKZD0MtHZe53-wqb_VhkWgwCfE9drR7ZhEHQit6GTMu_rtYAUUf_kOTZZV3ZLCJsMVL-uiU8C3ktqpICtc8se57mUT-g9r2JrrXNy_HrOaK85xe0rqzpLxLcSAeGhztAa7K0kQsl0lswD6b-E/s320/main.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">To then throw in
funny shepherds, giggling maidens, a precipitous change of heart in the
protagonist, some romantic tension between the young, sixteen years of misery
and inaction as king for the main character, a bear of suspect intentions -
these stretch or break the realm of credulity, allow for comedy, questioning,
distractions, and disbelief. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">To wind up the mess with some narrated
rather than dramatized reconciliation and a Metropolis-like transformation from
robot to female - these are the signs of <b>failed art. </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VJVUQ5gHsZI" width="320" youtube-src-id="VJVUQ5gHsZI"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Either the main
character does something awful and the play is about his slow and arduous climb
out of the pit of his own making, OR the character does something that seems
bad but narrowly skirts the realm of disaster through chance, providence, or
general human stupidity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TqKnwL2oDMc" width="320" youtube-src-id="TqKnwL2oDMc"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">As it stands, though, I think The Winter's Tale falls into
Tolkien's category of "failed art" and I pronounce it
deadnamed. (exit pursued by a marmoset).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYj8y6VKwIG4DBBQ_uigJv5a35r8JpNwLE9_qjhrE5nokc9_edkOZVdwTKU3sgSm2Y7Y95cXD3Wh43EMvOFVPf7byIwvSeDSJ-6heqqUbpTrFDKqLAn6KNhxrHeC46JWLydVPFtkajxMX1QTGcT4Z6UnDH7ryBg7XfAFbfE-uxIE4csfn9N_D5moginkyi/s1200/william-shakespeare---the-life-of-the-bard.jpg" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYj8y6VKwIG4DBBQ_uigJv5a35r8JpNwLE9_qjhrE5nokc9_edkOZVdwTKU3sgSm2Y7Y95cXD3Wh43EMvOFVPf7byIwvSeDSJ-6heqqUbpTrFDKqLAn6KNhxrHeC46JWLydVPFtkajxMX1QTGcT4Z6UnDH7ryBg7XfAFbfE-uxIE4csfn9N_D5moginkyi/s320/william-shakespeare---the-life-of-the-bard.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CjWQZBmJf6M" width="320" youtube-src-id="CjWQZBmJf6M"></iframe></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LZZEqhuZKxg" width="320" youtube-src-id="LZZEqhuZKxg"></iframe></div><br /> </div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><br /><p></p>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-12259241922895298752023-06-08T10:12:00.016-05:002023-06-08T11:41:27.443-05:00Now our charms are all o'erthrown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92WX-jg7cTN1opxTKl__8K2ca7Kxy1nXWCNewhK_S_gL4aN0pqDEoqULRVdNESeW0ifasHNE-Hblh4O7kFoo2VAtGhdWOM5WbClbNg80dvT03fmuXF60pmFqxifH4OM0iUCmrHtE3pkCqeb65OE_4qS2sAjYv5hx5OnUWjHK3APUpAjt_vsIQsGj7uA/s900/06acc0d310c993c724468ebc576041dc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="900" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92WX-jg7cTN1opxTKl__8K2ca7Kxy1nXWCNewhK_S_gL4aN0pqDEoqULRVdNESeW0ifasHNE-Hblh4O7kFoo2VAtGhdWOM5WbClbNg80dvT03fmuXF60pmFqxifH4OM0iUCmrHtE3pkCqeb65OE_4qS2sAjYv5hx5OnUWjHK3APUpAjt_vsIQsGj7uA/w439-h186/06acc0d310c993c724468ebc576041dc.jpg" width="439" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/avalonmentors/embed/episodes/Now-our-charms-are-all-overthrown-e25ev8b" width="400px"></iframe></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://anthonyesolen.substack.com/p/now-my-charms-are-all-oerthrown-1cc?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#details">Anthony Esolen posited </a><span><a href="https://anthonyesolen.substack.com/p/now-my-charms-are-all-oerthrown-1cc?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#details">an interesting observation of William Shakespeare as Prospero</a> in the play <a href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.html">"The Tempest"</a>. No doubt that's as it was. But there is a sense in that last speech of Prospero's of being trapped inside the art - almost as though the artist was trying to shift himself and the audience to think of the world through a lens other than the entertaining lens of art he himself had forged. At the beginning he claims </span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span><a name="5.1.364" style="background-color: black;">Now my charms are all o'erthrown</a></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: #cccccc;">The magic he had come to rely upon has been defeated; by what? by love? by the next generation that he had to give way to? B/c of his reliance on magic Prospero finds himself weak and a bit defenseless</span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And what strength I have's mine own,</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Which is most faint. </span></pre></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mb6dl1V056Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="mb6dl1V056Q"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But that's the human condition ain't it? To learn to give up the powers (art, speech, knowledge, sports, business, law) that give us control over the universe and accept that we are, in fact, rather helpless little creatures in need of salvation. That's a tough row to hoe. Who is the "you" he addresses after this revelation? The audience? How does the audience "confine" Prospero to the island? Perhaps by wanting more of the good old drama sauce! Wanting to see him (Shakespeare) not as a human in need of help but as the dramatist, the playwright, the funny guy, the wit, the magician. It's like Prospero is replaying the scene of Mercutio's death (another wit from an earlier time) but this time trying to escape the death on the stage rather than be condemned b/c no one takes him seriously and goes to "fetch a surgeon". A fate worse than death - to die on the stage being thought of as "only an actor" or "only a playwright" or "only a teacher" or "only a lawyer" or whatever. Or else to be sent to Naples (equally harsh).</span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Then Prospero begs the audience to release him. The audience! Think of that! The power we have to release another human being from the confines of our own perception of him/her - even if it is a perception that he created. That's mercy right there and Prospero pleads for it.</span> </span></pre></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Let me not,</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Since I have my dukedom got</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And pardoned the deceiver, dwell</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In this bare island by your spell...</span></pre></div></blockquote><p><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeA1Yct_VAbKYF-BFaaQSAWIeQiqM_XuMYhYr5yzTXrm1WwwNz7VEmnq8AHOGT_sTGdVJvi5RfU1_QElcAuR2gKGeBQDcNoC_QasBVSuqtNa890osEHm0-5bdbEFg4AauFv5Qe74Occ9Qmmn24-vMVadnadfpL8lLQ4D5NbKKE4_oNendKI5J2DZ6vZw/s292/th.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="292" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeA1Yct_VAbKYF-BFaaQSAWIeQiqM_XuMYhYr5yzTXrm1WwwNz7VEmnq8AHOGT_sTGdVJvi5RfU1_QElcAuR2gKGeBQDcNoC_QasBVSuqtNa890osEHm0-5bdbEFg4AauFv5Qe74Occ9Qmmn24-vMVadnadfpL8lLQ4D5NbKKE4_oNendKI5J2DZ6vZw/s1600/th.jpg" width="292" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The audience, the crowd, society, et alia has a magic itself that casts a "spell" over the individual; traps them; pigeon-holes them; formulates them and leaves them "sprawling on a pin" (T.S.Eliot) and that spell has to be broken lest the individual be broken by it. I myself have this problem with great artists like Plato, Bach, Van Eyck, JRR Tolkien - it is difficult to stop thinking of them as "that great and godlike artist" and to think of them as just another man, full of man-doubt and dealing with man-troubles and responding to other idiots in the world;</span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1-Uz0LMbWpI" width="320" youtube-src-id="1-Uz0LMbWpI"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Prospero has done everything to try and be good, married off his daughter, regained his dukedom, pardoned those who wronged him - but he has also done everything to try and please the audience. Are you not entertained?</span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAeqjnAkONsPRJ8Q8e9ii6-z0spw_ixLXZAKemt_3ML4b2PIiFnkHdIJZc4raSPrEu1_ExTgPRsDvKT40cLUjafKoL-YStck0OJXuxkkZ1Jsjxdd2Zz8Jc-_mmIjC1jOv-_TFGbFMGiZobGv2tRSXqG__Wp6oKkKGz4baVuIPM-Zbe_bN0-jXSWOsZtQ/s244/gladiator.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="244" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAeqjnAkONsPRJ8Q8e9ii6-z0spw_ixLXZAKemt_3ML4b2PIiFnkHdIJZc4raSPrEu1_ExTgPRsDvKT40cLUjafKoL-YStck0OJXuxkkZ1Jsjxdd2Zz8Jc-_mmIjC1jOv-_TFGbFMGiZobGv2tRSXqG__Wp6oKkKGz4baVuIPM-Zbe_bN0-jXSWOsZtQ/s1600/gladiator.jpg" width="244" /></span></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div></pre></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And he finds himself bound by the very magical spells he cast in order to please others and accomplish his goals. Character, to paraphrase Heraclitus, can be a kind of fate - one which leaves us at the mercy of other people to release us from our own image and give us the freedom to simply be mortal.</span></pre></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="gmail_default" style="color: black; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">.. release me from my bands</span></pre></div></span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="gmail_default" style="color: black; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">With the help of your good hands.</span></pre></div></span></pre></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P17Mphdiugw" width="320" youtube-src-id="P17Mphdiugw"></iframe> </span></p><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The spell can be broken if we would only clap for him and signal an end to the play and approval of what he has offered (rather than boos, catcalls, or *gasp* silence) b/c the artist seeks to please - craves the approval of others - wants them to affirm that his mudpies are more than mudpies, as my dad used to say. And after years of being the genius, witty, humorous wizard that he was, even my dad had to be told, "it's okay, dad. You've done what you need to do. You can let go now." And he did. And our gentle breath filled the sail of his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_barque">Mandjet </a>into the next world.</span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></pre></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Gentle breath of yours my sails</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Must fill, or else my project fails,</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Which was to please. </span></pre></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"Look you<span> now, he's out of his guard already; unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged," as Malvolio says in Twelfth Night. But it's never enough. (see the Alec Guiness movie, "The Horse's Mouth")</span></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i55hEHRPqnQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="i55hEHRPqnQ"></iframe></div><span><br /></span></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>The art never captures the bright spirit; a spirit which, like Ariel, must actually be freed in the end. And even though the artist desires to enforce his will & enchant others and craves spirits & art to do so he has to seek another way to live or be damned.</span></span></pre></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now I want</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And my ending is despair</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Unless I be relieved by prayer...</span></pre></div></blockquote><p><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5xbodabOH17fUxMiX1Lxvysh_ya2Nw81t2VxzgkW8YVjVG0ENCKXz2T_uTdLy2o1qUGPsOAMRzOWaYm3wFinSQaUknvgp4Rpdsu6EEQtIZc8t1n16mIUxh_64WnzE7f2QFwxmSNXy5vwSH7tufC1eSABxZUTJwvv2oN-m4t8B3R4lylu4521nNP5aKw/s1823/the-tempest_-2006_manuel-harlan_115062.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1823" data-original-width="1213" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5xbodabOH17fUxMiX1Lxvysh_ya2Nw81t2VxzgkW8YVjVG0ENCKXz2T_uTdLy2o1qUGPsOAMRzOWaYm3wFinSQaUknvgp4Rpdsu6EEQtIZc8t1n16mIUxh_64WnzE7f2QFwxmSNXy5vwSH7tufC1eSABxZUTJwvv2oN-m4t8B3R4lylu4521nNP5aKw/s320/the-tempest_-2006_manuel-harlan_115062.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Similarly Galadriel, tempted by the ring, recognizes that her heart has long desired this thing - but then she chooses to be a nobody and fade into the West and remain herself. But Shakespeare acknowledges that he cannot do it alone. Not only does he need to be released from always playing the fool (or Wizard, or Prince) but he needs the audience to do more; to assault heaven for him and pray for his salvation as a man, not just as an artist.</span></pre></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Which pardons so that it assaults</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mercy itself and frees all faults.</span></pre></div></blockquote><p><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuj7Ga0gRiTiYX8SCUAnmhMgvq6rE4kClm29bM1Y1UewftjXF9RNehVg44tSCaNGKIJx_Th0ZBwfl4ZXhz6ptJCF_3kX8sW26g5vajYac4HYaE4KaOp3-vvNpaKp76KGsg0uRggNpImJtIuZgCrWOrm89YS3IOWbA6T5ETX0UcQwQ3ziieiJvEAdQdw/s788/bcaf80bce6c0cb0f739db268eaae1dad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="525" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuj7Ga0gRiTiYX8SCUAnmhMgvq6rE4kClm29bM1Y1UewftjXF9RNehVg44tSCaNGKIJx_Th0ZBwfl4ZXhz6ptJCF_3kX8sW26g5vajYac4HYaE4KaOp3-vvNpaKp76KGsg0uRggNpImJtIuZgCrWOrm89YS3IOWbA6T5ETX0UcQwQ3ziieiJvEAdQdw/s320/bcaf80bce6c0cb0f739db268eaae1dad.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><p><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Ultimately if the audience would be pardoned for crimes, so too would the artist; so too would we all - the crime of making a persona so powerful and so popular that we, like Robin Williams or Mercutio, cannot escape from it w/o the help and forgiveness of others. </span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KFNTAsC8qQ0" width="320" youtube-src-id="KFNTAsC8qQ0"></iframe></span></div><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Ultimately everything will fade away:</span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><a name="4.1.169">(Everything) shall dissolve</a><br /><a name="4.1.170">And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,</a></span><br /></span></span><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a name="4.1.171" style="background-color: black; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></a><a name="4.1.171">Leave not a rack behind. </a>We are such stuff</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a name="4.1.172" style="background-color: black; white-space-collapse: collapse;">As dreams are made on, and our little life</a></span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><a name="4.1.173" style="white-space-collapse: collapse;">Is rounded with a sleep.</a></span> </span></span></pre></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Ultimately magic (or art) cannot stop this fading, this long defeat, from happening. Ultimately, it is not the way to salvation - though it can craft some beautiful gardens and pathways in that direction. Ultimately, Love alone and forgiveness born of love are the final and only <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm">indulgences </a>we must choose to release others and release ourselves from the spell of this world, and face what dreams may come in that great rounding sleep.</span></pre><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></pre></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As you from crimes would pardoned be,</span></pre></div><div class="gmail_default"><pre style="line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-wrap: wrap;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Let your indulgence set me free.</span></pre></div></blockquote><p><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTMkwOHp2jr5x8iANVtDq0I55HkBT6UQ5-4ozfjDtlA38g246O1ONqWPEVpivkKwApfON8Et32z3WUGlCca1GqNxwht3BbwQGEdWlbw7LA4a5Tf98nxOG2cXs8t61i47stf3J-YEHzVnkjZsggyIeUNWpa6C0Xoojt8PBwrKprMUbZUYEMn5vyCQPVg/s1200/NY_YAG_YORAG_540-001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="789" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTMkwOHp2jr5x8iANVtDq0I55HkBT6UQ5-4ozfjDtlA38g246O1ONqWPEVpivkKwApfON8Et32z3WUGlCca1GqNxwht3BbwQGEdWlbw7LA4a5Tf98nxOG2cXs8t61i47stf3J-YEHzVnkjZsggyIeUNWpa6C0Xoojt8PBwrKprMUbZUYEMn5vyCQPVg/s320/NY_YAG_YORAG_540-001.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><p style="background-color: black; line-height: 19.5pt; margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-wrap: wrap;">Now my charms are all o'erthrown,<br />And what strength I have's mine own,<br />Which is most faint. Now 'tis true<br />I must be here confined by you,<br />Or sent to Naples. Let me not,<br />Since I have my dukedom got<br />And pardoned the deceiver, dwell<br />In this bare island by your spell;<br />But release me from my bands<br />With the help of your good hands.<br />Gentle breath of yours my sails<br />Must fill, or else my project fails,<br />Which was to please. Now I want<br />Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,<br />And my ending is despair<br />Unless I be relieved by prayer,<br />Which pardons so that it assaults<br />Mercy itself and frees all faults.<br />As you from crimes would pardoned be,<br />Let your indulgence set me free.</p></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QRGwBARpPD0" width="320" youtube-src-id="QRGwBARpPD0"></iframe></div><br /><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And for good measure (for measure) here is a bit by John Dowland sung by counter-tenor Andreas Scholl. The tune would have been contemporaneous with ol' Billy S and the playwright most likely had musical numbers in his play similar to this diddy: (oh, and if you are opposed to men singing like girls this won't be the thing for you)</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ezh1dxnwMWQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="ezh1dxnwMWQ"></iframe></div><div class="gmail_default"><br /></div>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-59878665415165307192023-06-06T12:55:00.009-05:002023-06-06T13:43:11.603-05:00Romeo & Juliet & Larry & Paolo & Francesca & Gianciotto<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyZiDnG99JITaJn1_Jjetx6xiGBfoYQZJqmq83NZGl5-xulyB6G5LYhPIO20_lyIwD-Xj9KFDlgzVjAqJrXiK1VujW7_Lrok8Rw3TlGY6vKDZZW6iEG_cxszXjQbIKqb2wYZ8Jtf-6L00waxGCWLHDJgQpdDZtvTfLrypBpXLNLRmniIuG8jUTVgMvSQ/s2048/ac223072e25c1a6a72adfd0a061d9473.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyZiDnG99JITaJn1_Jjetx6xiGBfoYQZJqmq83NZGl5-xulyB6G5LYhPIO20_lyIwD-Xj9KFDlgzVjAqJrXiK1VujW7_Lrok8Rw3TlGY6vKDZZW6iEG_cxszXjQbIKqb2wYZ8Jtf-6L00waxGCWLHDJgQpdDZtvTfLrypBpXLNLRmniIuG8jUTVgMvSQ/s320/ac223072e25c1a6a72adfd0a061d9473.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I came across two terms the other day that were very interesting to the discussion of <a href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html">Romeo & Juliet</a>.</span></p><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Free indirect speech</span> </span></b><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>A </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_style" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Writing style">style</a><span> of </span><a class="gmail-mw-redirect" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_narrative" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Third-person narrative">third-person narration</a><span> which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_person" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Grammatical person">first-person</a><span> direct speech; it is also referred to as </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">free indirect discourse</span><span>, </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">free indirect style</span><span>, or, in </span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="French language">French</a><span>, </span><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">discours indirect libre</span></i><span>.</span></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_indirect_speech#:~:text=Free%20indirect%20speech%20is%20a,in%20French%2C%20discours%20indirect%20libre">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_indirect_speech#:~:text=Free%20indirect%20speech%20is%20a,in%20French%2C%20discours%20indirect%20libre</a></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This one I heard about in a podcast on Jane Austen (for dudes) which can be found here:</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-manliness/id332516054?i=1000599401289">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-manliness/id332516054?i=1000599401289</a><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This one my daughter clued me into as a term used throughout the internet by the youngsters:</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><h1 class="gmail-flex-1" style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex: 1 1 0%; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px;"><a class="gmail-word gmail-text-denim gmail-font-bold gmail-font-serif gmail-dark:text-fluorescent gmail-break-all gmail-text-3xl gmail-md:text-[2.75rem] gmail-md:leading-10" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flanderization" id="gmail-7460753" style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: 2.5rem; text-decoration: inherit; word-break: break-all;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Flanderization</span></a></h1></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The process by which a single <a class="gmail-autolink" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trait" style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: inherit; text-decoration-style: inherit; text-decoration-thickness: inherit;">trait</a> from a character is overstated and brandished <a class="gmail-autolink" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=to%20the%20point%20that" style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: inherit; text-decoration-style: inherit; text-decoration-thickness: inherit;">to the point that</a> it becomes the <a class="gmail-autolink" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=character%27s" style="border-color: rgb(229, 231, 235); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: inherit; text-decoration-style: inherit; text-decoration-thickness: inherit;">character's</a> only trait. Flanderization is almost always for the worst and tends to draw viewers away from the the medium that the character represents.</span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flanderization">https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flanderization</a><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Thinking of our discussion the other night I thought, <i>"Is it possible that Shakespeare himself was exercising an early form of free indirect speech?" </i> He doesn't have a narrator (obviously) but he has a chorus - one which frames our thinking about the play twice. The chorus tells us that the two households are "alike in dignity" (leading us to believe that they are dignified and not a bunch of thugs and hotheads); chorus tells us that there is an uncleanness due to an "ancient grudge" (very classical tragedy-like); chorus introduces the oxymoron "fatal loins"; and chorus suggests that the love btwn the two youths is "star-crossed" - meaning fated for death from the beginning - but also suggesting that it ain't their fault! It has nothing to do with their character or their choices. Just la merda succede, I guess. Chorus also suggests that the "death-mark'd love" and the "children's end" heal the division btwn the two houses and removes their parents "continuance (of) rage".<br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1rTBkX1AYJ7gMzawA25-gWGxvfVKAJBCG9MBidSPCjILb7rdLKkrEeMYwrUb5sllbNN9rQ7GpB0a_hGoKM_gaACSZ2FgWL_b6tF3zFoCsQyTRnq1fTCl85f00od91ClvlDZf1uQ-Cb89IawriuEa77DoaSwOUJ_TMASz07kx5WgA7OZpXcQBVhOWog/s870/eleanor-fortescue-brickdale-1871-1945-romeo-and-juliet-celestial-images.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="870" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1rTBkX1AYJ7gMzawA25-gWGxvfVKAJBCG9MBidSPCjILb7rdLKkrEeMYwrUb5sllbNN9rQ7GpB0a_hGoKM_gaACSZ2FgWL_b6tF3zFoCsQyTRnq1fTCl85f00od91ClvlDZf1uQ-Cb89IawriuEa77DoaSwOUJ_TMASz07kx5WgA7OZpXcQBVhOWog/s320/eleanor-fortescue-brickdale-1871-1945-romeo-and-juliet-celestial-images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But does it? If the setting is medieval Italy so beset with civil strife that Dante called it </span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Ah slavish Italy! thou inn of grief,</span></b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Vessel without a pilot in loud storm,</span></b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Lady no longer of fair provinces,</span></b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But brothel-house impure!</span></b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- Purg VI</span></b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">and Machiavelli wrote that Italy was</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 16px;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><b><i><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">... without head, without order, beaten, despoiled, torn, overrun; and to have endured every kind of desolation...</span><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"> left as without life, waits for him who shall yet heal her wounds and put an end to the ravaging and plundering of Lombardy, to the swindling and taxing of the kingdom and of Tuscany, and cleanse those sores that for long have festered. </span></span></i></b></div><div class="gmail_default"><b><i><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- Prince XXVI</span></span></i></b></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And if the character of the two heads of families proved itself to be incapable of change, would they have ceased from their constant disputes and rivalries? The historical fact of the matter is that most of the disputes in wartorn medieval Italy were ancient clan strifes that lined up behind the two factions of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guelphs_and_Ghibellines">Guelphs and Ghibellines.</a> </span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span><i><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The year 1198 saw the beginning of two such political parties–the Guelphs and Ghibellines. (The Montecchis were Ghibellines; the Capuletis were Guelphs.)</span></i></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span><i><span>- </span></i></span><span><a href="https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-montaperti-13th-century-violence-on-the-italian-hill-of-death/">https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-montaperti-13th-century-violence-on-the-italian-hill-of-death/</a></span></span></div><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Perhaps the Capulets and Montagues are no different possessing an "ancient strife" that now finds its form in support of the Pope vs. the HRE (Holy Roman Emperor); the spiritual power vs. the secular; realists vs. nominalists. IDK - but it seems unlikely such strife will cease b/c of two bratty kids offing themselves.</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvo5QYWqs9D3Ufut0xEsEqJGb5FaMLaPNPT6tWH-6eloUGcCBK1zjO86kXYT1-78yTAmM6gsdPNiyWs-chf8rNObwMV8N4a-f16zmu4I9PRiDdToZjXmD9HZD6t3aZVhZXvb6RS32CgbHcreaTg5GSd8EePO_-ww8TZxwgPSF9T6fIlh7UQMD93OxHug/s396/Medieval%20Italy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="384" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvo5QYWqs9D3Ufut0xEsEqJGb5FaMLaPNPT6tWH-6eloUGcCBK1zjO86kXYT1-78yTAmM6gsdPNiyWs-chf8rNObwMV8N4a-f16zmu4I9PRiDdToZjXmD9HZD6t3aZVhZXvb6RS32CgbHcreaTg5GSd8EePO_-ww8TZxwgPSF9T6fIlh7UQMD93OxHug/s320/Medieval%20Italy.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span><i><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For Florence and her allies, the Battle of Montaperti turned into a disaster. The Guelphs began to flee, and the Ghibellines, made crazy by their success, killed without restraint, including enemies who were ready to surrender. The Arbia Creek became red with Florentine blood. When night fell, 10,000 men lay dead in the field and 4,000 were missing.</span></i></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span><i><span>- </span></i></span><span><a href="https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-montaperti-13th-century-violence-on-the-italian-hill-of-death/">https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-montaperti-13th-century-violence-on-the-italian-hill-of-death/</a></span><span><i><span><br /></span></i></span></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">But back to my theme. The second time chorus shows up is in the prologue to act II (why not the other acts, I wonder?). Here chorus leads us to believe that "old desire" (for strife et alia) is in its death-bed and that "young affection" (so sweet) longs to inherit the rule; love trumps hate, amirite? But hold on! Chorus tells us that the beauty which seemed so sweet before, causing groaning and "I would die for her" is now not being just to poor Sappio. Sure, he loves again and has love requited (which is a nice way of saying he got the girl) but he is "bewitched by the charm of looks" and if she were to "steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks" he would have to complain to his foes. Bummer. Both of them are forced to remain secretive by the cultural strife btwn their families - as they should have accounted before they got hitched. But it's okay b/c "</span><a name="13">passion lends them power, time means" to confront their harsh problems with real sweetness. Flowers in gun muzzles and all that. </a></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><a name="13"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a name="13"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpLju0lJYHRKb3xT1T293p9n0pvyC1P30RZErv_q1SlpTlEaY1fGXBbd1v4iS4KOCQt7GgryGzmPC3NGGPXQJrJA-W16Lq44hpY8PmJdMKh-OQA91MEW8g5hlGTxsEi-6EDDh5MLGDVCunVkl6rOI5kiM27DlZMfG1PUnRBhcIgOqogOiUuboUmj69w/s600/guns-and-flowers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpLju0lJYHRKb3xT1T293p9n0pvyC1P30RZErv_q1SlpTlEaY1fGXBbd1v4iS4KOCQt7GgryGzmPC3NGGPXQJrJA-W16Lq44hpY8PmJdMKh-OQA91MEW8g5hlGTxsEi-6EDDh5MLGDVCunVkl6rOI5kiM27DlZMfG1PUnRBhcIgOqogOiUuboUmj69w/s320/guns-and-flowers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><a name="13"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">My point is that the chorus here is not letting us make our own judgment of what is happening, but is controlling or influencing our read of the plot and characters. They are "sweet" and "passionate" and full of "love" and "affection". How nice. Who would second guess the motives of such darling lovers.</span></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><a name="13"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><a name="13"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Which leads to the second term, <b>Flanderization</b>. Chorus, it would seem, leads us to read the action of the play in such a way that we don't fully question the motives or the alternative possibilities to the characters; b/c we think Chorus is trustworthy, therefore the characters must be one-dimensional as he (or she) says. We are encouraged to Flanderize Romeo & Juliet (and Friar Larry; and even the parents). Romeo is an attractive overly romantic fella - who could blame him? Juliet is a tender hearted little waif caught in a violent time - who wouldn't take her part? Lawrence is trying to make peace; as a good cleric should do. Mom and dad Capulet are aloof and cruel; mom & dad Montague are absent. No further motive is necessary.</span></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><a name="13"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a name="13"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PgSv2Ma1BFj0F5hRqAbT_CdHjRAEo4lsIUXfaYxOqY5FhfkC8AD5vR65LPaHTwKWahG-YhWS7Vz7UmmoH6lwClDvvr-g1SJfeKY-nZMyKxzDUA0RXnXo9ziVNyvKiDdopjQ_uqhMxPQ9A0X_S2DdtJn1AO4ijQYfaAv6oqjAL_SnMODPUNF6Fy-JHQ/s800/Francesco_Hayez_053.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="556" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PgSv2Ma1BFj0F5hRqAbT_CdHjRAEo4lsIUXfaYxOqY5FhfkC8AD5vR65LPaHTwKWahG-YhWS7Vz7UmmoH6lwClDvvr-g1SJfeKY-nZMyKxzDUA0RXnXo9ziVNyvKiDdopjQ_uqhMxPQ9A0X_S2DdtJn1AO4ijQYfaAv6oqjAL_SnMODPUNF6Fy-JHQ/s320/Francesco_Hayez_053.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It is this read which seems to have appealed to the Romantics who praised Romeo & Juliet and equally praised the characters of <a href="https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-5/">Paolo & Francesca when Dante's works</a> re-emerged in the 19th century:</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><a name="13"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><a name="13"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dante placed Paolo and Francesca in hell because they allowed the power of their passions, their most animal-like quality, to overcome their rationality, the thing that made them human. For the Romantics, however, subsuming reason to the passions was the goal of a life well lived. Paolo and Francesca deserved paradise...</span></a></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a name="13"><span>- </span></a><span><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/before-romeo-and-juliet-dante-immortalized-paolo-and-francesca-as-literatures-star-crossed-lovers-180978911/">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/before-romeo-and-juliet-dante-immortalized-paolo-and-francesca-as-literatures-star-crossed-lovers-180978911/</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Perhaps a confirmation of this complexity of character (an anti-Flanderization, if you will) could be in the connection to Dante's characters, Paolo & Francesca:</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Although no version of Francesca's story is known to exist before Dante, Giovanni Boccaccio--a generation or two after Dante--provides a "historical" account of the events behind Francesca's presentation that would not be out of place among the sensational novellas of his prose masterpiece, The Decameron. Even if there is more fiction than fact in Boccaccio's account, it certainly helps explain Dante-character's emotional response to Francesca's story by presenting her in a sympathetic light. Francesca, according to Boccaccio, was blatantly tricked into marrying Gianciotto, who was disfigured and uncouth, when the handsome and elegant Paolo was sent in his brother's place to settle the nuptial contract. Angered at finding herself wed the following day to Gianciotto, Francesca made no attempt to restrain her affections for Paolo and the two in fact soon became lovers. Informed of this liaison, Gianciotto one day caught them together in Francesca's bedroom (unaware that Paolo got stuck in his attempt to escape down a ladder, she let Gianciotto in the room); when Gianciotto lunged at Paolo with a sword, Francesca stepped between the two men and was killed instead, much to the dismay of her husband, who then promptly finished off Paolo as well.</i></span></div></div><div class="gmail_default"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- <a href="https://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/circle2.html">https://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/circle2.html</a></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKwBOxXnPuPGRIcAeuVSJEiaGGt2nemGRv2wFOwHUUpIv3Ve6Liq2IGph8wzNKW1yvNOVh5JoB9D3dauq4sqVFGfCW4_rmPeAP-WPN-kngB2dPs8dBLQ1bJBm-1XS_XArPbBAuQaOlNDg5uC_OYh5xPOuHP-1ODXGhhsYlGjkuLY_5Nl3-m8v3dOHSg/s1000/ary_scheffer_-_francesca_da_rimini_en_paolo_malatesta_aanschouwd_door_dante_en_vergilius_1854.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKwBOxXnPuPGRIcAeuVSJEiaGGt2nemGRv2wFOwHUUpIv3Ve6Liq2IGph8wzNKW1yvNOVh5JoB9D3dauq4sqVFGfCW4_rmPeAP-WPN-kngB2dPs8dBLQ1bJBm-1XS_XArPbBAuQaOlNDg5uC_OYh5xPOuHP-1ODXGhhsYlGjkuLY_5Nl3-m8v3dOHSg/s320/ary_scheffer_-_francesca_da_rimini_en_paolo_malatesta_aanschouwd_door_dante_en_vergilius_1854.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>I suggest, however, that humans are more complicated than the Romantics thought; our motives and passions and reasons for doing things are sometimes hidden even from ourselves; thinking we know what is best in the face of convention, learning, and religious teaching enmirks an already mirky situation. And I think Shakespeare knew this and embodied it in his play. </span><span>What were Francesca's reasons for starting an affair with the good-looking cousin? Anger at being tricked into marrying the hunchback? Spite against her family (and his) for the trick? An attempt to seize control of her situation in the only way she knew how? This seems eerily similar to possible motives of Juliet that supersede the Flanderized "true love" motive.</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It is unclear whether Shakespeare read Dante (the Italian's works were not translated into English until the Romantic era) but he probably had some familiarity with them from other sources, the traffic btwn Italy and England being what it was:</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><span>...it seems likely that Shakespeare would have been surrounded by people who were versed in Italian literature and language, due to its popularity. And he'd have been talking to them to get the necessary details for the Italian settings of his plays. Dante's work was certainly known in 17th century England so it seems inconceivable that Shakespeare would not have heard about them, likely in detail, at least in second hand. The limited parallels drawn between </span><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Inferno</em><span> and </span><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Much Ado About Nothing</em><span> in the referenced question and answer require no more than limited knowledge of the </span><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Inferno</em><span>.</span></b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- <a href="https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/13989/how-might-shakespeare-have-become-familiar-with-dantes-work#:~:text=However%2C%20we%20have%20no%20evidence%20that%20Shakespeare%20read,Dante%27s%20works%20by%20other%20means%20than%20reading%20them.">https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/13989/how-might-shakespeare-have-become-familiar-with-dantes-work#:~:text=However%2C%20we%20have%20no%20evidence%20that%20Shakespeare%20read,Dante%27s%20works%20by%20other%20means%20than%20reading%20them.</a></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGjwr47RrtSMd0qt0sxAXcwJd6YgYHzxDOMOvc5Bz0KK1tKzJ6T5k4fYKTIf9gZ7oY7LFvdL1nKqI9ETOSRuE8QzQQQ_sgGPgkbGCr1uVz-hbpgaok2U96O5fBNkF_YB8QwNypA_b4yOekSLQB_6dXDz2HAqmDGSVwHgmT9UM7_3Eqii6yqZ1YE8u4w/s1072/blake_dante_hell_v.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1072" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGjwr47RrtSMd0qt0sxAXcwJd6YgYHzxDOMOvc5Bz0KK1tKzJ6T5k4fYKTIf9gZ7oY7LFvdL1nKqI9ETOSRuE8QzQQQ_sgGPgkbGCr1uVz-hbpgaok2U96O5fBNkF_YB8QwNypA_b4yOekSLQB_6dXDz2HAqmDGSVwHgmT9UM7_3Eqii6yqZ1YE8u4w/s320/blake_dante_hell_v.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It seems likely that the English Bard was reflecting on the same damning thing that got Francesca and Paolo into the second circle of hell; namely the mortal sin of lust. The Saint Augustine Prayer Book has this interesting entry in the section on examination of conscience:</span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Lust is the misuse of sex for personal gratification, debasing it from the holy purpose for which God has given it to us.</i></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Then in the various forms of lust are listed:</span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Unchastity </b>(obviously)</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Immodesty </b>(obviously)</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Prudery </b>(not so much obviously but still, fairly obvious)</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Cruelty</b>. Deliberate infliction of pain, mental or physical. Tormenting of animals. (say what?)</span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In this sense lust and violence are closely united; Venus and Mars are lovers. The manifestation of unbridled lust may differ in the sexes or btwn individuals but it primarily stems from hubristic focus on one's own desire to dominate the world like a god:</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Lust has as its focus gratifying oneself, and it often leads to toxic actions to fulfill one’s desires with no consideration to the consequences. Lust springs forth from selfishness and greed.</b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- <a href="https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/what-is-lust-why-is-it-a-sin-bible-meaning.html">https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/what-is-lust-why-is-it-a-sin-bible-meaning.html</a></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>According to<a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/lust/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;" target="_blank"> Baker's Biblical Dictionary</a>, Lust is "a strong craving or desire, often of a sexual nature. Though used relatively infrequently (twenty-nine times) in Scripture, a common theme can be seen running through its occurrences. The word is never used in a positive context; rather, it is always seen in a negative light, relating primarily either to <span style="background-color: red;"><u>a strong desire for sexual immorality or idolatrous worship</u></span>."</b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- <a href="https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/what-is-lust-why-is-it-a-sin-bible-meaning.html">https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/what-is-lust-why-is-it-a-sin-bible-meaning.html</a></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a name="speech24" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>JULIET</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"></span><blockquote style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><a name="2.2.117" style="color: #cccccc;">Do not swear at all;</a><br /><a name="2.2.118" style="color: #cccccc;">Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,</a><br /><a name="2.2.119"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Which is </span><b><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">the god of my idolatry</span><span style="color: #cccccc;">,</span></b></a><br /><a name="2.2.120" style="color: #cccccc;">And I'll believe thee.</a></blockquote><div style="color: #cccccc; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>(R&J II;2) </span></div><div style="color: #cccccc; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Shakespeare writes about this unbridled sin twice in his sonnets; </span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45107/sonnet-129-thexpense-of-spirit-in-a-waste-of-shame">in Sonnet 129</a></b> </span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">where he calls lust in action an <span class="gmail_default">"</span>expense of spirit in a waste of shame<span class="gmail_default">" and goes on to say that</span></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span class="gmail_default">...</span> till action, lust<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Is perjured, <span class="gmail_default"></span>murd'rous, bloody, full of blame,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd straight,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Past reason hunted; and, no sooner had<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Past reason hated as a swallowed bait<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On purpose laid to make the taker mad;<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mad in pursuit and in possession so,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A bliss in proof and proved, a very woe;<br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream...</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nHuwtyATE9w" width="320" youtube-src-id="nHuwtyATE9w"></iframe></div><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHuwtyATE9w">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHuwtyATE9w</a></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">and again in </span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56227/sonnet-147-my-love-is-as-a-fever-longing-still">Sonnet 147</a></b></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">where he describes his lustful love as "a fever"</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">...longing still<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For that which longer nurseth the disease,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Th’ uncertain sickly appetite to please.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">My reason, the physician to my love,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Hath left me, and I desperate now approve<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Desire is death, which physic did except.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Past cure I am, now reason is past care,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At random from the truth vainly expressed:<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.</span></div></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>Neither sonnet speaks to glowingly about this sin and it stands to reason that the Bard would embody this "</span><span class="gmail_default"></span><span>murd'rous, bloody, full of blame, / </span></span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust" </span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">disease which threatens to engulf the soul in something "as black as hell" and "as dark as night" in actual characters within a play. </span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dante himself had distinguished btwn the two seemingly identical movements of the soul praising one and condemning the other despite both being indicated by the same Italian word "amor":</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><ul class="gmail-intro" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 11px 20px 0px;"><ul><li class="gmail-reading" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style: outside disc; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px; visibility: visible;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">working from ideas already present in his moral canzone <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Doglia mi</em> <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">reca</em>, in <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Inferno </em>5 Dante insists that reason and love not only can coexist but must coexist: <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">a passion that is</strong> <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">antithetical to reason, that is not the product of a free will, cannot be called love</strong></span></li></ul></ul></div><div class="gmail_default"><ul class="gmail-intro" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; padding: 11px 20px 0px;"><ul><li class="gmail-reading" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style: outside disc; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px; visibility: visible;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">the word<em style="box-sizing: inherit;"> amore</em>: in <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Inferno </em>2, “amore”, rightly construed, is aligned with reason, and leads to salvation: “amor mi mosse, che mi fa parlare” (<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Inf</em>. 2.72). In <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Inferno </em>5, “amore”, wrongly construed, leads to death: “Amor condusse noi ad una morte” (<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Inf</em>. 5.106). The latter passion is not love, according to Dante’s understanding of love. But it is the same word “amore” in both instances, so it is up to us to learn to construe and understand correctly. In his moral canzone <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Doglia mi reca</em>, Dante had already indicated the need to apply <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">an alert hermeneusis</strong>, explaining that some call by the word ‘‘love’’ what is in reality mere bestial appetite: “chiamando amore appetito di fera” (143).</span></li><li class="gmail-reading" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style: outside disc; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px; visibility: visible;"><a href="https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-5/" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-5/</a></li></ul></ul></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>Again, it seems likely to me that the English Bard would have at least heard rumor of Dante's thinking even if by alternate sources. The characters of his play, therefore, seem highly tuned toward this sort of destructive "amor ad una morte" rather than the "</span><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)"><span>l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle". </span></span><span>Even if Romeo's form of lust (womanish, mindless, wreckless, simpering behavior) differs from Juliet's (manlike, spiteful, cruel, bitter, manipulative, engulfing) both share in the extreme and violent end that drives them inevitably, tragically toward their own useless and pointless self-destruction.</span></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0YHl3OtWhVSb42rqxjfErw7iAPTio0E_EJengm3y8b48Ofgbv0cXe6wBC14pVUEjLOhOCbPP7Jii5lm6pAXEvj2XCB_Lf9E_L1U_JJy8DAj1eua7FC-RgB_1_85hRQ0HfNi9woHwCWRw8ajdtkWeJQzBCK1VlnsLZRbKvZaazuCKWQQDpMfZomQAEcQ/s651/1511454244_713420_1511456627_sumario_normal.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="446" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0YHl3OtWhVSb42rqxjfErw7iAPTio0E_EJengm3y8b48Ofgbv0cXe6wBC14pVUEjLOhOCbPP7Jii5lm6pAXEvj2XCB_Lf9E_L1U_JJy8DAj1eua7FC-RgB_1_85hRQ0HfNi9woHwCWRw8ajdtkWeJQzBCK1VlnsLZRbKvZaazuCKWQQDpMfZomQAEcQ/s320/1511454244_713420_1511456627_sumario_normal.jpg" width="219" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">There was, fascinatingly enough, a Romeo & Juliet (& Larry); or Paolo & Francesca ( & Gianciotto) trifecta much closer to Shakespeare's time which was so notorious in Europe that it seems unlikely he would NOT know of it. This was the story of Carlos Gesualdo;</span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default"><i><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>One fateful night in October 1590, Gesualdo discovered her </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">in flagrante </span><span>with the Duke of Andria, Don Fabrizio Carafa (he was wearing Maria’s silk nightgown at the time). Gesualdo immediately set about slaughtering the pair, slashing their limbs with his sword, mutilating their sexual organs, and puncturing their skulls with the bullets of his gun. He then allegedly murdered the baby boy who may or may not have been his or Don Fabrizio’s child by swinging him to death in his castle courtyard.</span></span></i></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130905-a-16th-century-musical-badass">https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130905-a-16th-century-musical-badass</a></span></div></blockquote><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The murderous duke composed most glorious and beautiful music. </span></div><div class="gmail_default"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/__ydAZKJgk0" width="320" youtube-src-id="__ydAZKJgk0"></iframe></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ydAZKJgk0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ydAZKJgk0</a><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But he was, nevertheless, a murderer of the worst degree. What motives led him to slaughter his wife, her lover, and their little boy? What motives led her to engage in the affair in the first place? What motives led Don Fabrizio Carafa to wear women's night clothes? What motives led Romeo to seek solace in the arms of a willing woman? What motives drove Juliet to avoid and condemn her own family? What drove her to deny her father and refuse her name?</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Whatever the answers might be, Shakespeare isn't writing a sweet but tragic romance (as the Romantics of the 19th century would lead us to believe). Instead he wrote a tragedy wherein the motives, though obscure, emerge from the character of the individuals. The experience of this tragedy might bring to us a little suffering, and that suffering might bring some momdicum of wisdom if we pay attention. "Character is fate" quipped Heraclitus </span><span style="color: #cccccc;">(</span></span><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">ἦθος ἀνθρώπῳ δαίμων</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">)</span></span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> and if we are to learn anything from the tragic fate of these "star-crossed lovers" possessed of an "</span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">amor ad una morte" </span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">it is that we too might fall into the same character deficiencies that lead to their tragic implosion.</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisU63RSWLNGg8M3tCRmQHewAC8D-wSeuDLdzTNqc3L9C5aV7JFbaX6i64V_3Mgl44pMaKkF2qD7u8E7WM9DA8Y_mj9KVVUGhmpy9H7mzHjU5seuCl8ifdFvje0zDqUlF1A4kDhixLEMLnthqnLr8F2fn-etY2YoZSFYDUxJq5mW7pCt90SY0MoQPcaxQ/s1200/william-shakespeare---the-life-of-the-bard.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisU63RSWLNGg8M3tCRmQHewAC8D-wSeuDLdzTNqc3L9C5aV7JFbaX6i64V_3Mgl44pMaKkF2qD7u8E7WM9DA8Y_mj9KVVUGhmpy9H7mzHjU5seuCl8ifdFvje0zDqUlF1A4kDhixLEMLnthqnLr8F2fn-etY2YoZSFYDUxJq5mW7pCt90SY0MoQPcaxQ/s320/william-shakespeare---the-life-of-the-bard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-80843857411570797032022-04-13T12:33:00.005-05:002022-04-13T12:49:02.093-05:00Medea, tragedy and the Triduum<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNVhapxtBVYus9AV_p0zdM08r4ThUJbfAbsu7c5EQC2oWjt0WtQNqFcaZw51rXHvshPn0PUoOsWdXuCFsKCArzPhk6g6yfEltidVnT3hJvfdZ4N5AJM5CybP27N3goXMRg7IsSE4kLGLsEpX9Zl-CxXeA97j7WI0yTZl1CsU7hT1i7S8DfWgfOoKuZw/s1071/Medea_-_Frederick_Sandys_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNVhapxtBVYus9AV_p0zdM08r4ThUJbfAbsu7c5EQC2oWjt0WtQNqFcaZw51rXHvshPn0PUoOsWdXuCFsKCArzPhk6g6yfEltidVnT3hJvfdZ4N5AJM5CybP27N3goXMRg7IsSE4kLGLsEpX9Zl-CxXeA97j7WI0yTZl1CsU7hT1i7S8DfWgfOoKuZw/s320/Medea_-_Frederick_Sandys_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg" width="239" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Reading Euripides' "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea">Medea</a>" during the Triduum.</span><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tragedy allows us to do three things:</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">appreciate more the goods we have</span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">experience suffering w/o having to go through it
ourselves</span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">purge ourselves of the tension of bad emotions</span></li></ol><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thus it brings us to a better place by instilling in
us</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">self-knowledge</span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">the sense of pity</span></li><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">gratitude</span></li></ol><p></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fNiriEzx5ss" width="320" youtube-src-id="fNiriEzx5ss"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><div style="text-align: left;">Thus the whole community was purged of the weight of
suffering, anger, and pain; a practice which goes back thousands of years,
perhaps beginning with an actual human as the scapegoat and only later by
transference becoming an animal. In this sense it was more expedient that one
lamb die than that the whole community perished. Before it perished, the little
goat would lift up its head and cry out to heaven singing out its sorrow at the
necessity of its own demise; a goat song; which in Greek is "trag -
oidos".</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h5kB_oZnMMA" width="320" youtube-src-id="h5kB_oZnMMA"></iframe></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thus it brings us to a better place by instilling in
us<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In short, wisdom.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">All education & art (perhaps all life) should be
geared toward wisdom; a greater knowing of ourselves - gnothi seauton, as the Greeks
said. Tragedy accomplishes this by allowing us to suffer vicariously without
actually suffering;</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span> </span>"drasanta pathos, pathei mathos"<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> "the experience causes suffering, the suffering
brings wisdom"</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">The First Sufferer of the tragedy, the proto-agonist, is
one with whom we identify, allowing the drasanta to occur. Normally a human
actor, used to be a goat (or a lamb). In the Ancient World the little goat
would be painted, covered in ribbons and notes about the sins or sufferings of
the village, and sacrificed (thrown off a cliff or eviscerated).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xatmIJHD4z8" width="320" youtube-src-id="xatmIJHD4z8"></iframe></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">In tragedy we are encouraged to see the other as
ourself, appreciate more our own blessings, become more aware of the sin and
devastation we have caused. Sure it is sad, and it ought to cause us pain and sorrow
even knowing that eventually the pain will pass over like a storm and be gone;
but the point is that we fully enter into the mystery, not gloss over it with
platitudes and self-congratulating affirmations; "there is offense,
Horatio, and much of it."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l5-M6OBvAdE" width="320" youtube-src-id="l5-M6OBvAdE"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">We have to experience the Tenebrae facta sunt if ever we are to really
appreciate the Haec est dies. And even though we rejoice that the pagan message
of the goat song was christened by the "Christos anesti", still we
have to experience the storm in all its rage, dying to ourselves that we might
truly live.</span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O6-8Sa3Omuo" width="320" youtube-src-id="O6-8Sa3Omuo"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XZ6jN1UGyxA" width="320" youtube-src-id="XZ6jN1UGyxA"></iframe></div></div><p></p><div data-block="true" data-editor="1a3b7" data-offset-key="33ajd-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div></div>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-74371720855255916102022-02-28T12:38:00.019-06:002023-06-20T17:53:56.748-05:00Humpty Dumpty Broken<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br />
<br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DGxZ_ygXQiNA5qHZgq0fqz2fV7F_YXwZkEn-mqleLUWr0Yu-Yhkrfoyakt9wAVGtXAItyrbsE1Z-g6lzvv3Tmzu5q_UWyrMsV-iZlVswMnVQFtFHfgqr-WhaoiZ3t3D7rquOPCbHv-x99cwzJgtmjzsnmaF277BUjWseZSh6JlMsrLGtiHGnxL9MHBYA/s320/liberal%20arts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="320" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DGxZ_ygXQiNA5qHZgq0fqz2fV7F_YXwZkEn-mqleLUWr0Yu-Yhkrfoyakt9wAVGtXAItyrbsE1Z-g6lzvv3Tmzu5q_UWyrMsV-iZlVswMnVQFtFHfgqr-WhaoiZ3t3D7rquOPCbHv-x99cwzJgtmjzsnmaF277BUjWseZSh6JlMsrLGtiHGnxL9MHBYA/s1600/liberal%20arts.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">
<br /><i>
Humpty dumpty sate on a wall,<br />
Humpti dumpti had a great fall;<br />
Threescore men and threescore more,<br />
Cannot place Humpty dumpty as he was before.</i><br /><i>
(1810)</i><br /><br />
<span> </span>I have always maintained that the most important aspects of learning are
entirely useless. Utility ought not be the measuring stick for why we learn
these things - instead it should be love.<br />
<span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span> </span>I was interested whilst teaching about the Scholastic Debate to reflect
on <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3788490922792691215/7437172085525591610">the
original structure of the Liberal Arts</a> and find that there is a
logical connection between the Debate and the structure. The original LA did
not include the mechanical arts, law, business, or carpentry, but it also did
not include history, poetry, literature, or art. These were the later products,
perhaps, of the LA, but the Liberal Arts were two sets;<br /></span></span></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-family: times;">
the Trivium</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-family: times;">
the Quadrivium</span></span></span></li></ol><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: times;">
The Trivium was HOW to learn. The Quadrivium was WHAT to learn (as in the most
important things the mind could focus on). Trivium consisted of three
disciplines<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: times;">Grammar</span></li><li><span style="font-family: times;">Logic</span></li><li><span style="font-family: times;">
Rhetoric</span></li></ul></span><span style="font-family: times;">
Which taught the methods that could be applied to any form of learning.<br />
<span><br /></span></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Grammar was not just ABCs, but rather was understanding the inner language of
whatever discipline one entered, be it math, law, history, carpentry, plumbing.<br />
<span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Logic included formal logic, yes, but was also learning the connections between
the principles of the discipline; how does A relate to B? how does B connect
with C? how do all three work together?<br />
<span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Rhetoric trained in how to read, write and speak - but more to the point -
trained how to express oneself in the language of the discipline and make
comprehensible (and attractive) to others that language.</span><br /><br />
</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAQAoPAO8JDYAybxFIvecP6A-2qp2Kjd9uzoLpqyolncc6grzHvdT4j_LsC_IeQhbxFWVmA1ayTu5RXYW2n0LLRFNpzbeN5XqWC3HLnOMVX8yGG3b8L5Wo41a_wje7YGyT7iwB71s7cgo8Ey0ZGAY88blZiDjRCrGGP5XCdemoYa5XOTxqXWhWdcr8UQ3q/s320/Triduum%20Quadrivium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="258" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAQAoPAO8JDYAybxFIvecP6A-2qp2Kjd9uzoLpqyolncc6grzHvdT4j_LsC_IeQhbxFWVmA1ayTu5RXYW2n0LLRFNpzbeN5XqWC3HLnOMVX8yGG3b8L5Wo41a_wje7YGyT7iwB71s7cgo8Ey0ZGAY88blZiDjRCrGGP5XCdemoYa5XOTxqXWhWdcr8UQ3q/s1600/Triduum%20Quadrivium.jpg" width="258" /></a><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
When I first read about this in my early 20s (in <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3788490922792691215/7437172085525591610">Classical
Rhetoric for the Modern Student</a> by Corbett) it made sense to me, but for
years I could not fathom why on earth (or heaven) the Medievals organized the
Quadrivium in the way they did? Why not have history as a thing to be studied?
Why not poetry? Why not Calculus?<br />
When reading Josef Pieper's "<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3788490922792691215/7437172085525591610">Scholasticism</a>"
the other day it dawned on me why this structure was considered the more
important aspect of the Liberal Arts.<br />
Pieper points out that the Quadrivium consisted of<br /></span></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">
Arithmetic</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">
Geometry</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">
Astronomy</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">
Music</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">
This is primarily a Platonic organization based on<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3788490922792691215/7437172085525591610"> the
Divided Line</a> (Eikasia, Pistis, Dianoia, Noesis) as outlined in <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3788490922792691215/7437172085525591610">The
Republic</a> & is the mind's ascent to be able to perceive the LOGOS
(i.e. the pattern of the mind of God).<br /><br />
</span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXhdMGQFFrkOHxmfHpHIzqySweZ5tpSJFgWmtckKFvFZKXZXEa22ZMf54VjCgdGReUVPJNKmBaqFqlgFwk1qiWplvdK4xe8YB1iy66rnvRH64YRZkNnZ6X5NW7o_tt2Al8ayvwZ5nS9Z5zjZej1Nii-CMnHgk4eoDR-QlShpxQawoo8lwUkmPHY8NhkGr/s427/Divided%20Line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: times; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="427" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXhdMGQFFrkOHxmfHpHIzqySweZ5tpSJFgWmtckKFvFZKXZXEa22ZMf54VjCgdGReUVPJNKmBaqFqlgFwk1qiWplvdK4xe8YB1iy66rnvRH64YRZkNnZ6X5NW7o_tt2Al8ayvwZ5nS9Z5zjZej1Nii-CMnHgk4eoDR-QlShpxQawoo8lwUkmPHY8NhkGr/s320/Divided%20Line.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />
So essentially what the Medievals were saying was the greatest thing for the
soul to consider was this mathematical pattern upon which all the world was
based. Studying it led to the ability to use it (Architecturally, in music, in
government, in sculpture, in poetry and prose) and also gave growth and
enrichment to the soul BUT the main reason for studying it was for its own
sake; a thing of beauty to be known and loved.<br />
<br />
<br />
The Realists and Nominalists, then, were debating about the efficacy of this
sort of education. The Realists held that there was something real existing in
another world to which the mind could ascend through study and contemplation.
Nominalists held that the thing to be known and loved didn't really exist
outside of this world but was a perspective or viewpoint to be gained about the
world which allowed men to live well (a utilitarian stance). As long as the two
viewpoints were in debate or discussion with each other there was a healthy
confidence and output to the society of the Medieval world. When that debate
broke down (afterd Tempier's condemnations in 1277) and when the world was
shaken by a series of upheavals in the 14th century, Europe devolved (as Pieper
noted) into the two camps of rational atheism and irrational belief. And that
was the beginning (and end) of the Modern World as noted by <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3788490922792691215/7437172085525591610">Guardini</a>.
Humpty Dumpty (the golden egg of mystical religious thought) had been broken
and not all the king's horses nor all the king's men <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3788490922792691215/7437172085525591610"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>could
put Humpty Dumpty back together again</a>.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwuyzueFivpfuIpH0zOpSqyumIeZpnBNUxcIec7SgiXCvM3XQNUWKfkT0uf_LyweMLrbpD4Bh0cphcmsQNr8yZ4m4wXslAtgEI5gvlLdtBrXX4cY4T8MtDj_Emwu2IB_j0MR-xbiKrdYHX56Q8Y9QNDh1BEI7GFjEQJeKc08O13bbBW7khtGJyFGnyctV/s320/Humpty%20Dumpty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="190" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwuyzueFivpfuIpH0zOpSqyumIeZpnBNUxcIec7SgiXCvM3XQNUWKfkT0uf_LyweMLrbpD4Bh0cphcmsQNr8yZ4m4wXslAtgEI5gvlLdtBrXX4cY4T8MtDj_Emwu2IB_j0MR-xbiKrdYHX56Q8Y9QNDh1BEI7GFjEQJeKc08O13bbBW7khtGJyFGnyctV/s1600/Humpty%20Dumpty.jpg" width="190" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-42246385715277272022021-12-23T12:45:00.005-06:002021-12-23T12:55:07.212-06:00The Thracian Hero & Saint George<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: garamond, "times new roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjevlaI-YtLP_0pJXPIFU2mJWDWEWEm66yxM1Zyfi9dV_HQ6vW-ZhmMzR6Y5ZgbqletaaguQCnGwDJpV8N3l39a7cpQNrttECgx4wyItPJCXJOfpMrzSNJjkhW_5UPyC229Dwhpi9AW-B0bso1EL4lQiva0SqzY8P6fgV6YUTtVQrM-bi3bQb-smeg93g=s1191" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="934" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjevlaI-YtLP_0pJXPIFU2mJWDWEWEm66yxM1Zyfi9dV_HQ6vW-ZhmMzR6Y5ZgbqletaaguQCnGwDJpV8N3l39a7cpQNrttECgx4wyItPJCXJOfpMrzSNJjkhW_5UPyC229Dwhpi9AW-B0bso1EL4lQiva0SqzY8P6fgV6YUTtVQrM-bi3bQb-smeg93g=s320" width="251" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />In a conversation last night with a most excellent colleague it was mistakenly perceived that I was a St. George denier. This is false. I do not deny St. George or any of the saints (including Christopher). My point is not about whether there was or was not an historical man attached to the legends of St. George, but rather how we tend to depict our legends using known imagery. We tap into the imagery familiar to the culture around us in order to enhance an element of the character, or to highlight an aspect of the story, or to embody a philosophy through the character. </span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Ax4ofgR_Jg" width="320" youtube-src-id="-Ax4ofgR_Jg"></iframe></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As a secular example. compare the two movies, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ftYho4K3FQ">A Night to Remember</a>" and "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPklvytosy4">Titanic</a>". </span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ftYho4K3FQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="3ftYho4K3FQ"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kVrqfYjkTdQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="kVrqfYjkTdQ"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Was there a large ship that sank after smacking an iceberg? Absolutely. The first movie, however, emphasizes the nobility and self sacrifice of the doomed passengers. The second movie, though having far more action, emphasizes the savage and mercenary nature of the passengers fighting for survival. The first focuses on the sinking and aftermath. The second focuses for two hours on a doomed romance between two people of unequal social standing, then a big action sequence at the end. Both are using images we are familiar with (the sinking) but are emphasizing different aspects, changing the story, or focusing on details to convey their philosophy. This is true also in the poems "<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47266/the-convergence-of-the-twain">The Convergence of the Twain</a>" by Thomas Hardy </span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="c-feature-hd" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="c-hdgSans c-hdgSans_2 c-mix-hdgSans_inline" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.231; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Convergence of the Twain</span></h1></div><div class="c-feature-sub c-feature-sub_vast" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 33px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="c-txt c-txt_attribution" face="canada-type-gibson" style="border: 0px; color: #2b00fe; display: inline-block; font-family: georgia; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 1.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">BY <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-hardy" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">THOMAS HARDY</a></span></div></div><div class="c-feature-bd" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="o-vr o-vr_6x" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="c-epigraph" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 24px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">(Lines on the loss of the "Titanic")</span></p></div><p style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p></div></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> In a solitude of the sea<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Deep from human vanity,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">II<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Steel chambers, late the pyres<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Of her salamandrine fires,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">III<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Over the mirrors meant<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> To glass the opulent<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The sea-worm crawls — grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">IV<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Jewels in joy designed<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> To ravish the sensuous mind<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">V<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Dim moon-eyed fishes near<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Gaze at the gilded gear<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ...<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">VI<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Well: while was fashioning<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> This creature of cleaving wing,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">VII<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Prepared a sinister mate<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> For her — so gaily great —<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">VIII<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> And as the smart ship grew<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> In stature, grace, and hue,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">IX<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Alien they seemed to be;<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> No mortal eye could see<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The intimate welding of their later history,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">X<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Or sign that they were bent<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> By paths coincident<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On being anon twin halves of one august event,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">XI<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Till the Spinner of the Years<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Said "Now!" And each one hears,<br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.</span></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">and "<a href="https://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/titanic.html">It was Sad</a>" by some Boy Scouts where the first uses the subject matter to have a somber reflection on fate, the second to make a darkly humorous campfire song.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Oh, they built the ship Titanic, to sail the ocean blue.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />For they thought it was a ship that water would never go through.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was on its maiden trip, that an iceberg hit the ship.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad when the great ship went down.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chorus:</i></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad, so sad.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad, so sad.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad when the great ship went down (to the bottom of the....)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Uncles and aunts, little children lost their pants.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad when the great ship went down.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Oh the captain smiled and winked<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />As the ship began to sink<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And he said "The fish are surely going to stink"<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So he S.O.S.ed the Lord<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And he jumped right overboard<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad when the great ship went down</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Repeat chorus</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">They were not far from the shore, 'bout a thousand miles or more,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />When the rich refused to associate with the poor.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So they threw them down below, where they were the first to go.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad when the great ship went down.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Repeat chorus</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Oh, the heroes saved the weak, as the ship began to leak.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And the band on deck played on.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />With, "Nearer my God to Thee", they were swept into the sea.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad when the great ship went down.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Repeat chorus</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Oh they built a sister ship, Called the S.S. Kunatah<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And they knew it was a ship that would never get very far.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So, they christened it with GOP,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And it sunk with a Ker-Plop!<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was glad when the sad ship went down.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Repeat chorus</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">They threw the lifeboats over, in the dark and stormy sea.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And the band began to play "Oh Give Thy Soul To Thee."<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Little children wept and cried as they left their mother's side.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Repeat chorus</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Oh the moral of this story, the moral of this song,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Is that one shouldn't go where he does not belong.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />For in the good Lord's eyes, you're as good as other guys,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was sad when the great ship when down.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Repeat chorus</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Oh the moral of this story, is plain as you can see.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Never trust a sailor on the high sea.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />He'll call you honey-darling, and say that he'll be true,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />But when the ship goes down he'll say the hell/heck with you.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Repeat chorus</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">After last chorus, there is an extra "so sad, too bad" spoken-sung, and this:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Kerplunk<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It sunk<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Hunk a junk<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />In the sea<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />without me<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Luckily<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Hee hee hee.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrq8jSHoqODrCpQV5rCFae6H14ey4vk1ORZL5sN-n30H-RuXbKZ8X1BteicRpkgiO8V7vgeUjv0Lsubpg8sAUfFYc2oX6ux6H919xoLTaMaXPRQYGfyMPy7ptcIAz18ZVYCg8gLmwFzdjptRvytB051ACoPFPi-Vr7NCQP0j3NtoVQqThxU2LkY7XHQg=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1693" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrq8jSHoqODrCpQV5rCFae6H14ey4vk1ORZL5sN-n30H-RuXbKZ8X1BteicRpkgiO8V7vgeUjv0Lsubpg8sAUfFYc2oX6ux6H919xoLTaMaXPRQYGfyMPy7ptcIAz18ZVYCg8gLmwFzdjptRvytB051ACoPFPi-Vr7NCQP0j3NtoVQqThxU2LkY7XHQg=s320" width="212" /></span></a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Similarly with the St. George imagery - the artists took the story of a real man, united it with the image of the Thracian hero, replacing the pig with the dragon, and thus depicted the triumph of good over evil. The historical veracity of the story's details was not my point (though I doubt there were once scaly lizards roaming about devouring virginal girls). </span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iwE8RAHmpT0" width="320" youtube-src-id="iwE8RAHmpT0"></iframe></span></div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But the depiction of George on a horse, with a spear or sword, soundly trouncing the bestial beast uses the familiar pre-Christian image of the Thracian hero. This element is most pronounced when we see it transformed into other depictions that add new elements, keep some elements but dispense with others.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UAQsYoYZfxs" width="320" youtube-src-id="UAQsYoYZfxs"></iframe></span></div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">How the image came to England and became the rallying cry of Henry V is still not entirely clear to me.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijTayllFXy_SwFEG64NZAuNnhIcg97waayRMNLBmTjoMZqPBV0nloVcOzoNagYvFfabkR5l48TmMwC_hpeeIY0I9a6_auMljzvRTSD85sBPfZaKu29i6vDLWA6mCVFDEGEDtqGo9mADBCdzAKlhk-peY0FCUoiG2IaVNUSWQLUKrjYeoGe7cMzdGD_-g=s1600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="953" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijTayllFXy_SwFEG64NZAuNnhIcg97waayRMNLBmTjoMZqPBV0nloVcOzoNagYvFfabkR5l48TmMwC_hpeeIY0I9a6_auMljzvRTSD85sBPfZaKu29i6vDLWA6mCVFDEGEDtqGo9mADBCdzAKlhk-peY0FCUoiG2IaVNUSWQLUKrjYeoGe7cMzdGD_-g=s320" width="191" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: garamond, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-20667647775332491232021-11-03T12:39:00.006-05:002021-11-03T13:56:51.896-05:00Alice and the Dragon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="765" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kwvtuFiVEJI/YYLDzoL9hrI/AAAAAAAAEM4/YcnCL6Xojws78N6d-aySA3inRREQG8_gACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/R%2B%25284%2529.jpg" width="245" /></span></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In his novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Lewis Carroll has his young heroine, Alice, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-h/11-h.htm#chap05">meeting a caterpillar in chapter V</a>, of all things.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time
in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and
addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. </i></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Caterpillar, like many of the characters in Carroll's story, is a puerile version of the much more powerful and dangerous archetype of the dragon. Like the dragon he seems imperious and threatening to Alice. He coils about as a dragon would and blows smoke out of his mouth. Even in Tenniel's illustration one can easily see that the caterpillar is coiled about himself, <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/here-be-dragons-2">dragon fashion</a>.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bqF2rH9u2Js/YYLNJHcfaYI/AAAAAAAAENg/IFKpWx_67QY6vB7qUSWqm6MeBOJiQQj6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/244-3-resized_5c40d057d80e276f0aa1d5bdfd2f9336-1440x1432.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1432" data-original-width="1440" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bqF2rH9u2Js/YYLNJHcfaYI/AAAAAAAAENg/IFKpWx_67QY6vB7qUSWqm6MeBOJiQQj6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/244-3-resized_5c40d057d80e276f0aa1d5bdfd2f9336-1440x1432.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Tenniel also cleverly weaves in the deceptive nature of the dragon in that the upper part of the caterpillar seems to be the profile of a face when actually they are feet on the caterpillar. Like images seen in clouds, the viewer perceives the feet as nose and chin. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Tenniel's illustration also has the coil of the hookah which the caterpillar is smoking curling about him in a golden spiral. This image in mathematics reflects the Fibonacci sequence and is frequently used as an image of the infinity of creation based on the pattern of the LOGOS.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71bRvrdr0hL._AC_SX466_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="466" height="297" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71bRvrdr0hL._AC_SX466_.jpg" width="466" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/GoldenSpiralLogarithmic_color_in.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="450" height="450" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/GoldenSpiralLogarithmic_color_in.gif" width="450" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In that pattern a person easily can lose their own individuality and have no answer to the question "who are you?" Thus Alice struggles to respond to the Caterpillar's initial discouraging question;</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>“I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who
I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been
changed several times since then.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>“What do you mean by that?” said the Caterpillar sternly.
“Explain yourself!”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice,
“because I’m not myself, you see.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>“I don’t see,” said the Caterpillar.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>“I’m afraid I can’t put it more clearly,” Alice replied very
politely, “for I can’t understand it myself to begin with; and being so many
different sizes in a day is very confusing.”</i></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span></span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Omn8fs_9X6k" width="320" youtube-src-id="Omn8fs_9X6k"></iframe></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Her difficulty knowing who she is reflects her current confusion in growing up. The story of "Alice in Wonderland" is itself a story about those difficulty years of early youth when one is no longer a child and not quite an adult - an era which the Ancient World referred to as the chrysalis (or golden) era of life. In this stage a person ceases happily crawling about the world eating everything, retreats inwardly, tends to isolate themselves & weave a shell around them, and no longer knows who they are. Not quite adult and not quite child they find themselves in a liminal state of metamorphosis.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Well, that's the image, the life of the butterfly, used in the Ancient World to represent the transformation from child to adult. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As a child one is oblivious to the world around them, rolling blindly from one good meal to the next. As a youth, anxiety, pain, suffering all begin to force one to reckon with the difficulties of the world. The natural reaction is confusion and a tendency to retreat into a thick coat of armor about oneself (grunts, loud music, and shuffling of feet are forms of armor). Witness Alice's confusion at not being able to "</span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>remember things as I used—and I don’t keep the same size for
ten minutes together!” </i>Her inability to say correctly the poem about youth and age ("You are old, Father William") bears witness to the confusion of youth.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,<br />
“And your hair has become very white;<br />
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—<br />
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”<br />
<br />
“In my youth,” Father William replied to his son,<br />
“I feared it might injure the brain;<br />
But, now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,<br />
Why, I do it again and again.”<br />
<br />
“You are old,” said the youth, “as I mentioned before,<br />
And have grown most uncommonly fat;<br />
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—<br />
Pray, what is the reason of that?”<br />
<br />
“In my youth,” said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,<br />
“I kept all my limbs very supple<br />
By the use of this ointment—one shilling the box—<br />
Allow me to sell you a couple?”<br />
<br />
“You are old,” said the youth, “and your jaws are too weak<br />
For anything tougher than suet;<br />
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—<br />
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”<br />
<br />
“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,<br />
And argued each case with my wife;<br />
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,<br />
Has lasted the rest of my life.”<br />
<br />
“You are old,” said the youth, “one would hardly suppose<br />
That your eye was as steady as ever;<br />
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—<br />
What made you so awfully clever?”<br />
<br />
“I have answered three questions, and that is enough,”<br />
Said his father; “don’t give yourself airs!<br />
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?<br />
Be off, or I’ll kick you down stairs!”</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wEv_qBMIQdo/YYLHkBTeQyI/AAAAAAAAENA/75EcBjJkz4s3ULg_dnK_oCrsyzLEASiQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/Father%2BWilliam%2B4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="800" height="243" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wEv_qBMIQdo/YYLHkBTeQyI/AAAAAAAAENA/75EcBjJkz4s3ULg_dnK_oCrsyzLEASiQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Father%2BWilliam%2B4.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As the caterpillar replies, "That is not said right." Indeed, Alice is in a very confusing spot in her life, and like most young people, she covers her confusion with a mixture of petulant retreat, over-confident hubris, and tears.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LYb_nqU_43w" width="320" youtube-src-id="LYb_nqU_43w"></iframe></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Thank God for us all that this stage is transitory! Indeed, during that period of being in a cocoon change is occurring; questions are asked; the mind is actively observing and the soul is processing; until finally from the chrysalis emerges the adult, like a beautiful flying dragon of a thing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The advice of the caterpillar is to eat from "both sides" of the mushroom. There are many who interpret this as a narcotic reference (Jefferson Airplane is one) and indeed the Ancient World saw narcotics as a way to jump start the maturity process. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WANNqr-vcx0" width="320" youtube-src-id="WANNqr-vcx0"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But we have to consider also that the circle of the mushroom is like life itself; the spiral made static. To grab hold of it "from both sides" and then to eat of it is to eat of both the dark and the light; the bitter and the sweet; the wine and the gall; the good jelly beans and the licorice.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTXd1wNsAQQ/YYLL0bwzrEI/AAAAAAAAENY/UtfujMkxRIYHNQu_XSgaG96KSUw_8Eh5QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Tao.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTXd1wNsAQQ/YYLL0bwzrEI/AAAAAAAAENY/UtfujMkxRIYHNQu_XSgaG96KSUw_8Eh5QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Tao.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And perhaps that is what makes one truly an adult - the recognition that life is both bitter and sweet. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“One
side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.”</span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As a child we want the world to be only sweetness and candy, everyone our friend, God in his place and Santa Claus as Christmas. Part of the shock of entering into youth is finding that there is great bitterness in the world. Maturity comes from accepting the bitterness and learning to balance the two sides of life and thus not grow "too big" or "too small".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It certainly seems a turning point for Alice in her "journey underground" as after this encounter with the dragon she seems more able to deal with the creatures of Wonderland (wonder being the basis of philosophy) with authority and confidence, progressing eventually toward her adult role as Persephone, queen of the underworld.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PnWfF0uuJoQ/YYLJRs2ZudI/AAAAAAAAENQ/iSjUwJkITRsN8Fg0E6oB8w262rdK9Cx6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/Alice_Red_Queen_White_Queen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PnWfF0uuJoQ/YYLJRs2ZudI/AAAAAAAAENQ/iSjUwJkITRsN8Fg0E6oB8w262rdK9Cx6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Alice_Red_Queen_White_Queen.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-72867626821674622752021-06-05T08:43:00.005-05:002021-06-05T08:43:50.954-05:00Macbeth and the cascading analog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fdjrquTynwQ/YLt_ZF1PoII/AAAAAAAAEAo/rycW8IKLq9AXvuztcL2qkVqWqRoz3QQaACLcBGAsYHQ/s940/5d_macbeth-940x940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="940" height="246" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fdjrquTynwQ/YLt_ZF1PoII/AAAAAAAAEAo/rycW8IKLq9AXvuztcL2qkVqWqRoz3QQaACLcBGAsYHQ/w384-h246/5d_macbeth-940x940.jpg" width="384" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Sometimes when thinking about literature or art you have to coin a phrase to capture the idea you are thinking about. I don't know, pardon my lacuna of knowledge, any phrase to describe the use of successive symbols to create relationships of ideas in a work. Consequently I'm using the term "cascading analog" and opposing it to "horizontal analog". </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Analog is the use of one thing to signify another. It is the connecting of ideas, saying "this equals this" leading to greater understanding. So for instance, saying that Thomas Jackson is "like a stone wall" doesn't mean that he is low to the ground or that he has loam on him but that he is impenetrable like a stone wall. This is an analog called simile. When we say "She's as sweet as Tupelo honey, like honey from the bee" we are using simile. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">When on the other hand we say, "Ted is a mule" we don't mean that he has four legs and grey fur - rather that Ted is stubborn and ornery. This is the analog called metaphor. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Simile and Metaphor are the two major forms of analog in human language and thought. Our whole process of thought, in fact, is based upon analog since we create mental images to comprehend anything & build a network of mental images when trying to make sense of something new. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Sometimes when a poet or artist uses such analog they extend it over the length of a soliloquy, poem, or entire work. So for instance Shakespeare compares his beloved to a summer's day in <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45087/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summers-day">sonnet 18</a>. Similarly, George Herbert in "<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44370/the-pulley">The Pulley</a>" uses the metaphor of being pulled up and pulled down by our strengths and weaknesses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Sometimes the analog is explicit (obvious) as in Robert Burns' "<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43812/a-red-red-rose">Red, Red Rose</a>" or the Rolling Stones' "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c1BThu95d8">She's a Rainbow</a>". Sometimes the analog is implicit (hidden) as in Wilbur's "<a href="http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/wilbur-toad.html">Death of a Toad</a>" or Melville's "<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-h/2701-h.htm">Moby Dick</a>" (which if you've read it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N_xP67utPk">before you are 30</a> you <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-42mu1D9Y">probably </a>have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMPW4R727QQ">read it wrong</a>!). </span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">"Horizontal analog", therefore, is when a
series of related images appear over the course of a (longer) work. This
type of analogy operates similar to how a dream might unfold, presenting the
same idea in various forms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plato, for
instance, uses horizontal analog in his work “The Republic” presenting his idea
of justice (as a ratio between the lesser and the greater) in one form after
another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here the artist says that
justice looks like this, but more than that it looks like this, and again it
looks like more than that, it looks like this, and &c.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">“Cascading analog” operates like a waterfall of images,
not seemingly related to each other and happening in quick succession rather
than drawn out over the course of a long work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This series of quick flowing images normally occurs with a monumental
event of some kind and indicates that the speaker is trying to deal with
something new and overwhelming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Monumental
experiences in life tend to overwhelm us and inundate us with new and difficult
to process impressions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a combat
veteran trying to explain to civilians what warfare is like, or like a survivor
of cancer or someone who has experienced a natural disaster like a tsunami, they
express the immensity of the event by trying to connect it to the experiences
they already have and with which they are familiar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Shakespeare uses horizontal analog throughout his play,
“Macbeth”, connecting images of water, darkness, sleep, dismemberment
throughout the play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real question
of the play is not whether Macbeth is a murderer, or what a bad king looks
like, or even what damnation looks like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rather it is the question of the loss of meaning or purpose in
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does one fight against
purposelessness?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Shakespeare this
seems to have been a perennial question appearing in numerous different works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next to Hamlet, Macbeth is probably the bard’s
greatest answer to this nominalist question.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">During the course of the play Macbeth chooses to act
in such a way to secure a permanent hold on happiness through power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His choices, however, lead him deeper into
blood, chaos, and madness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the end of
play he has lost everything including even the <a name="71">“eternal jewel</a>”
of mankind (his soul) which he seems to have “<a name="72">Given to the common
enemy of man</a>” (Satan).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With his wife
dead, his friends and allies fleeing from him (“fly false thanes and mingle
with the English epicures”), and a massive army besieging his gates Macbeth
seems to be at the end of his tether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
might appear to be for most an obvious consequence of the choices leading to damnation
& might evoke in some audience members a schadenfreude and
self-congratulation that they, at least, are not damned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In a masterful use of images, however, the poet suggests
that such a response is shallow, unreflective, and not the point of Macbeth’s
final trajectory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bard uses cascading
analog to symbolize the overwhelming finality of Macbeth’s ultimate
destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faced in Act V, scene 5 with
the reality of Lady Macbeth’s death and the loss of his entire life going into
the sewer he utters the great “tomorrow” speech.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">To the last syllable of recorded time;<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And all our yesterdays have lighted fools<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">And then is heard no more. It is a tale<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Signifying nothing.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">At first read the comments on life seem a jumble of
unrelated images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as a cascading
analog they work to describe the immensity of what Macbeth is finally realizing
in the play; the ultimate conclusion of the path he has chosen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each image relates to each successive image analogously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, the pace of the opening line hangs on
the drudgery of the word “and” – yet again waking up to another tomorrow w/o
hope, change, or forgiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
series of tomorrows sets up a triune relationship between images (similar to
the trinity of the weird sisters, the murderers, and the three major
assassinations of the play).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Days creep
by in a petty pace (notice the dental alliteration like spitting; p,p – d,d);
time is likened to a record book (the Domesday book) of syllables already set
down by fate (or “wyrd” in Anglo-Saxon).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Past history is then compared to a candle or lantern leading fools to
their death (again the dental alliteration of d,d; “day to day” “dusty death”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humans are all fools, in this vision, if they
follow this lantern, namely the pattern of human history w/o providential
redemption. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, the examination of
human history w/o the lens of salvation (“The fool in his heart has said, ‘there
is no god’” says the Psalm 14) seems to indicate a bleak and violent emptiness
to our existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Macbeth’s utterance of “Out, out, brief candle!” then
echoes (in a use of horizontal analog) Lady Macbeth’s earlier utterance of “out,
damned spot! Out, I say!” in Act 5, scene 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The utterance also ushers in the final three analogs of the soliloquy
wherein Macbeth compares life to <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">A walking shadow</span></span></li><li><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">A poor player (actor)</span></span></li><li><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">A tale (told by an idiot)</span></span></li></ol><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">This leads a reader to question “how is life like a
walking shadow?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“how is life like an actor?”,
“how is life like a tale?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shakespeare
uses metaphorical analog here, not simile suggesting that the intensity of
Macbeth’s vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life, for him, has
become a mere phantom of what it should be; a ghost, the place where the sun is
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though it moves around and walks,
nevertheless it is as ephemeral as the thaumatapoioi, the shadows, in Plato’s
cave image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such an empty, dark,
lifeless existence resembles a bad actor who struts and frets a brief time (an
hour) on the stage of the world (“all the world’s a stage” – “As You Like It”
Act II, scene 7). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The double meaning is
that the poor player is also a bad sport; someone who in losing is petty,
small-souled, pusillanimous in his paces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If life doesn’t get its way it takes its ball and goes home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of the brilliant and joyful
experience of life which we each hope for <a name="29">(honour, love, obedience,
troops of friends</a>) this vision of life in the septic tank of hell becomes
an empty repetitive tale full of noise and anger but meaningless. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vision expressed also implies that the
maker of the world, God, makes only shadows, writes only bad plays, is an idiot
in his creations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end of such a
vision is itself, hell, nothingness, the Tartarus or cave of shadows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an overwhelming vision of existence
without life so immense that Macbeth cannot succinctly express it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">His is a vision that has abandoned salvific realism
for materialistic nominalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether he
fights against this vision is the real crux of the play the outcome of which is
ambiguous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does Macbeth realizing that
he has been “tied to the stake and cannot fly” defiantly reject the deep damnation
of his own taking off?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even realizing
that<a name="35">, “Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,</a> / <a name="36">And
thou (MacDuff) opposed, being of no woman born,</a>” Macbeth proclaims that, “I
will try the last.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Indeed, there is something valiant and almost salvific
when Macbeth proclaims <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a name="37"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i>Before my body</i></span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><br />
<a name="38">I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,</a><br />
<a name="39">And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'</a></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Is “the last” which MacDuff defies the “last syllable
of recorded time”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is it the last
obstacle to his own damnation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or is it
the last thing opposing his attempt at total rule?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is at least, or so it seems, a return to
martial virtue where Macbeth so excelled at the beginning of the play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though his bitter statement that he </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>will not
yield,<br />
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,<br />
<a name="34">And to be baited with the rabble's curse</a></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Might be the ignoble and damning utterance of Satan’s “non
serviam” it might also prove his salvation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He refuses to submit to his doppelganger and adversary, MacDuff, and in
that at least he is not damned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
rejuvenated martial prowess offers him some sense of meaning or purpose to
life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Perhaps the play is not suggesting that Macbeth
represents an obvious or explicit metaphor for what damnation looks like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, perhaps the play is offering a
vision of one man dealing with the consequences of his own horrible choices,
loss of manhood and meaning in life, and being <a name="22">“cow'd (of his)
better part of man</a>” – an experience so overwhelming that it defies being
captured in words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Against such a
tsunami of horrors, whether they be of our own making or others, perhaps the
only noble response is defiant endurance and opposition and in that sense
perhaps Macbeth finds salvation after all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-65430994575691867942021-04-22T16:02:00.003-05:002021-04-22T16:38:57.828-05:00The City of God and the city of men (or immanentizing the eschaton)<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the most significant works of European culture has to be <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120101.htm">De Civitatis Dei</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_God">The City of God</a>) by Saint Augustine of Hippo.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UIaZQ06Pug/YIHl8UWTOrI/AAAAAAAAD-E/Uf6eAeM9dhcSKtKh0bR1EPLNVBp4VIYawCLcBGAsYHQ/s760/City_of_God_Manuscript.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="534" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UIaZQ06Pug/YIHl8UWTOrI/AAAAAAAAD-E/Uf6eAeM9dhcSKtKh0bR1EPLNVBp4VIYawCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/City_of_God_Manuscript.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Roman Empire was at its height in 117AD. Roman
culture, language, mannerisms, law, architecture, food, government, military
permeated the culture so deeply that Europe remained essentially
"Roman" for the next 2000 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire?fbclid=IwAR3uVbfeo4TrywO9nKqdAFigooM0RO94nvVrpo1MyJBGwIzyzw-bISArErM#/media/File:Roman_Empire_Trajan_117AD.png" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire...</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In 293 Diocletian split the Empire into four
quadrants, each ruled by an Emperor. This was called the Tetrarchy and was a
bureaucratic decision made to better manage the immense empire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTetrarchy%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2hE_UXPrH9IE1yzKQ8x_siE2RXF6wuk-Jv77o8HlDjmZ3_23X6KHo3gng&h=AT3W4J8AaFai3HzBbtfvwZ9-gK4aDBmZ6kjPZ3FU5bwqeGnpgD-Zz2TyTAJtbT-fEZQJrt0KLfBa9q2yK53fwHyCuviUsVVQ2AmvdR-sK9Nl82Wcy-NOeR2zAjXGf1Ow1A&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5b0%5d=AT2LDBsh8Uf-5CYXmjJiAvIaVOe_nvzoA2KCXE9JVSJaGMkxhIaQmyVqsWa6D_dNEPbIrQ-565My8YAXwFCsis-_3oZJlahqOif5dy_tEz-XCHm4peoddUerbWew6h-ZZH6odejPwcRr2Zy4_Fk2sQfoxX6RB5CcITIvs-5G8lIM5R7d5Bc_34oB7Q" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrarchy</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It didn't work, though, and the Empire eventually
dissolved into an Eastern hemisphere & a Western hemisphere. The East
remained strong and survived until the 1400s, but the West began to fall apart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JUugKIFIF8E/YIHmCWeis5I/AAAAAAAAD-I/2-t5YClgs5MsA4WdrGWpbWeAQOs-N3PpACLcBGAsYHQ/s886/St-Augustine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="886" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JUugKIFIF8E/YIHmCWeis5I/AAAAAAAAD-I/2-t5YClgs5MsA4WdrGWpbWeAQOs-N3PpACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/St-Augustine.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At the same time a movement called "The Way"
began to gain great support from the lower classes of Roman society. Followers
of "The Way" professed the Good News (Gospel) that all people were
loved by God regardless of sex, wealth, power, class, or past sins & that
all had been redeemed by the sacrifice of the blood of Christ (the anointed
one). They wrote down their accounts of Christ's life sometime in the 2nd
century AD but had no official creed, doctrine or churches and were deemed
illegal by Roman society.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGospel%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1z82MjiO7a6DLeOldPhSh6EzZrFKAZqnlWXZgXdfHPNRqrvF0N76dNgFs&h=AT0iexviPlk7Qce67B9LAHq94CdlTN_C-vZjooymoTsehim741ckfR6sz03ryHOjmEt1oCGTsxgZ_0zpXfS7Q9FswWaYG_JRpI8x4Hy-zm0fwwXdIwe0qbLyJ57z1OqpKQ&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5b0%5d=AT2LDBsh8Uf-5CYXmjJiAvIaVOe_nvzoA2KCXE9JVSJaGMkxhIaQmyVqsWa6D_dNEPbIrQ-565My8YAXwFCsis-_3oZJlahqOif5dy_tEz-XCHm4peoddUerbWew6h-ZZH6odejPwcRr2Zy4_Fk2sQfoxX6RB5CcITIvs-5G8lIM5R7d5Bc_34oB7Q" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Christians suffered great persecution under Roman law,
especially during the reign of Diocletian. Followers of the way were constantly
insulted (called "Christians" which at the time was a put down),
barred from office and denied jobs, arrested, fined, or executed in the
Colosseum by gladiators or beasts. It was rumored even that Christians
participated in cannibalism in their secret (mysterion) rituals.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDiocletianic_Persecution%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR04wuPU2oqQaYdnztqplYM5vlkm0inI5wlsGlMFkPDBQXMrVDnGrPCS22E&h=AT2yW-cQ2p7Cuk--pZLCCBgcTfNnKNTKTwbWIrA2oIwqMMJzhghOmdJogC6sGeTXTrHZIyeKVzc-wIzW_cRYZr5b71x9sPgAzfvAAh4Xaqcqbs78rYWQMRF2x2pWVheotQ&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5b0%5d=AT2LDBsh8Uf-5CYXmjJiAvIaVOe_nvzoA2KCXE9JVSJaGMkxhIaQmyVqsWa6D_dNEPbIrQ-565My8YAXwFCsis-_3oZJlahqOif5dy_tEz-XCHm4peoddUerbWew6h-ZZH6odejPwcRr2Zy4_Fk2sQfoxX6RB5CcITIvs-5G8lIM5R7d5Bc_34oB7Q" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletianic_Persecution</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nt-Wu_gKjsc/YIHmIPMjpjI/AAAAAAAAD-M/nnsomap6FkEGGv21EyhcWra3DwfDLUEmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/Saint%2BAugustine.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nt-Wu_gKjsc/YIHmIPMjpjI/AAAAAAAAD-M/nnsomap6FkEGGv21EyhcWra3DwfDLUEmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Saint%2BAugustine.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In 313, however, Constantine rose to power as ruler of
the whole Empire & he issued the Edict of Milan which made Christianity
legal within the Empire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEdict_of_Milan%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1hxCA_UlwjMM-Lj5b63JHk2hx2OEapgDl3rE2P0GYok4rzJi3rA7YUZjU&h=AT3OijXShozPjPZGoiaLcLaB8dlXG8AbUAp_1JbvqQpV3rwac6Pjw0cV2C-Z0OCMoE7cxA0qBlAeagj8lrr4T7_bZPSuUM28ew2fwEJkG44W6Qi0_8H8u-6WDP4gV2_uqg&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5b0%5d=AT2LDBsh8Uf-5CYXmjJiAvIaVOe_nvzoA2KCXE9JVSJaGMkxhIaQmyVqsWa6D_dNEPbIrQ-565My8YAXwFCsis-_3oZJlahqOif5dy_tEz-XCHm4peoddUerbWew6h-ZZH6odejPwcRr2Zy4_Fk2sQfoxX6RB5CcITIvs-5G8lIM5R7d5Bc_34oB7Q" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Milan</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Strands of Christianity professing different beliefs
continued within the Empire until the need arose to define what Christians
actually believed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In 325, Constantine called the Council of Nicaea which
clarified what Christians believed and produced the Nicen Creed which we still
say today. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFirst_Council_of_Nicaea%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1TsIV1PHSHCYiRwgv8YMYtPEE5qejgoAaiFoZKBPxRSOC8SY6CEzC-1NI&h=AT08PK4aJf1sinGrnZYTi9avLH8HlB4PMiOFvn_J_uobjOTLssu2G9G0rugAG99Onr5emOrZbdLEGQ-zcOaAObFtntCCFkQnvyGjK7-m1AdercPP-ZOuUvgABGmfnblQgQ&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5b0%5d=AT2LDBsh8Uf-5CYXmjJiAvIaVOe_nvzoA2KCXE9JVSJaGMkxhIaQmyVqsWa6D_dNEPbIrQ-565My8YAXwFCsis-_3oZJlahqOif5dy_tEz-XCHm4peoddUerbWew6h-ZZH6odejPwcRr2Zy4_Fk2sQfoxX6RB5CcITIvs-5G8lIM5R7d5Bc_34oB7Q" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Romans blamed Christianity for the steady decline of
Roman values in the West, invasions by barbarians, and general economic decline
citing both that Christianity sought to overturn the social system and exalt
the lower classes and that it angered the gods and drew down their disfavor.
This was confirmed for Romans in 410 when Alaric sacked the city of Rome. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our normal picture of the sack of Rome by Alaric is of
blue painted pagan barbarians with great horned helms and forked beards
slobbering their way toward a massive destruction and rape of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it seems that Alaric and his men were
neither pagan NOR barbarian as they were all Roman military trained; spoke
Latin, wore Latin dress, employed Latin mannerisms. They were part of the
auxilii (I think it was called) = the "native" troops trained to
protect and police the area under Roman command. According to <a href="http://worldhistory.org/?fbclid=IwAR1z82MjiO7a6DLeOldPhSh6EzZrFKAZqnlWXZgXdfHPNRqrvF0N76dNgFs" target="_blank">worldhistory.org</a> -<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"He (Alaric) commanded the Gothic
allies, fighting alongside the Romans at the Battle of River Frigidus in 394
CE, a battle waged between the eastern emperor Theodosius I and the western
usurper emperor Eugenius."<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So Alaric seems to have been a <a href="https://americanenglishdoctor.com/alaric-the-visigoth-was-a-christian/?fbclid=IwAR2Wg1JZDHSYo9uzSM1wiExoemfHE9K5BdTS1Rt0eblXzRbOAmvLEfkSgKE">Romanized Arian Christian</a>
who supported Theodosius (the legit emperor) against Eugenius (the usurping
emperor) and the Franks. After his service he was not recognized by the Senate
in any meaningful way even though he was the only real player in the Balkans at
the time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hilaire Belloc writes that the whole "sacking of
Rome" thingummy was that they descended on the capitol to demand back pay
(hadn't been paid in months) but were denied by the elitist and bureaucratic
senate and told to go home. They didn't (or at least, not until they had gotten
their pay in local goods stripped from the city - perhaps a few bonfires were
involved, too).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It makes for a great read:</span></p>
<p style="background: white;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">Alaric sat patiently, waiting for Stilicho to join him. Despite
his good intentions, Stilicho, however, was delayed due to problems elsewhere in
the west: the Gothic king Radagaisus invaded Italy; the <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Vandals/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="color: #b52600; text-decoration-line: none;">Vandals</span></b></a>, Alans, and Survi invaded
Gaul; and the future emperor <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Constantine/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="color: #b52600; text-decoration-line: none;">Constantine</span></b></a> III (a viable threat
to the throne) emerged victorious from <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/britain/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="color: #b52600; text-decoration-line: none;">Britain</span></b></a>. These setbacks made money
scarce and negotiations impossible. Alaric's patience wore thin, and his demand
for 4,000 pounds of gold (payment for his waiting) went unheard. As a result,
he began to slowly move his army closer to Italy. Although Stilicho wanted to
pay the demands, the <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Senate/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="color: #b52600; text-decoration-line: none;">Roman Senate</span></b></a>,
under the leadership of a war hawk named Olympius disagreed, and the Senate
considered Alaric's actions a declaration of war.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: white; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">With
Olympius' urging, the emperor decided to invade the east. Stilicho warned
against the emperor leading the army, choosing to lead an army himself. With
Stilicho away, Honorius and Olympius traveled to Ticinum, an Italian city just
south of Milan, supposedly to review the troops; however, Olympius, without the
permission of the emperor, ordered the killing of thousands of Gothic allies -
an action that further angered Alaric. A final fatality of this massacre was
Stilicho himself, who was accused of plotting with Alaric. As a result of this
treachery, over 10,000 soldiers defected and joined Alaric's army. In 408 CE
the Gothic army sacked the cities of Aquilea, Concordia, Altinum, Cremona,
Bononia, Ariminum, and Picenum, choosing, however, to avoid Ravenna, the
capital of the western empire and home of Emperor Honorius. Instead, Alaric set
his sights on Rome, surrounding all 13 gates of the city, blockading the Tiber
River and forcing widespread rationing; within weeks decaying corpses littered
the city streets.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">As additional forces came to Alaric's side,
Emperor Honorius did little to help the city and oppose Alaric. The Goths were
still viewed as barbarians and no match for the armies of the empire. Although
the treasury was virtually empty, the Senate finally succumbed, and wagons left
the city carrying two tons of gold, 13 tons of </span><a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Silver/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #b52600; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">silver</span></b></a></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">, 4,000 </span><a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Silk/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #b52600; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">silk</span></b></a></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;"> tunics, 3,000 fleeces, and 3,000 pounds of pepper. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">He had tried everything, even attempting to
name a sympathetic senator named Attalus appointed as a new </span><a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Emperor/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #b52600; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">Roman emperor</span></b></a></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;"> failed. He took Honorius's sister Galla Placidia
hostage but to no avail. An alliance asking for an annual payment of gold and
grain, as well as the provinces of Venetia, Noricum, and Dalmatia, was refused.
Alaric had few choices left, and on August 24, 410 CE, Alaric prepared to enter
the city; Rome had not been sacked since 390 BCE. When the Salarian Gate was
opened by an unnamed sympathizer, an army of “barbarians” entered Rome, and a
three-day pillage began. While the homes of the wealthy were plundered,
buildings burned, and pagan temples destroyed, St. Peter's and St. </span><a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Paul/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #b52600; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">Paul</span></b></a></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">'s were left untouched. Oddly, when Honorius heard that Rome
was perishing, he feared the worst - not because of his love of the city, but
because he believed his beloved fighting cock named Rome had been killed.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-imwizz9Y9Bg/YIHmNUtHZLI/AAAAAAAAD-U/52LXKE-HV1gATNn_kYNhNp-9hiW-2hbeACLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/Saint%2BAugustine%2B002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-imwizz9Y9Bg/YIHmNUtHZLI/AAAAAAAAD-U/52LXKE-HV1gATNn_kYNhNp-9hiW-2hbeACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Saint%2BAugustine%2B002.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Romans blamed Christianity for the sack of the city,
however, and for a great many other things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In response to this calumnious censure Saint Augustine
wrote his great work "The City of God" in which he defined two
competing visions of the world:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. the city of men - in which power, success, wealth
are the markers of a good life; but this city remains involved in an eternal
rotation of power in which decline and destruction are inevitable<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. the city of God - in which love, forgiveness, and
flourishing are the markers of a good life; this city is eternal and will
outlast all cities of men.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FThe_City_of_God%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2m0tZHbB-jW3WVIAnWGpBBldu8OJfu_Cp1P3LJ6n-5rDx_E-ksFLd0-_Y&h=AT1-YLM7Y3QAbKUwKCvKLYDfhqyDvWEU9mwZj_qq-iZp42LTZDCbWcUpVr41Eavg9-R2MrmmBGclGZXHzrljyqI-Sni_HXlnP_GaasegP1bUiDCRKq1C5Srfof0Kb1MCoQ&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5b0%5d=AT2LDBsh8Uf-5CYXmjJiAvIaVOe_nvzoA2KCXE9JVSJaGMkxhIaQmyVqsWa6D_dNEPbIrQ-565My8YAXwFCsis-_3oZJlahqOif5dy_tEz-XCHm4peoddUerbWew6h-ZZH6odejPwcRr2Zy4_Fk2sQfoxX6RB5CcITIvs-5G8lIM5R7d5Bc_34oB7Q" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_God</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The next 2000 years of European history (Medieval,
Renaissance, Enlightenment & Modern eras) will essentially be a constant
struggle between these two competing visions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As Eric Voegelin would phrase this struggle in the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, “We must not allow them to immanentize the eschaton”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the major events in European history
can be read through this lens of the struggle between the city of God and the
city of men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To attempt to bring about (immanentize)
heaven on earth (the eschaton) terrible and horrifying events have been
justified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it is necessary to
re-evaluate whether trying to make the city of men into the city of God is even
a possible thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-35649564134287266912021-02-15T10:35:00.008-06:002021-02-15T11:56:39.150-06:00Mark 7:34 - Ephphatha<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_bzimpmTMBI/YCqjbfEkzfI/AAAAAAAADj0/Nos9_-eOF-wTEQ5yYQmBlRXQ82zE0eF0gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Ephphatha003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_bzimpmTMBI/YCqjbfEkzfI/AAAAAAAADj0/Nos9_-eOF-wTEQ5yYQmBlRXQ82zE0eF0gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Ephphatha003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is an odd
linguistic moment in today's reading from Gospel Mk 7:31-37 that sticks out
like a giant stone in Ohio, displaced by a glacier.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Jesus left the
district of Tyre</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>and went by way
of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>into the
district of the Decapolis. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>And people
brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>and begged him
to lay his hand on him.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>He took him off
by himself away from the crowd. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>He put his
finger into the man’s ears<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>and, spitting,
touched his tongue;<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>then he looked
up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“Ephphatha!”
(that is, “Be opened!”)<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>And immediately
the man’s ears were opened,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>his speech
impediment was removed,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>and he spoke
plainly. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>He ordered them
not to tell anyone. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>But the more he
ordered them not to,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>the more they proclaimed
it. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>They were
exceedingly astonished and they said,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“He has done
all things well. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>He makes the
deaf hear and the mute speak.”</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">That Aramaic
word "<b>Ephphatha</b>" is particularly fascinating to me as it seems so out
of place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is used only once in the
entirety of the Bible, only by Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; text-align: center;">Strong's Number </span><strong style="background-color: #f9fafb; border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">G2188</strong><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; text-align: center;"> matches the Greek </span><span class="Gk" style="background-color: #f9fafb; border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: blbGentium; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">εφφαθα</span><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; text-align: center;"> (</span><em style="background-color: #f9fafb; border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">ephphatha</em><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; text-align: center;">), </span></span><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">which occurs 1 times in </span><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">1</span><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"> verses in the Greek concordance of the KJV</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Most commentators I've read suggest either</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><span style="font-size: x-large;">a. the evangelist was present at the scene and took play by play notes on everything Christ did...</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">b. the evangelist was emphasizing the original language of Christ in order to give some sort of meaning to his Greek speaking audience</span><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">These explanations seem weak to me. A better explanation might be that the author was including the word in a larger ritual of some sort and/or making a literary reference which we miss.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why for instance, does the
Christ “put his finger into the man’s ears” and why does he spit, touch his
(the man’s) tongue, and then look up to heaven?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is some sort of ceremony going on here to which we are not
party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is the Greek:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kai%5C&la=greek&can=kai%5C0&prior=%5d" target="morph">καὶ</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=a%29nable%2Fyas&la=greek&can=a%29nable%2Fyas0&prior=kai\" target="morph">ἀναβλέψας</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ei%29s&la=greek&can=ei%29s0&prior=a)nable/yas" target="morph">εἰς</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=to%5Cn&la=greek&can=to%5Cn0&prior=ei)s" target="morph">τὸν</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ou%29rano%5Cn&la=greek&can=ou%29rano%5Cn0&prior=to\n" target="morph">οὐρανὸν</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=e%29ste%2Fnacen&la=greek&can=e%29ste%2Fnacen0&prior=ou)rano\n" target="morph">ἐστέναξεν</a>, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kai%5C&la=greek&can=kai%5C1&prior=e)ste/nacen" target="morph">καὶ</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=le%2Fgei&la=greek&can=le%2Fgei0&prior=kai\" target="morph">λέγει</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=au%29tw%3D%7C&la=greek&can=au%29tw%3D%7C0&prior=le/gei" target="morph">αὐτῷ</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=*%29effaqa%2F&la=greek&can=*%29effaqa%2F0&prior=au)tw=|" target="morph">Ἐφφαθά</a>, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=o%28%2F&la=greek&can=o%28%2F0&prior=*)effaqa/" target="morph">ὅ</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=e%29stin&la=greek&can=e%29stin0&prior=o(/" target="morph">ἐστιν</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=*dianoi%2Fxqhti&la=greek&can=*dianoi%2Fxqhti0&prior=e)stin" target="morph">Διανοίχθητι</a>:<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQ7j-5-2oGw/YCqjbRDX0LI/AAAAAAAADjw/0pnqV4WNU_c0ocG1OT5FqfquPHyD7KQHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s675/Ephphatha001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="675" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQ7j-5-2oGw/YCqjbRDX0LI/AAAAAAAADjw/0pnqV4WNU_c0ocG1OT5FqfquPHyD7KQHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Ephphatha001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here is
Easton's Bible Dictionary</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Greek form
of a Syro-Chaldaic or Aramaic word, meaning "Be opened," uttered by
Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb (Mark 7:34). It is one of the
characteristics of Mark that he uses the very Aramaic words which fell from our
Lord's lips. (See 3:17; 5:41; 7:11; 14:36; 15:34.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">and</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">EPHPHATHA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">ef'-a-tha,
ef-a'-tha (Ephphatha):</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Aramaic word
used by Christ (Mark 7:34), the 'ethpa`al imperative of Aramaic pethach (Hebrew
pathach), translated, "Be (thou) opened"; compare Isaiah 35:5. The
Aramaic was the sole popular language of Palestine (Shurer, History of the
Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, IIg, 9) and its use shows that we
have here the graphic report of an eyewitness, upon whom the dialectic form
employed made a deep impression. This and the corresponding act of the touch
with the moistened finger is the foundation of a corresponding ceremony in the
Roman Catholic formula for baptism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">and this from
the Wikipedia entry of "Language of Jesus"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ephphatha (Ἐφφαθά)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">See also:
Healing the deaf mute of Decapolis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mark 7:34</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Once again, the
Aramaic word is given with the transliteration, only this time, the word to be
transliterated is more complicated. In Greek, the Aramaic is written <b>ἐφφαθά</b>.
This could be from the Aramaic ethpthaḥ, the passive imperative of the verb
pthaḥ, 'to open', since the th could assimilate in western Aramaic. The
pharyngeal ḥ was often omitted in Greek transcriptions in the Septuagint (Greek
Old Testament) and was also softened in Galilean speech.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lamar
Williamson writes that this is the last unit in a series of miracles concerned
with the identity of Jesus, as subsequently confirmed by the Apostle Peter's
christological affirmation in Mark 8:29, where Peter exclaimed: "You are
the Messiah".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two good
commentaries can be found here<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://catholicexchange.com/key-jesus-ministry-one-word-ephphatha?fbclid=IwAR02Fen8a3V-03cKca6klq2-W8Cv6GTPuBaR9ypzBooYYrhKifY5akrRyGg"><span style="font-size: large;">https://catholicexchange.com/key-jesus-ministry-one-word-ephphatha?fbclid=IwAR02Fen8a3V-03cKca6klq2-W8Cv6GTPuBaR9ypzBooYYrhKifY5akrRyGg</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">and here<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.turningtogodsword.com/ephphatha/?fbclid=IwAR1z9GMwTa1zxtH_e9sWtaYnRPwWNW4BKPBQ6Npt9OjzcH-xogXa9V9mzdU">http://www.turningtogodsword.com/ephphatha/?fbclid=IwAR1z9GMwTa1zxtH_e9sWtaYnRPwWNW4BKPBQ6Npt9OjzcH-xogXa9V9mzd</a> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">But looking at
the text more in detail why does the Christ first “look up”, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=a%29nable%2Fyas&la=greek&can=a%29nable%2Fyas0&prior=kai\" target="morph">ἀναβλέψας</a>, which is also to “open his eyes”?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">And why “look
up to heaven”, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=to%5Cn&la=greek&can=to%5Cn0&prior=ei)s" target="morph">τὸν</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ou%29rano%5Cn&la=greek&can=ou%29rano%5Cn0&prior=to\n" target="morph">οὐρανὸν</a>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it b/c
“God” is in heaven?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same image
appears in the play of Euripides, the Bacchae, when the blinding madness of the
queen/mother Agave leaves her and she realizes her crime of prolicide.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Kadmos</b><br />
Alas, alas! When you realize what you have done you will suffer a terrible
pain. But if you remain forever in the state you are in now, though hardly
fortunate, you will not imagine that you are unfortunate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Agave</b><br />
But what of these matters is not right, or what is painful?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Kadmos</b><br />
First cast your eye up to this sky.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Agave</b><br />
All right; why do you tell me to look at it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Kadmos</b><br />
Is it still the same, or does it appear to have changed?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Agave</b><br />
It is brighter than before and more translucent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Kadmos</b><br />
Is your soul still quivering?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Agave</b><br />
I don't understand your words. I have become somehow sobered, changing from my
former state of mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Was the act of
looking at the heavens something of a panacea for the “crime” of madness?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZD4Kt91Rh4/YCqjbT6IVzI/AAAAAAAADj4/zfA_vSZxdPMEbDH3_4C6KjcNaEXjXrKswCLcBGAsYHQ/s467/Ephphatha002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="467" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZD4Kt91Rh4/YCqjbT6IVzI/AAAAAAAADj4/zfA_vSZxdPMEbDH3_4C6KjcNaEXjXrKswCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Ephphatha002.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ziony Zevit, in
his article, "The Common Origin of the Aramaicized Prayer to Horus and of Psalm
20," has suggested that Psalm 20 has a close connection to a prayer to Horus in
Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/604527">https://www.jstor.org/stable/604527</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2020&version=NIV">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2020&version=NIV</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps there
are similar connections here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is <b>ethpthaḥ </b>any
relation to the Egyptian “Ptah”? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptah#Representations_and_hypostases">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptah#Representations_and_hypostases</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is the
“cleansing of the eye” at all related to the Egyptian concept of the Wadjet;
the eye of Horus, god of the sky?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PbntVq-6CIA/YCq1jg_bBnI/AAAAAAAADkE/q5vKlJ2Yy4IRam0tDAZxl1vplVc9CEEJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Opening%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bmouth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="402" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PbntVq-6CIA/YCq1jg_bBnI/AAAAAAAADkE/q5vKlJ2Yy4IRam0tDAZxl1vplVc9CEEJQCLcBGAsYHQ/w214-h320/Opening%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bmouth.jpg" title="A depiction of the opening of the mouth scene in the Tomb of Inherkha (TT359). New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty, ca. 1189-1077 BC. Deir el-Medina, West Thebes." width="214" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is the “cleansing,
or opening of the eye” related to the “<a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/religion/wpr2.html">opening of the mouth</a>” ceremony
from Egypt?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_of_the_mouth_ceremony"><span style="font-size: large;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_of_the_mouth_ceremony</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://egyptcentrecollectionblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/ritual-and-magic-in-ancient-egypt.html">https://egyptcentrecollectionblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/ritual-and-magic-in-ancient-egypt.html </a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Parts of this ceremony certainly appear in the Bible; <b>Psalm 51</b>, for instance</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">O Lord, open
thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+51&version=KJV"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+51&version=KJV</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">and <b>Psalm 119</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Open thou mine
eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119&version=KJV"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119&version=KJV</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why then does
he “sigh”, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=e%29ste%2Fnacen&la=greek&can=e%29ste%2Fnacen0&prior=ou)rano\n" target="morph">ἐστέναξεν</a>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same
image of breath coming forth from the body is the ruah of YHWH working to
create the world in Genesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God
breathed life into the nostrils of man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet this ruah is ascending to heaven almost like a votive smoke of some
kind.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then comes the
imperative, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=*%29effaqa%2F&la=greek&can=*%29effaqa%2F0&prior=au)tw=|" target="morph">Ἐφφαθά</a>, “be opened”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-37336496193868938622020-07-02T14:21:00.000-05:002020-07-02T14:25:03.263-05:00Men and Minotaurs<div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">Dr. Jordan Peterson has always been very adamant about the idea that we have to refrain from isolating bad men and evil actions as something other than ourselves; to approach our own self-examination with caution and w/o the tendency to think of our own lives as pillars of virtue or exemplars of civilized men. "There but for the grace of God" - exactly. </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"Gnothi seauton" as the Greeks quipped; "know yourself". The task of paradox (as our man, Chesterton wrote) is a difficult one, though, b/c at the same time we have to refrain from such siloed and Pharisaical thinking, don't we also have to be able to recognize evil in the world? Do we not have to be able to spot monsters as monsters? For instance, to say that Kermit Gosnell is monstrous recognizes the evil in which he was engaged (in aborting babies) and yet to spot that Gosnell was probably like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22nathanson.html">B.N.Nathanson</a> = a deeply wounded man who suffered as every other human suffered seems to contradict this monstrous quality to his personality. Norma McCorvey, whose convictions about Jesus and about abortion developed over time, engaged in monstrous actions too - suffered for it - recognized after time how she also had been used and converted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Humans are never simple. "Of all strange things in the world, mankind is the most strange."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I just finished watching "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-Child-Nation-Nanfu-Wang/dp/B07YM4DCVJ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=one+child+nation&qid=1593717341&sr=8-1">One Child Nation</a>" about the Chinese abortion/forced sterilization program that resulted in murder, violation of basic rights, and human trafficking on a global scale. Yet everyone interviewed expressed their own helplessness and sorrow at the same time as professing the goodness of the program. What? Even at the end of the program the narrator/interviewer/producer equivocated the Chinese program with the US program that prevents women from choosing abortion. That seemed a very odd conclusion to make, but humans are never simple. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"What is man that you should care for him? Mortal man that you should come to him?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">THAT I think is the power of artwork - to make us reflect on ourselves, how we fit into this human thing, and what the scope of strangeness the human thing covers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Anagogy</b>. <span style="color: #202122;">(ἀναγωγή)</span><span style="color: #202122;">, a "climb" or "ascent" upwards. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">...facilis descensus Averno;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;</span></div>
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sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,</div>
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hoc opus, hic labor est. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My father used to say that, of <a href="https://www.irregardlessmagazine.com/articles/dante-and-the-4-levels-of-literary-interpretation/">the four levels of meaning in art</a>, anagogy was the real goal; "the goal of all art is anagogy" - prompting us to reflect on our own role in similar situations (and thus the realism in art). I think both highly symbolic art (such as Beowulf) and highly realistic art (such as Crime & Punishment, or Emma, or Grapes of Wrath) and even hyperbolic art (such as A Good Man is Hard to Find, or The Trial, or even The Jungle or Lord of the Flies) prompt such reflection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If such prompting, though, is accident and force rather than reflection and choice, we have a problem. This is the point about "symbolism" I was trying to get at during our discussion. The action of one man killing another is an action (whether he be a white cop killing a black man, or a black haberdasher killing an oriental deli worker) - it becomes symbolic when it is recorded (in paint, song, artwork or video), edited (so we see only what the editor wants us to see) and repeated (until we utter it as mantra that two legs are bad and four are good).* </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In that case the "mighty upheaval" that breaks the historic tectonic plates apart is more damaging than helpful - more Krakatoa than continental drift. And though the upheaval may be in response to unloving choices, or to government oppression, or to injustice of some kind, it may also be orchestrated upheaval designed to scour away the old way and usher in the new glorious revolution of next Tuesday; the spark to ignite the preconditioned powder keg. Who orchestrates, I wonder? Who prepares the way? Yuri Bezmenov has some distinct ideas in answer to such questions prompting us to look a bit further than what might have been mere incompetence or racism:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9TviIuXPSE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9TviIuXPSE</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Truth can speak to power and bring about an end to the injustices of the world; a standing up to the tanks, a defiance of the demand to join the Nazi army, or a regret of having only one life to give for your country. And though sometimes the event that leads to "the mighty upheaval" might result in a better world (though whether a better middle east now exists is another subject of discussion) a Manchurian incident, or a dismissal of Necker, or a shooting of vam Rath might also result in a Rape of Nanking, a Reign of Terror, or a Kristallnacht. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A multitude primed for inflammation is a dangerous multitude indeed & if we are to ask "who would I be, Chauvin or Floyd?" we must also ask "who would I be, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Guan Guangjing </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">or </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Japanese Imperial army</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">? Marie Antoinette or Danton? Ruth Winkelmann or Joseph Goebbels?" It is easy enough to rejoice in Sidney Carton's self sacrifice and claim affinity and nobility of how we would act in a similar situation. It is far harder to wrestle with the idea that, if we had to choose between betraying our family & convictions and saving our own hide we might prove more like the Minotaur than the Man from Athens. Perhaps this is why Tiresias says to Oedipus "You. You are the man. The source of all pollution."</span></div>
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<a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=e%29nne%2Fpw&la=greek&can=e%29nne%2Fpw0&prior=a)/lhqes" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;">ἐννέπω</a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=se%5C&la=greek&can=se%5C1&prior=e)nne/pw" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;">σὲ</a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=tw%3D%7C&la=greek&can=tw%3D%7C0&prior=se\" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;">τῷ</a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=khru%2Fgmati&la=greek&can=khru%2Fgmati0&prior=tw=|" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;">κηρύγματι</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=w%28%3D%7Cper&la=greek&can=w%28%3D%7Cper0&prior=khru/gmati" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">ᾧπερ</a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"> </span><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=proei%3Dpas&la=greek&can=proei%3Dpas0&prior=w(=|per" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">προεῖπας</a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"> </span><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=e%29mme%2Fnein&la=greek&can=e%29mme%2Fnein0&prior=proei=pas" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">ἐμμένειν</a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">, </span><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ka%29f%27&la=greek&can=ka%29f%270&prior=e)mme/nein" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">κἀφ᾽</a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"> </span><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=h%28me%2Fras&la=greek&can=h%28me%2Fras0&prior=ka)f%27" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">ἡμέρας</a></span></div>
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<a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=th%3Ds&la=greek&can=th%3Ds0&prior=h(me/ras" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">τῆς</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=nu%3Dn&la=greek&can=nu%3Dn1&prior=th=s" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">νῦν</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=prosauda%3Dn&la=greek&can=prosauda%3Dn0&prior=nu=n" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">προσαυδᾶν</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=mh%2Fte&la=greek&can=mh%2Fte0&prior=prosauda=n" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">μήτε</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=tou%2Fsde&la=greek&can=tou%2Fsde0&prior=mh/te" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">τούσδε</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=mh%2Ft%27&la=greek&can=mh%2Ft%270&prior=tou/sde" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">μήτ᾽</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=e%29me%2F&la=greek&can=e%29me%2F0&prior=mh/t%27" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">ἐμέ</a>,</div>
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<a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=w%28s&la=greek&can=w%28s1&prior=e)me/" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;"></a><a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=w%28s&la=greek&can=w%28s1&prior=e)me/" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">ὡς</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=o%29%2Fnti&la=greek&can=o%29%2Fnti0&prior=w(s" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">ὄντι</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=gh%3Ds&la=greek&can=gh%3Ds0&prior=o)/nti" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">γῆς</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=th%3Dsd%27&la=greek&can=th%3Dsd%270&prior=gh=s" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">τῆσδ᾽</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=a%29nosi%2Fw%7C&la=greek&can=a%29nosi%2Fw%7C0&prior=th=sd%27" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">ἀνοσίῳ</a> <a class="gmail-text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=mia%2Fstori&la=greek&can=mia%2Fstori0&prior=a)nosi/w|" style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">μιάστορι</a>.<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Lord Jesus, let me know myself and know You,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And desire nothing save only You.</span></div>
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Let me hate myself and love You.</div>
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Let me do everything for the sake of You.</div>
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Let me humble myself and exalt You.</div>
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Let me think of nothing except You.</div>
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Let me die to myself and live in You.</div>
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Let me accept whatever happens as from You.</div>
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Let me banish self and follow You,</div>
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And ever desire to follow You.</div>
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Let me fly from myself and take refuge in You,</div>
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That I may deserve to be defended by You.</div>
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Let me fear for myself, let me fear You,</div>
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And let me be among those who are chosen by You.</div>
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Let me distrust myself and put my trust in You.</div>
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Let me be willing to obey for the sake of You.</div>
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Let me cling to nothing save only to You,</div>
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And let me be poor because of You.</div>
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Look upon me, that I may love You.</div>
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Call me that I may see You,</div>
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And forever enjoy You.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Amen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">—<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">St. Augustine of Hippo</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">*read John Berger and Marshall MacLuhan on this subject</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuCw8UT5y6c">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuCw8UT5y6c</a> </div>
Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-5556722687627551642020-06-27T16:03:00.000-05:002020-06-27T16:03:01.830-05:00The Wasteland part V: What the Thunder Said<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-16199213811120142532020-06-27T16:01:00.002-05:002020-06-27T16:01:48.440-05:00The humors of whiskey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Let your quacks and newspapers be cuttin' their capers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And curing the vapors the scratch and the gout<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With their medical potions, their pills and their lotions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Upholding their notions, they're mighty put out<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Who can tell the true physics of all things pathetic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And pitch to the devil, cramp, colic and spleen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You'll know it I think if you take a big drink<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With your mouth to the brink of a jug of poteen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So stick to the cratur' the best thing in nature<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For drowning your sorrows and raising your joys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh what moderation gives hope to a nation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Can give consolation like poteen me boys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">No liquid cosmetic to lovers athletic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Or ladies pathetic can give such a bloom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As the sweet by the powers in the garden of flowers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">E'er gave their own bowers such a darling perfume<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And this liquid so rare if you willingly share<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To be taking your hair when it's frizzled and dead<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh the sod has the merit to yield the true spirit<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So strong it will shake all the hairs from your head<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So stick to the cratur' the best thing in nature<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For drowning your sorrows and raising your joys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh since its perfection, no doctor's direction<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Can cleanse the complexion like poteen me boys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As a child in me cradle, the nurse from her ladle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Was swillin her mouth with a notion of Pep<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When a drop from her bottle fell into my throttle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I capered and scrambled right out of her lap<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On the floor I lay crawlin' and screaming and bawling<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">'Til me mother and father were called to the fore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">All sobbing and sighing they feared I was dying<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">They found I was only crying for more<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So stick to the cratur' the best thing in nature<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For drowning your sorrows and raising your joys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh lord how I'd chuckle if babes in their truckle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Could only be suckled on poteen me boys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Through youthful digressions and times of depression<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">My childhood's impression still clung to my mind<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And at school or at college, the basis of knowledge<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I never could gulp 'til with whiskey combined<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And as older I'm growing times e'er bestowin'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On Erin's potation, a flavor so fine;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And how ere they may lecture on Jove and his nectar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Itself is the only true liquid divine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So stick to the cratur' the best thing in nature<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For drowning your sorrows and raising your joys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh lord, 'tis the right thing for courting and fighting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There's naught so exciting as poteen me boys<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
Come guess me this riddle: what beats pipes and fiddle?<br />
What's hotter than mustard and wilder than cream?<br />
What best wets your whistle? What's clearer than crystal?<br />
What's sweeter than honey and stronger than steam?<br />
<br />
What will make the dumb talk? What will make the lame walk?<br />
The elixir of life and philospher's stone<br />
And what helped Mr. Brunel to dig the Thames Tunnel?<br />
Wasn't it poteen from ould Inishowen?<br />
<br />
So stick to the cratur' the best thing in nature<br />
For drowning your sorrows and raising your joys<br />
Oh lord, it's no wonder, if lightning and thunder<br />
Was made from the plunder of poteen me boys.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-25240061695409592662019-05-24T16:10:00.000-05:002019-05-24T16:11:04.865-05:00Limbo Rocks!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cc/Limbo_Box_Art.jpg/220px-Limbo_Box_Art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="220" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cc/Limbo_Box_Art.jpg/220px-Limbo_Box_Art.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I find myself again
thinking about the video game Limbo created by studio Playdead. The game
involves your character, a young boy, wakening in a dark wood alone and then
journeying through a dark world in order to find his sister. Along the
way the little boy encounters all sorts of hostile traps, a William
Golding-esque tribe of little boys out to kill him (with a worm-infected Piggy
drowning in front of him), and a giant Ungoliant-like spider dogging his
steps. Eventually he avoids the traps, tribes and spider and comes to the
end of his journey, naked and alone, to meet a female figure (presumably his
sister) playing in the dirt beneath a treehouse. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://playdead.com/css/img/limbo/LIMBO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://playdead.com/css/img/limbo/LIMBO.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">An excellent analysis of
the game is posted by Jake Vander Ende at <a href="https://asherald.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/thesis-limbo-is-dantes-inferno/?unapproved=757&moderation-hash=0391944a5cddbf921328191b6837139a#comment-757">Aletheia's Herald</a> in which the author
recognizes the game as a trope of Dante Alighieri's great work "The
Inferno". Vander Ende notes rightly the strong correlation of the
opening of the game with Dante's opening cantos awakening in a dark wood.
Further, the somber and violent nature of the game strengthen the connection
between the two works. Also he notes the river crossings and marshes as
similar in setting to the river crossing of Acheron and the marsh areas of
upper Hell. Vander Ende also seems correct in noting the transition
midway through the game to a violent mechanized cityscape as similar to the
transition into lower Hell through the gates of Dis. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I very much agree with
these connections. The game seems very intentionally troping all these
powerful images from Dante. I don't entirely agree, though with Vander
Ende's comparison of the spider to the beast, Cerberus - despite the
"feeding of earth" to both creatures. Cerberus is a monster of threes
(three heads) while the spider is a monster of eights (eight leg).
Moreover, Cerberus is a dog; a very different iconic image than the arachnid
image in Limbo. Also, Cerberus is the first but not the only giant monster encountered in the work; Geryon and Satan himself come to mind. Finally, though matter is thrown into the maw of
Cerberus, the spider is crushed by the rock. These seem too distinct to
reach a good comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple128/v4/9a/dc/d3/9adcd330-942f-f739-93c6-e5218a3b5bb9/pr_source.png/643x0w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="643" height="200" src="https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple128/v4/9a/dc/d3/9adcd330-942f-f739-93c6-e5218a3b5bb9/pr_source.png/643x0w.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The article at Aletheia's
Herald also compares the butterfly to Virgil. Though they have similar
characteristics (the guiding nature of each, the connection to the female
figures of Beatrice and the sister, and the "living" characteristics
of both the Latin poet and the bug) I don't think they can be made an
identity. Further, Virgil in Dante's poem is in Limbo and is called out
by Beatrice to reach Dante. Nevertheless, Virgil remains a permanent
resident in Limbo and vanishes at some point during the second of the three
Cantiche. This, I think, excludes the butterfly, a non-human figure
symbolizing immortality, from fully embodying the Virgil image. Moreover,
the butterfly is traditionally seen as the image of the soul emerged from its
sleep (in the chrysalis) - transformation from being trapped in darkness to
resurrection into life. Therefore it may be a reminder but isn't
necessarily a guide.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally, Vander Ende
writes that during Act III of the game <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"You no longer have
angry people defending their territory or whatever, but instead you
have pure mechanisms of wanton violence designed to obliterate
everything animate and inanimate in their path"</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Also, the game's traps
become brobdignagian in size suggesting the titanic forces of Dante's giants
near the last rings of hell and the giant figure of Satan himself. Vander
Ende writes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"the 9th circle
is ringed by giants, just as the end of the game is marked with huge gears that
dwarf the main character and are never completely visible on screen because of
their size. The gears are essentially automaton giants guarding
the final areas of the game..."</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Though I think Vander
Ende is spot on in seeing the parallels between the two works, and undoubtedly
much of Dante is filtered through the designers into the game, I think the key
is in the fact that the images are “filtered”.
This process seems to be how great art is made. Bad art is like a photocopy – it tries to
make a direct parallel between itself and some other great work; like putting a
piece of literature onto the screen and slavishly repeating every line from the
book verbatim. As Tolkien himself noted
this sort of thing is not possible. A
depiction, like a translation, is a form of interpretation. The images inevitably contribute something
new to the meaning, alter the iconography, tell their own story and if the
artist refuses to acknowledge this their art inevitably becomes inferior. If, however, an artist uses the imagery of a
great work to tell their own story they are exercising what Bernard Batto
speaks of in his work “Slaying the Dragon” as mythopoeic speculation. Here the little boy slays his own Dragon of sorts, but he does not do so in an identical way to Dante's method of journeying through words back to the light - in fact the game is conscientiously without dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.31828.70505351891869244.31919849-717c-43fc-978a-de5dbc419999.bc9889f5-0d6c-4076-a942-8c22bb7b9eb6?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://store-images.s-microsoft.com/image/apps.31828.70505351891869244.31919849-717c-43fc-978a-de5dbc419999.bc9889f5-0d6c-4076-a942-8c22bb7b9eb6?mode=scale&q=90&h=1080&w=1920" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Consequently, though the
developers of the game seem to use many elements from Dante and in fact might
base a majority of their story structure and imagery on Inferno, the game seems
to be telling a slightly different story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So what story is it the
game is telling?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.g2a.com/newlayout/600x337/1x1x0/514d2b0f528e/590dfef9ae653a574d603854" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="179" src="https://images.g2a.com/newlayout/600x337/1x1x0/514d2b0f528e/590dfef9ae653a574d603854" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Some clues to consider:
The black and white nature of the game seems to indicate a clash of opposites;
duality; matter and spirit, male and female, like the yin and yang of the tao. The rain and constant water imagery seem to
hint at feminine forces in the unconscious dreamworld of sleep or death. The violent images do seem to increase during
the course of the story moving from childish fears of spiders, heights, and traps
to malicious fellow humans and finally the impersonal violence enacted on us by
in impartial world. There does seem to
be a movement from natural to more mechanical threats as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The butterfly has a
connection to the soul and the soul’s flight toward perfection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The youth of the boy and
his sister seem to indicate the soul as well since the image of the young
maiden/youth, “kore” in Greek, traditionally represents the soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The brain worms seem to
suggest a perpetuity of the puerile and zombielike activity of youth – the worm
being the first of three forms of metamorphosis of the butterfly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://playdead.com/css/img/limbo/screenshots/thumbs/LIMBO_02_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="300" src="https://playdead.com/css/img/limbo/screenshots/thumbs/LIMBO_02_thumb.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Perhaps, then, one solution
to the game is tied into the term “Limbo” itself. Though the game seems to parallel Dante, it
is not a Hell but a perpetual grey day – trapped doing the same thing again and
again and returning to the spot you thought you left. The journey for the boy, then, seems to be to
escape Limbo lest it be Hell. He, like
Dante, goes through an interior journey personal to himself into which the
nuisances, threats, and fears of the exterior world manifest as lethal dreamlike
images. Broken from his beloved self,
the rational, masculine, conscious side (indicated by the glowing eyes) journeys
through this world of images, striving to survive, and reunite with its feminine,
irrational, contemplative, subconscious side.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Orpheus seeks his Eurydice,
Dante seeks his Beatrice. In each image
the rational is insufficient; deprived of its spiritual feminine element,
deprived of love and desire, it falls into a routine, then into a despair, then
into a spiritual death. Days pass into
days and all life seems meaningless.
This is the story of the Fisher King, who is wounded in its sexuality,
suffering the dolorous stroke, and whose lands fall into parched ruin. This is the rain, image of the feminine, that
falls from the divine realm and heals the land of T.S.Eliot’s “Wasteland”. This is the transformation by means of rain
of the red wheelbarrow of William Carlos Williams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our hearts long for wholeness,
for home (the treehouse), call it “god” or call it “Beatrice” – for Dante one
simply led to the next, ever opening into greater repeated forms. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord,” wrote
Augustine, “and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” When we no longer see the glory and beauty of
life, when we are no longer in love with the world around us, things become
dull, lifeless, grey and repetitive.
Shakespeare’s character, <a href="https://owlcation.com/humanities/Hamlets-1st-Soliloquy">Hamlet</a>, experiencing this condition bemoans;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable<br />
Seem to me all the uses of this world!<br />
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,<br />
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature<br />
Possess it merely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At that point of
existence we see nothing but cold rain, violence from other people, the random
machinations of a hostile world. The
world becomes, as John Paul II said, “a bad night in a bad hotel.” Limbo.
And in such a state, should we “die”, the world would become Hell. Even Dante himself recognized this perilous state. Having suffered defeat at the hands of <a href="https://www.florenceinferno.com/guelphs-and-ghibellines/">the Black Guelphs</a>, having been banished from his native Florence and having seen
all his political aspirations fallen into the sewer he might have been close to
despair. The Inferno suggests his
condition on the brink of suicide through linguistic parallels between his
opening cantos and the cantos containing the wood of the suicides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://img.wonderhowto.com/img/02/89/63450388051763/0/limbo-developer-playdead-studios-buys-its-freedom-back-from-their-investors.1280x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="800" height="150" src="https://img.wonderhowto.com/img/02/89/63450388051763/0/limbo-developer-playdead-studios-buys-its-freedom-back-from-their-investors.1280x600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The trick, then, is to
try to get back home; to be born again and see the world as “charged with the grandeur
of God.” Such a return would unite the
subconscious with the conscious. The
game’s ending suggests a tree house still intact. The recognition of the girl to the boy’s
presence doesn’t seem to be startlement as much as breathless anticipation. The last scene is suffused with light. The boy falls through, not a glass window,
but a skein of water – sideways – as though emerging from the birth canal into
the world. Even the comparison of the
boy waking up in the first woods compared to the last seems to suggest an
ending that reunites the two. The first
woods is lonely and hostile. The second
is peaceful and culminates in the feminine love interest. The boy travels uphill to meet the girl,
symbolizing his journey up toward the light.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seen from this
perspective I am reminded of St Teresa of Avila’s statement that “In light of
heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than
one night in an inconvenient hotel.” The
boy and the girl together seem to escape this Limbo hotel, barely passing out
of the grinding gears of ever lowering death – just as, in the dance, the bar
is lowered - into life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo_(dance)">(The Limbo) dance is also used as a funeral dance and may be related to the African legba or legua dance."Consistent with certain African beliefs, the dance reflects the whole cycle of life....The dancers move under a pole that is gradually lowered from chest level and they emerge on the other side as their heads clear the pole as in the triumph of life over death".</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the last scene, then,
years in the future, the house is in ruins and what seems to be the graves of
the children or child lie beneath it.
But the scene is suffused with light.
And since it is the last scene in this Limbo world of perpetual sorrow,
the significance seems to be that the children haven’t died but have passed,
finally, from death into real life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I certainly enjoyed reading Vander Ende's article as it sparked again in me an interest in this game. Now I must go replay it; and play the second of their creations - Inside.</span></div>
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Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-44149118241421973682019-03-12T23:51:00.002-05:002019-03-12T23:57:36.851-05:00Scribble Bibble at Anchor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://davelafferty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dante.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://davelafferty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dante.jpeg" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="479" height="320" width="256" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Don't be cringing and shy!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Come here my new podcast. Here it is. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jump in and learn something.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://anchor.fm/william-j-lasseter/episodes/Ep001-The-Dark-Wood-e3enut#_=_">Scribble Bibble</a> at Anchor</span></div>
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://anchor.fm/william-j-lasseter/embed" width="400px"></iframe>
Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-72764012307089100132019-03-09T15:55:00.002-06:002019-03-09T15:55:28.722-06:00Lancelot and the Grail<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/82ZzUG0Bu6s/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/82ZzUG0Bu6s?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-64061830283381320262018-07-18T11:15:00.001-05:002018-07-18T11:15:13.504-05:00The Mathisen Corollary: How John Carter and others travel to Mars . . .<a href="http://mathisencorollary.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-john-carter-and-others-travel-to.html?spref=bl">The Mathisen Corollary: How John Carter and others travel to Mars . . .</a>: At least according to the accounts recorded by John Carter and Ulysses Paxton, the way you transpor...Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-63122531314028767852017-01-05T12:13:00.002-06:002017-04-18T12:35:15.248-05:00Abecedarian Prayer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ugVFfUkHP1Q/WG6MtdQKdfI/AAAAAAAABpQ/pFUA91GMBZMO_RUMAzvIknRHOFKyX9YVQCLcB/s1600/mariner-watersnakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ugVFfUkHP1Q/WG6MtdQKdfI/AAAAAAAABpQ/pFUA91GMBZMO_RUMAzvIknRHOFKyX9YVQCLcB/s320/mariner-watersnakes.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Abecedarian Prayer</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All these grand poetic ideas that<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Bask in the salt sea of idolatrous<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cacophony; they swell against, they<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Deluge the cranium, they wriggle like<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Eels in the ear, somehow, I don’t know, they<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Find their way there & down through the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gut to the realms of emotion, sorrow,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Heartache and fear; the Moriadark where<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I”, the essence of man, echoes from the walls<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jocosely gibbering, “what is man?” -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Kilowatts!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Libations!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Murmurations!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nor in the dark comes immediate answer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“O, worm!” (evoking the vocative) he prays,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Pray for us sinners who long for the song to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Quit this mortal sphere.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Righteousness is but a pithy quip,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Simple for the innocent,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Terrifying for the cave dweller.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unlike The God we evade rectitude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Verily, who is righteous but God alone?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“What is man that you should grant to him a<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Xiphos, keen and bright with which to free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ygdrassil of all these grand poetic eels,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Zygons of an innocent age?”</span><br />
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Abecedarius Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04389853679255968995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-67301592582052409742013-01-08T11:12:00.001-06:002016-11-12T22:14:19.625-06:00A cool gif of the Tao<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ba-Gua_animated.gif" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration: initial;"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" height="300" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Ba-Gua_animated.gif" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); vertical-align: middle;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's coming down. This time for permanent. Enjoy this gif. Sayonara.</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-31639439361418752932010-02-02T19:07:00.000-06:002011-09-06T18:45:07.729-05:00Scribble Bibble Coming Down<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;">I'm tired of all this and will be taking down any significant posts. Possibly for publication, I don't know, but I'm generally tired of maintaining this blog. After I finish taking down the articles and transferring them to a word processor I'm going to delete this blog.</span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-34600254269100957282009-12-01T15:16:00.000-06:002011-09-06T18:45:07.843-05:00Fagles and the Closed Circle<p align="justify"><a href="http://www.reclusland.com/misc/eagle_serpent.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 329px; float: left; height: 238px;" alt="" src="http://www.reclusland.com/misc/eagle_serpent.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />I was struck this time around teaching Aeschylus of the remarkable nature of this play. Robert Fagles in his illuminative commentary, </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=YWJDsp1YhqsC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=serpent+and+the+eagle+fagles&source=bl&ots=ocVmVxn_8l&sig=5dpgTcIJO0NMT2bg_PB8gfcPpXw&hl=en&ei=4YoVS6nsGY3qMfHyxbgG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false"><span style="font-size:130%;">"Serpent and the Eagle"</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">, claims that the <strong>Oresteia</strong> stands as one of the two greatest works of the golden age (the second being Phidias' Parthenon). Indeed, when one considers the problem of, as Fagles calls it, the perpetual cycle of human barbarity then the <strong>Oresteia</strong> offers a solution that is unique in history and pivotal to the development of Western thought.<br /><br />When I teach the work I always begin by reflecting on the idea that drama originated as a bloodless representation of the bloody sacrifice of a goat or man for the sake of the city. The cathartic experience of seeing another living creature die for the sake of the city's sin, literally of witnessing a "scape goat", cannot be underestimated in the modern world. We all still need this cathartic experience which, as Walker Percy points out, seems to elevate us out of our daily life of complacent normalcy. Thus we still go for thrills at amusement parks, sports, movies, games, anything to jolt us out of the dull greyness of life. For those witnessing this early form of ritual violence the result must have been powerful.<br /><br />But for the victim it was probably no bed of roses. Thus the myth that the goat sang a song of sorrow before being killed; a goat (<em>tragos</em>) song (<em>oidos</em>) that led to the tragedy (<em>tragoidos</em>) of later civilization. Tragedy became the bloodless representation of the bloody ceremony of death that prompts catharsis. The same jolt could be had through seeing simulated violence instead of seeing real violence and thus a civilization gained the merits of the cathartic experience without the barbarity of bloodshed that disrupts with its inevitable consequences. Mythologically, some god must surely have sent this bloodless substitute. Thus Dionysus, it was said, granted to Athens the Dionysiad; the week-long religious festival of dramatic performance. What began as a single chorus chanting the sorrowful dirges of death (perhaps as accompaniment to the impending sacrifice) evolved at some point to a chorus and a single actor (named Thespis for the sake of argument and thus "thespians"); this evolved again into chorus and several speakers and eventually into several individual characters as we have in modern drama.<br /><br />The tragoidoi were, however, much more like modern religious ritual than modern entertainment. Just as in the modern Mass of the Catholic Church a single speaker (the priest) would lead a chorus (the congregation) in a series of movements, setting, dress, music, and words all designed to create a mythological world separate from daily experience and reinforcing the idea of a greater or elevated reality to human existence. (As a side soap box, the Church used to have, therefore, beautiful music, robes, incense, lighting, a dress code all in existence to create this separate world. Modern Catholicism abandons all this and so losees the whole sense of drama as ritualized transcendence. But that is another issue).<br /><br />Aeschylus' plays are not too far removed from the chorus and one or two speakers of earlier drama. His play is still a religious iteration of the reality underlying human existence (like someone writing down the words of the Mass read by later generations). <strong>Oresteia</strong>, Fagles says, is a dramatic retelling of an eternal human story of death and rebirth; a movement from darkness into light. Yet the play also answers the age old question of what to do with human violence.<br /><br />The problem with our race is that our default state of thought is tribal; we think first and foremeost in terms of The Tribe. Most of our history is a bloody business of violence and retaliation which emerges primarily from thinking in terms of ourselves as members of a tribe rather than of a polis, or city. Tribe does not mean just primitive societies such as Africa or Indians of Brazil or natives of Borneo, nor is tribe merely a question of sanguinity; "our kin". Rather it is a way of thinking about the world that keeps us primitive and violent<br /><br />I refer, here, to the analysis of David Pryce-Jones in his study of the Middle East, "The Closed Circle". Pryce-Jones sets out three main criteria that distinguish tribal thought from polity thought. Tribal thinking consists of<br /><br />1. "our group" greater than "their group"; us vs. them; we are blessed and they are damned<br />2. honor and the gaining of honor as the driving force of society; all is justified in the acquisition of honor<br />3. coersion as the main force to influence those w/in the tribe; force or violence<br /><br />All lead to greater violence, retaliation, and more violence. The constant violence in Palestine, Afghanistan and Africa; the gang wars in Los Angeles and Chicago; the bloodshed in Japan all emerge from this form of thinking. How to break this? Can one break this especially since it goes back to the neolithic era or beyond? The cycle of violence seems perpetual; something ingrained in us from the dawn of rational humans. We specialize in slaughtering one another. Nor is our slaughter ended simply by sending Jimmy Carter to the Middle East.<br /><br />Aeschylus' play suggests, to the contrary, that the perpetual cycle of human barbarity can be overcome.<br /><br />Yet it can only be conquered by a radical shift in thought. First recognizing that this bloody cycle is a reality, is perpetual, and emerges from thinking in terms of the tribe. Second, Aeschylus suggests that the cycle can be overcome only by triumphing over "the barbarian latent in ourselves"; the hubristic capacity to commit all manner of horrors. This violence is a form of barbarism antithetical to civilization, yet within every person - everyone is capable of committing horrors. Only by triumphing over the barbarian w/in can we possibly break the cycle of violence. But how is this triumph over ourselves accomplished?<br /><br />Aeschylus suggests, according to Fagles, that it is done by compassion and lasting self-control. The first, compassion, is loving your neighbor as yourself, seeing the annointed image of God in your neighbor. The second, lasting self-control, is pulling the plank out of our own eyes before taking the splinter out of our neighbor's eye. It must be lasting - like the alcoholic realizing he is an alcoholic must take steps against his disease and refrain, for the rest of his life, from drinking. So too the person wanting to conquer this barbarism must act upon love, realize he has been bought at a great price, and continually control himself from acting contrary to this love.<br /><br />The serpent of our tribal barbarian, loathsome, close to the earth, inhuman in its reptilian coldness, has to be conquered by the eagle of our political self, immortal, autonomous, angelic. Only this conquering of the serpent in us, this movement out of darkness to light, from earth bound slavery in sin to the freedom of the new dawn, only this is a solution to what otherwise would prove a lasting servitude of horror and blood. This remarkable insight on the part of Aeschylus at the dawn of the Golden Age of Athens, even if it didn't take root in the Athens that was eventually defeated by Sparta at the end of the Polyponnesian war, nevertheless paved the way for the greater and more powerful mythology that was to dominate Europe for over 2000 years, which was to alter the course of Western Civilization from barbaric tribal roots to civilized political cultures, which even now seems the only solution to the problem of perpetual bloodshed and retribution.</span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-31645109666010481512009-11-20T11:50:00.000-06:002011-09-06T18:45:07.861-05:00Joker's Origin Speeches<div align="justify"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BQBI6z1LjRw/SHPp80mB25I/AAAAAAAAANc/EdNTIzAVKc4/s400/heath-ledger-joker-batman.png"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 379px; float: left; height: 400px;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BQBI6z1LjRw/SHPp80mB25I/AAAAAAAAANc/EdNTIzAVKc4/s400/heath-ledger-joker-batman.png" border="0" /></span></a></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>First:</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><strong>The Joker</strong> [<em>holding a knife inside Gambol's mouth</em>]: Wanna know how I got these scars? My father was... a drinker. And a fiend. And one night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not-one-bit. So - me watching - he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it! Turns to me, and he says, "why so serious, son?" Comes at me with the knife... "Why so serious?" He sticks the blade in my mouth... "Let's put a smile on that face!" And... [<em>looks sidelong at Gambol's thug, watching the whole thing in horror</em>] Why so serious?<br /><br /><strong>Second:</strong><br /><br /><strong>The Joker:</strong> Well, you look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got 'em? [He <em>grabs Rachel's head and positions the knife by her mouth</em>] Come here. Hey! Look at me. So I had a wife, beautiful, like you, who tells me I worry too much. Who tells me I ought to smile more. Who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks... Look at me! One day, they carve her face. And we have no money for surgeries. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again, hm? I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars. So... I stick a razor in my mouth and do this... [<em>the Joker mimics slicing his mouth open with his tongue</em>] ...to myself. And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling!<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2473/3645246360_dd53870262.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 204px; float: left; height: 323px;" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2473/3645246360_dd53870262.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">Both speeches tell tales of human cruelty and horror. The first is specifically catered to Gambol. It speaks of a father's cruelty to his son - beating of a mother, and the son attempts to stop the violence only to be maimed cruelly for trying to step in. This vision of broken homes, drunken fathers, abused mothers seems to be the plague of many homes within the black community. Our current culture registers thousands of situations like this one and the despair that festers due to witnessing such horror leads to violence and more violence. The very act of nobility, stepping in to stop the drunken father, is made into something futile and foolish. Who, after all, would attempt nobility against such overwhelming evil? Who would be brave enough to stop the evil rather than becoming evil himself? Surely the only way to survive in such a horrific world of violence is to become a monster just like daddy. This is the implication of Joker's speech to Gambol, a man who has turned to crime and violence and thus can never live a normal life of peace and love amidst his family. But the speech also is geared towards the henchmen and the audience. You see how good men are maimed? You see how even powerful men like Gambol are swallowed up by hungrier monsters like the Joker? Look upon my works you mighty and despair.<br /><br />The second speech is similarly geared to Rachel. Little is known about Rachel's character except that she is a hard-headed woman making it in a man's world. She is tough, persistent, courageous and an ardent follower of justice. Having chosen such a life how can she risk the vulnerability of being in love? Her very noble choice of pursuing a career in law precludes the possibility that she ever have a loving family relationship. When Joker describes a husband/wife relationship with a despairing wife who has been pummelled by a cruel masculine world he is describing the possible world Rachel would experience were she to ever slip and let herself fall in love. Moreover, his maiming of himself (allegedly) represents the despair that the wife would experience which knows no remedy but more despair; a self-sacrificing husband whose very act of self-sacrifice causes only more sorrow. What else could a woman like Rachel expect but that the beautiful man she loves be tortured and maimed by the world? What else could she expect but that "the sharks" would come for them both eventually?<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://starr.pausd.org/%7Elgoldman/mmart3/class/16/saturn.gif"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 230px; float: left; height: 486px;" alt="" src="http://starr.pausd.org/%7Elgoldman/mmart3/class/16/saturn.gif" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">The really great depth of this version of the Joker is that he isn't just a maniac who blows things up or randomly kills people (like Jack Nicholson's character) nor is he just a silly wisecracker out to give grief to the guy in the grey tights (like Cesar Romero's character). Instead he is the psychologically dangerous character of the greater Batman graphic novels; he is the Nietzschean ubermensch, the Machiavellian prince, the character who is beyond the realm of right and wrong who worms his way into our subconscious with questions, suggestions and doubts. In short, he is the worst villain of the modern world b/c he can invade and infect any person anywhere, creating chaos that erupts in the despairing psychology that later manifests as violent action against others. He creates human time bombs using nothing more than words.<br /><br /><br />The two speeches also are conversely to male and female figures - thus to all people. A masculine story of father dominance, like Saturn devouring his children, for the young boy in Gambol. And for the little girl in Rachel, a feminine story of loss and sorrow, like Niobe or Rachel mourning and weeping because they are nought. The futility of power that emasculates the male; the helplessness of weakness that crushes the female. Adam's curse of "earning his bread by the sweat of his brow"; Eve's curse of "bearing her children in pain". Joker is the universal Satan in this instance and like Satan he breeds amongst his victims intense despair in the face of his irresistable evil.<br /></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-74627204894038095772009-11-13T11:04:00.000-06:002011-09-06T18:45:07.878-05:00Friday the 13th Post<a href="http://202.38.126.65/navigate/math/history/Diagrams/Melancholia.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 234px; float: right; height: 289px;" alt="" src="http://202.38.126.65/navigate/math/history/Diagrams/Melancholia.jpeg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Sonnet #29<br /><br />When, in disgust with Fortune and men's eyes,<br />I all alone berate my aching pate,<br />And trouble deaf woodwork with my bootless cries,<br />And look upon myself and curse my fate.<br />When this one's a clod and this one's a dope,<br />A scalawag, a nincompoop, a tart,<br />When pimps are praised and whores are full of hope,<br />And all high thought is edifice and art,<br />Then in these thoughts my mind as black as night,<br />I bang my fist and rail against the grey,<br />(though silently for fear might children fright;<br />Or solid men in coats might take me away)<br />What good is rage the only wealth it brings;<br />Destruction, sorrow, cabbages and kings.</span><br /><br /><br />I rewrote it some.</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-8301583345642708112009-11-11T15:16:00.000-06:002011-09-06T18:45:07.922-05:00Thoughts on IliadI love having a job where I can not only teach writing but in the process of teaching writing work out new ideas about works which I love.<br /><br />On the Iliad:<br /><br />1st<br /><br />Achilles is spiritually blind.<br />Oedipus is spiritually blind.<br /><br />Achilles has a, um, interesting relationship with Thetis, his mom.<br />Oediups has a, um, interesting relationship with his mom.<br /><br />Achilles father, Peleus, is absent from the epic, spoken of only when asking if he is dead.<br />Oedipus has killed his father.<br /><br />Achilles has a spiritual awakening only after an intense experience of pain and loss.<br />Oedipus has a spiritual awakening only after an intense experience of pain and loss.<br /><br />So is Achilles another Oedipus? Was Homer aware of the myth? Or is Oedipus Achilles? Was Sophocles aware of the epic?<br /><br />******<br />2nd<br />Briseis mourns over Patroclus' body in book 19 saying that the dead man was gentle and good to her; "you were always kind."<br />Helen mourns over Hector's body in book 24 (the last of three female mourners, Andromache and Hecabe, and the penultimate human voice in the epic poem) saying that the dead man was always gentle and good to her; "you with your gentle words and your gentle ways"<br /><br />Both are slaves; both are left utterly alone at the end of the work (Helen b/c she lives with a lout and Briseis b/c Achilles soon will be dead).<br />Both are mourning over the "good man" character who is now dead.<br />Both are mourning over the Achilles duplicate (Patroclus and Hector connected by the wearing of the armor)<br /><br />**********<br />3rd<br />Homer makes the gods look ridiculous, undermines them, shows that they are not worthy of worhsip - but some of the humans who fail and die are. Homer elevates the humans to a position superior to the gods.<br />Why does he do this?<br />Hypothesis: He does this to<br /><p>1. show that screwing up in life is not the worst thing possible</p><p>a. with perfect, unyielding and aloof gods who cannot experience the human condition the standard to which we hold ourselves makes us psychotic and homicidal (or suicidal)</p><p>2. smash the hold that the priesthood had on the lives of laypeople</p><p>a. a priesthood beholden to perfect gods would have held that perfection over laypeople like a cult or cabalistic master/slave relation</p><p>b. much like the scribes and Pharisees</p><p>c. Christ does later what Homer does here.</p><p>3. force the reader to find new gods (or god)</p><p>a. if these gods, these passions, are not to be worshipped as the God then who is? Deus ubi est?</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3788490922792691215.post-24194886462850379502009-11-11T10:43:00.000-06:002011-09-06T18:45:07.945-05:00Sonnet 116 (a blog for Ben)<p><a href="http://poetry.eserver.org/sonnets/116.html"><strong>116 </strong></a></p><ol><li><strong>Let me not to the marriage of true minds</strong></li><li><strong>Admit impediments, love is not love</strong></li><li><strong>Which alters when it alteration finds,</strong></li><li><strong>Or bends with the remover to remove.</strong></li><li><strong>O no, it is an ever-fixed mark</strong></li><li><strong>That looks on tempests and is never shaken;</strong></li><li><strong>It is the star to every wand'ring bark,</strong></li><li><strong>Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.</strong></li><li><strong>Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks</strong></li><li><strong>Within his bending sickle's compass come,</strong></li><li><strong>Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,</strong></li><li><strong>But bears it out even to the edge of doom:</strong></li><li><strong>If this be error and upon me proved,</strong></li><li><strong>I never writ, nor no man ever loved.</strong></li></ol><p><strong>(William Shakespeare)</strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;">I agree that one reading of the poem is an honest analysis of true love. Unfortunately, I have never found a passage of Shakespeare that is entirely honest; he is always wearing a mask and always has something up his sleeve. Consequently, this poem, which seems like a straightforward proclamation of the steadfastness of love probably is too good to be true. He does the same thing in Romeo & Juliet, offering what looks like a great romance but loaded with problems that indicate the opposite of real love. Here there are numerous ambiguities, subtle references, and structural alterations that indicate if nothing else a difficulty in the poem. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;">First, the English sonnet normally has in the third quatrain a complication of the subject introduced in the first two quatrains. What is the complication? There is none (apparently) - not even in the last bit of the poem. The normal indicator of complication "but" is in the 12th line at the end of the third quatrain. If the turn exists at the beginnig of the third quatrain then our complication of the discourse is that Love is not Time's fool - which means what? The Fool was subordinate to the King so that Love is the King and Time is the fool (instead of the other way around). But Shakespeare who wrote this poem also wrote "King Lear" - a tragic play in which the King, Lear, is imprisoned by his daughters for being foolish in his actions and the Fool is seen as far more free and wise than the king. Moreover, during the play King and Fool trade places and so represent the same thing in different postures. If this is so (and to an audience familiar with Lear it seems to be an intentional comparison) is the comparison supposed to be between the foolishness of Love and the kingliness of Time? Does Time rule over us? Is Love a foolish thing (b/c it certainly does make men foolish as Mercutio says and Iago attests)? Or are Love and Time the same thing? </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;">Second, there is a frequent ambiguity to the use of pronouns; the "it" in lines 2,4&6 seemingly references to "love". But then what is the antecedent of "his" in line 7,9&10 ? The Star? Love? Time? If the "his" in 7 refers to the Polar Star then the worth of the star is unknown but his height is taken; meaning, we can measure the thing empirically but don't actually know what it is worth. Thus the Pole Star's attributes are identical to Love's and the "his" could reference either. If the "his" in 10 refers to "Time" that makes sense - but the ambiguity suggests that the sickle belongs to Love. Same with the "his" in 11 which seems to refer to Time since "brief hours and weeks" is the auspice of Time. But Love too is brief so the line could mean that Love does change in the short time we know of it on earth. This ambiguity is particularly pointed in the 12th line where the antecedent of "it" is completely obscure. What is born out to the edge of doom? Love? Time? It?</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;">Finally, Shakespeare is a master of the language. Nowhere else in his corpus of works is there ever so seemingly straightforward and honest a proclamation. Also, nowhere else are there so many ambiguities, vagueries, mistakes and errors. Consequently, the last couplet can be read in two different ways.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;">If this be error and upon me proved,</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;">What is the "this" to which he refers? The proclamation of love? The construct of the poem prior? the language itself? If it is the proclamation of love he has suggested hitherto that love doesn't ever change; that it is constant; that it looks upon the tumult of human life from a remote and aloof position similar to a star looking down upon earth. But this isn't right about love and Shakespeare knew it. Human love isn't constant as he proved in "Much Ado About Nothing" and "The Merchant of Venice" and "Romeo & Juliet" and "Othello" and numerous other works. Moreover, if he is referring to Love as a god or The God he seems to be describe an aloof and impersonal god that remains utterly unmoved by the sorrows and passions of human existence. But his whole religion of Incarnation, redemption, suffering and resurrection speaks contrary to this. Even if he is correct in assessing human love and divine love as unchanging and inflexible he would be well aware of the maxim that living things alter and change and dead things don't. Consequently the love he is describing isn't truly living but dead. Is he in error here? Is this the "this" to which he refers in line 13? If the "this" is the construct of the poem, it has already been shown that structurally the poem doesn't follow the normal modus operandi of a sonnet. There is no apparent complication, there is no consistent poetic conceit, there are numerous switches in the rhythmic pattern during the poem. So the poem is itself somewhat in error. The language is intentionally ambiguous and hard to fathom; it too is in error. The "this" is, consequently, proven to be in error.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;">Given this proof, the line "I never writ, nor no man ever loved" adopts a knew meaning. Is "I never writ" an excuse? An escape? A Thomistic "burn it; it's all straw" statement? And has anyone ever really loved? Do we really know what love is? Do we really want to know what love is? Or do we only think we know what love is and desire love as long as it makes us feel good and gives us pleasure? Complicated. Brilliant.</span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2