That line from "The Night Before Christmas" has always bothered me, because I have to wonder what the heck these kids are visualizing in their sleep. I looked up a picture of "sugar plums" and this is the first thing I saw: Umm...okay. I'm sure they looked different than these snow-covered grapes or whatever back … Continue reading #084 Blitz Q: What the heck are sugar plums anyway?
Love, death, the muse, the tangled web of attraction, and friendship are probably the most basic subjects covered in Shakespeare's sonnets. One of the most famous ones is the one numbered 18 in this collection, staring with "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day..." Most of the time I think that's the only one … Continue reading Sonnets & ‘A Lover’s Complaint,’ and ‘Various Poems’ from The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, by William Shakespeare
Well, I hadn't heard much about this play, though it contains a lot of familiar Shakespeare-isms and a few quotes that will ring bells. I don't think I've ever heard of a performance of this play, or any enthusiasts, though I've heard the names Orlando and Rosalind before. As You Like It is one of … Continue reading “As You Like It,” from The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, by W. Shakespeare
My Copy: 9780292764996 (image from amazon.com) This is another book that'll take me a while to get into again. Like The Georgics (which I chose not to review), I am just not up on my early poetry or poetic works. And so much of what's in here is fragmentary. I chose to pick up The … Continue reading The Poetic Edda, trans. by Lee M. Hollander
I was hoping to review The Georgics by Virgil today, but let's just say I gave up in frustration because the poetic nature just got too baffling for me to continue. I used to like poetry, or trying to read it, but I don't get it anymore. Maybe I never really did, and just thought I … Continue reading #070–What makes poetry…well, poetry?
My Copy: 9781593082567 (image by bookdepository.com) I admit, this is one of the more approachable religious/philosophical texts that I've tried to read. I think part of that is the intro and the translation. That said, much of it is not that hard to grasp, and some other parts are like "whaaa?" Tao Te Ching has … Continue reading Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu
My Copy: 9780199267170 I paired these two poems in one post because they weren't that long and it took me a bit longer to make sure I got the gist of them. I was lost in the language again, though the stories are relatively straight-forward. It's how the subjects are treated that's so different. The poems … Continue reading “Venus and Adonis” & “The Rape of Lucrece,” from The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, by W. Shakespeare
My Copy: 9780451531988 (image from amazon.com) From the bloody violence of Titus yesterday comes a story of ridiculous love story and play for Valentine's Day (that was a coincidence, by the way, I just finished it last night). Anyway, Cyrano de Bergerac is the story of a master wordsmith and poet who is a gallant champion … Continue reading Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand
My Copy: 9780805210156 (image from wikipedia.com) I've had this book for a couple of years now and have read through it several times. I can't help it. When I read it, it shows me so much, and I just let myself absorb what I'm seeing and reading. But this time I went cover to cover, … Continue reading …I Never Saw Another Butterfly…: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944, ed. by Hana Volavkova
My Copy: 9780199267170 (image from amazon.com) Well, it'll be closer to "finished by Thanksgiving," but "Year of Shakespeare" has that rhyme thing that sounds better...and if I fall behind it may well BE a year. I've had an awkward relationship with Shakespeare's works from day 1. It kinda sucks when the only way you have … Continue reading A Year of Shakespeare–Tackling the Bard’s works one at a time from “The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (2nd ed.)”, ed. by Stanley Wells & Gary Taylor
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