Weeping for the World’s Outcasts
Once, a dear friend commented on something small that had been left me by my grandmother, saying, “I don’t have …
Category Archives: History
A Green Table
“And death shall have no dominion”, the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas asserts, paraphrasing St. Paul and making a lyrical case …
Looking to the Linen
In his 1693 treatise A Short View of Tragedy, the English critic Thomas Rymer famously distilled a lesson from Shakespeare’s …
Words into Life
The Greek god Dionysos, god of many names, known to the Romans as Bacchus, god of wine, of theatre, of …
The Comfort of Sheep
The great house Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, U.K., is the ancestral country home of the Cavendish family – the Dukes of …
Elegance and the Godzilla Test
Walking to work last week, I saw two young things in front of me wearing what can only be described …
Saints and Sinners
The portrayals of religious figures in the movies are usually patently contrived: the noble suffering, the shining conviction, the heroic …
Whose Sleeves?
In classical Japanese painting there is a style of picture called “Whose Sleeves” (Tagasode), in which the painter depicts a …
The Paradoxical Don
Is he a rapist or a seducer? A great lover of women or a sex addict? These questions hover around …
Polyphony and Grief
Singing polyphonic music without accompaniment – music of the Renaissance – is as pure and delightful an experience as can …
Poets' Sinews 