All Purls. No Swine.
Celebrating the 546th anniversary of William Caxton's printing of Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers, perhaps the first book ever printed in the English language on November 18, 1477, by dusting off an old post with a tangential relationship to the subject: Imagine yourself, if you will, as an inhabitant of late 14th-century England.… Continue reading Reality TV, 1387 Edition (Redux)
Yes, I thought about Geoffrey Chaucer one week ago today, on October 25, 2023. I know perfectly well that that was the 623rd anniversary of his death, which occurred on October 25, 1400. But I was otherwise occupied at the time, and I didn't get around to commemorating it. Herewith, an echo from well over… Continue reading A Lapse in Deed, if not in Thought: Celebrating Geoffrey Chaucer
Well, here's an oldie but goodie. I was reminded of it by a recent post on Ricochet about Euripides's play, Medea (speaking of oldies but goodies). That post has to do with the retelling of the story of the figure with her roots firmly in Greek mythology who marries Jason of Golden Fleece and Argonauts… Continue reading Revisiting “Patient Griselda,” 2023: Was She a Perfect Wife, or a Credulous Fool?
I know many of you know them by heart. I’ve seen some of you say so, on Ricochet, over the past thirteen years. At some point in your lives, you probably had them thrust at you; you might have struggled through them; maybe you cheated with the Cliffs Notes; perhaps you said you couldn’t possibly… Continue reading The First Eighteen Lines: “Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote”
Today (February 13, 2023), I'm reviving a post from just six months ago. For a couple of reasons: First, because today is the anniversary of the birthday of the incomparable Eleanor Farjeon, who was born 142 years ago today, on February 13, 1881. She's mentioned, although peripherally, in the post below. And second, because of… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Eleanor Farjeon!, And RIP, Richard III
Those are the last words spoken by Shakespeare's villainous King Richard III, as he desperately dashed about Bosworth Field, just before being hacked to smithereens by by the opposition--the soldiers of Henry Tudor--after which (IRL, now) Richard's naked body was thrown across a horse (presumably not his own) and taken to Leicester, where he was… Continue reading “My Kingdom for a Horse!”
Some time go, I saw this story, and sent the link to my stepdaughter and sister at approximately the same time as my stepdaughter sent the link to me and my sister, and only a moment or two before my sister sent the link to my stepdaughter and me. The circle of life. Connections. Not… Continue reading Shedding Some Light on Those Beastly Dark Ages
On July 31, 1485, William Caxton first printed Sir Thomas Mallory's Morte d'Arthur. Five hundred thirty seven years ago today. Only seven years before Christopher Columbus voyaged to the New World.. I believe in the importance of history. And so, therefore, it's surely OK to recapitulate a post from a few years ago (even if… Continue reading On This Day in 1485
The church of my childhood was St. Mary’s, Handsworth, just outside Birmingham, in England. Although I probably attended services there only a few dozen times, while we stayed with Granny and Grandpa during my father’s infrequent “leave” periods from the Colonial Service in Nigeria, it was a bulwark of stability in my life. Like the… Continue reading The Power, and the Glory, of the Word
The medieval ideal brought together two things which have no natural tendency to gravitate towards one another. It brought them together for that very reason. It taught humility and forbearance to the great warrior because everyone knew by experience how much he usually needed that lesson. It demanded valour of the urbane and modest man… Continue reading Chivalry as “Art” Rather Than “Nature”