
The Palace of Winds (rereading “The English Patient”)
Our love for certain books or movies or pieces of music are so intense that we like to imagine our … Continue Reading The Palace of Winds (rereading “The English Patient”)
Our love for certain books or movies or pieces of music are so intense that we like to imagine our … Continue Reading The Palace of Winds (rereading “The English Patient”)
Read the other Great Myths Here Here are a handful of translations of verses 138-145 of the Hávamál, found in … Continue Reading The Great Myths #49: Odin Sacrifices Himself (Norse)
From Virginia Woolf’s Diary on November 21, 1918: I was interrupted somewhere on this page by the arrival of Mr … Continue Reading Virginia Woolf Meets T. S. Eliot
An amazing passage from a letter of Heloise to Abelard, those twelfth-century lovers who ended up in a nunnery and … Continue Reading A Twelfth Century Love Letter: Heloise Remembers Abelard
James Murray (1837-1915), the Scottish lexicographer and philologist, sent the following letter regarding a job at the British Museum in … Continue Reading The best job application letter that didn’t work
Strange to find a Hughes poem more populated by people than animals; & you can tell he’s not happy about … Continue Reading Ted Hughes: “Devon Riviera” (poem)
Here is the great Nāsadīya hymn, from the Rig Veda, where the mystery of creation is illustrated by a collection … Continue Reading The Great Myths #48: Creation as a Question (Hindu)
Nero & His Mother I arranged to have her murdered at sea but she just swam to shore as the … Continue Reading Nero & His Mother (poem)
from Simon Schama’s Power of Art In the winter of 1941, Pablo Picasso was living and working at the top … Continue Reading Picasso & the Gestapo
In early January, 1924, the poet Hart Crane, twenty-four and basically broke, received a letter from his father offering to … Continue Reading Hart Crane & His Father
Here is a favorite bit from a youthful T. S. Eliot (he’s just turned thirty but that’s young to me … Continue Reading T. S. Eliot & His Father
If forced to choose a favorite short poem of mine, one that brings together nearly everything I’m interested in, it … Continue Reading Fire Houses (poem)
Here’s one of my favorite bits from the Hindu Upanishads, chapters three and four from the Kena Upanishad. The goddess … Continue Reading The Goddess Instructs the Gods (Kena Upanishad)
The Sun Sets into the Sea The sun sets into the sea with a hiss and rises with … Continue Reading The Sun Sets into the Sea (poem)