Imagine, if, instead of the prancing pedant or bored bore who had been your teacher, Douglas Murray had taught English Lit? Douglas Murray is a gift because he elevates us. Bari because she conceived this. Gratitude to both. This poem evokes for me, not the memory of a lover now lost, but of the indescribable joy of reading to one's youn…
Imagine, if, instead of the prancing pedant or bored bore who had been your teacher, Douglas Murray had taught English Lit? Douglas Murray is a gift because he elevates us. Bari because she conceived this. Gratitude to both.
This poem evokes for me, not the memory of a lover now lost, but of the indescribable joy of reading to one's young child at bedtime. Nestled close, smiling at the endless questions, the little voice, the sweet smell of their hair.....Knowing that God does exist, that love is his power and such moments as these are made all the sweeter knowing that they're fleeting, ephemeral and that the child will soon enough be gone to have moments like this of her or his own. As you carry on.
Yes, Lee, a chain of mis- and malfeasance that goes back into the mists of time. Until someone has the courage to cut it. To refuse to be defined or controlled by it. Or use it as an excuse for their failures and sorrows.
I had the same thought! but of the sleeping or perhaps even sick child. And how no matter how much you try to recall these moments you can’t have them back. They are so fleeting and so precious and there are never enough of them.
I have wondered just how much money I would give to be able to go back in time and hold my babies again. They say all time exists everywhere, all at once; perhaps in Heaven we can step over and into those best memories.
That's been a problem for ages that no one wants or cares to fix. We're now at the point where we even wish we just have bored bore. We've got purple-hair nonbinary agender pansexuals who think all the Dead White Male poets Murray's been highlighting in his column is oppressing them and poetry is probably white supremacy. So English Lit should focus on teaching there are 125+ genders.
I doubt if the little assholes know who Mao is. The left revels in their emotional ignorance and have no knowledge or regard for history or facts.
They believe everything that comes out of their leftist masters' mouths. For example, look how they believed the Hillary Clinton's lie that Trump was in cahoots with the Russians and Hunter's laptop was a Russian plant and the Covid did not come from a Chinese lab and the great Obama lie that the Benghazi murders were because of a cartoon.
To be fair, Trump fanatics believe that Trump really won the last election. However, I believe the left is more willing and adept at lying.
Well they wear his t-shirts, or that of Fidel's Argentine stooge. But you're probably right, they have no idea of the evil perpetrated by these fiends, only that their leftist masters deem them cool.
As far as Trump is concerned, I concede he probably lost but you'll agree that the election was hardly fair. And we both agree, I believe that another run by him would not serve our cause well.
The others appear to be driven by much worse, $$$, war in Ukraine, the mutilation of children, the Covid jabs and lockdown I could go on but I don’t have to perhaps ego is a bit better at least his heart is for America
It occurs to me that Trump is no different in that than any of the rest of us. His ego, of course, is _his_ ego. But, unless I'm very much mistaken, each of us is driven by his own ego. (Though some are also married. So, _two_ egos, sometimes contending.)
And what, by the way, does any of this have to do with W. H. Auden?
As the public world becomes more and more obsessed with the sizes of other people's ego, the truly important things in social life _shrink_ from foolish neglect. Ours is a world of cheap and insecure constant second-guessing, constrant mirror-checking, constant "how do I look?", constant "What's that guy over there looking at? Me? What's he thinking? Who does he think _he_ is!?"
For God's sake! What self-respecting person can be proud of the reigning pettiness of our times?
And _you're_ one of this crowd's _saner_, more _grounded_ types, for crying out loud!
Yes, well, by the same token, I'm replying to your comment:
"Yes, but Trump has a massive ego."
And my comments in response to that aren't any different just because yours was addressed to Bruce. In fact, I was well aware when I wrote them that you were replying to Bruce. So, what?
Everyone from "Entertainment Tonight" to "The PBS News Hour" has told us how enormous is Trump's ego.
And all their audience nod dutifully at that information. No one questions this received wisdom.
Does his ego actually crowd you? Crowd _yours_? Never in my life have I ever heard anyone say with any credibility, "My own ego? It would be much bigger if it weren't for so-and-so's."
Yes, there are overbearing bosses. I've worked for some real jerks. You want to see a big ego? Go to a convention and meet some hospital administrators. Not doctors, mind you--no, the hospital administrators, the management CEO of the hospital. And yet, for all their swagger, the rest of the world has no trouble at all feeling quite egotistical.
Another's ego is an interior phenomenon of that person; and what _you_ think you see of its manifestations of "itself" are _greatly_ influenced by? ---- _your_ own ego. The most egotistical of us are, I suspect, more than a little insecure in their interior lives. What the hell makes us now so very concerned with how large others' egos are?
Seriously. Not only as a middling youth but also as a quite adult young man, I don't remember Americans being this obsessed about such trivial things.
As the public world becomes more and more obsessed with the sizes of other people's ego, the truly important things in social life _shrink_ from foolish neglect. Ours is a world of cheap and insecure constant second-guessing, constrant mirror-checking, constant "how do I look?", constant "What's that guy over there looking at? Me? What's he thinking? Who does he think _he_ is!?"
For God's sake! What self-respecting person can be proud of the reigning pettiness of our times?
And _you're_ one of this crowd's _saner_, more _grounded_ types, for crying out loud!
Imagine, if, instead of the prancing pedant or bored bore who had been your teacher, Douglas Murray had taught English Lit? Douglas Murray is a gift because he elevates us. Bari because she conceived this. Gratitude to both.
This poem evokes for me, not the memory of a lover now lost, but of the indescribable joy of reading to one's young child at bedtime. Nestled close, smiling at the endless questions, the little voice, the sweet smell of their hair.....Knowing that God does exist, that love is his power and such moments as these are made all the sweeter knowing that they're fleeting, ephemeral and that the child will soon enough be gone to have moments like this of her or his own. As you carry on.
And then there's the darker side of poetry, Bruce - where you read the lines only to yourself, and wince:
'This Be the Verse'
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
Philip Larkin
..my favorite all time set of stanzas - and of course that says more about me than anything.
btw, his other poems are good too..
Hope you enjoyed your weekend..
Yes, Lee, a chain of mis- and malfeasance that goes back into the mists of time. Until someone has the courage to cut it. To refuse to be defined or controlled by it. Or use it as an excuse for their failures and sorrows.
I had the same thought! but of the sleeping or perhaps even sick child. And how no matter how much you try to recall these moments you can’t have them back. They are so fleeting and so precious and there are never enough of them.
I have wondered just how much money I would give to be able to go back in time and hold my babies again. They say all time exists everywhere, all at once; perhaps in Heaven we can step over and into those best memories.
That's been a problem for ages that no one wants or cares to fix. We're now at the point where we even wish we just have bored bore. We've got purple-hair nonbinary agender pansexuals who think all the Dead White Male poets Murray's been highlighting in his column is oppressing them and poetry is probably white supremacy. So English Lit should focus on teaching there are 125+ genders.
And amanda gorman
Little Maoist stooges.
Nothing more.
I doubt if the little assholes know who Mao is. The left revels in their emotional ignorance and have no knowledge or regard for history or facts.
They believe everything that comes out of their leftist masters' mouths. For example, look how they believed the Hillary Clinton's lie that Trump was in cahoots with the Russians and Hunter's laptop was a Russian plant and the Covid did not come from a Chinese lab and the great Obama lie that the Benghazi murders were because of a cartoon.
To be fair, Trump fanatics believe that Trump really won the last election. However, I believe the left is more willing and adept at lying.
Well they wear his t-shirts, or that of Fidel's Argentine stooge. But you're probably right, they have no idea of the evil perpetrated by these fiends, only that their leftist masters deem them cool.
As far as Trump is concerned, I concede he probably lost but you'll agree that the election was hardly fair. And we both agree, I believe that another run by him would not serve our cause well.
Don’t think you can trust the RINO’s Bruce, and until we have free and fair elections we are always going to be in a mess.
What?? Not trust people such as Willard the Rat???? Gasp??? How could you?
You're right. It won't do us any good but Trump is driven by his ego.
The others appear to be driven by much worse, $$$, war in Ukraine, the mutilation of children, the Covid jabs and lockdown I could go on but I don’t have to perhaps ego is a bit better at least his heart is for America
I don't know where his heart is but I think it is for himself. My opinion is he is a massive, vicious, bully.
If he runs as the Rep candidate, I will vote for him because as I have said many times, I can't vote for the Socialist Party.
It occurs to me that Trump is no different in that than any of the rest of us. His ego, of course, is _his_ ego. But, unless I'm very much mistaken, each of us is driven by his own ego. (Though some are also married. So, _two_ egos, sometimes contending.)
"And get off that damn internet!"
"Coming, dear!"...
Yes, but Trump has a massive ego.
And what, by the way, does any of this have to do with W. H. Auden?
As the public world becomes more and more obsessed with the sizes of other people's ego, the truly important things in social life _shrink_ from foolish neglect. Ours is a world of cheap and insecure constant second-guessing, constrant mirror-checking, constant "how do I look?", constant "What's that guy over there looking at? Me? What's he thinking? Who does he think _he_ is!?"
For God's sake! What self-respecting person can be proud of the reigning pettiness of our times?
And _you're_ one of this crowd's _saner_, more _grounded_ types, for crying out loud!
I was answering Bruce's comment.
Yes, well, by the same token, I'm replying to your comment:
"Yes, but Trump has a massive ego."
And my comments in response to that aren't any different just because yours was addressed to Bruce. In fact, I was well aware when I wrote them that you were replying to Bruce. So, what?
Good grief. "Massive", huh? "Yuge!"
Everyone from "Entertainment Tonight" to "The PBS News Hour" has told us how enormous is Trump's ego.
And all their audience nod dutifully at that information. No one questions this received wisdom.
Does his ego actually crowd you? Crowd _yours_? Never in my life have I ever heard anyone say with any credibility, "My own ego? It would be much bigger if it weren't for so-and-so's."
Yes, there are overbearing bosses. I've worked for some real jerks. You want to see a big ego? Go to a convention and meet some hospital administrators. Not doctors, mind you--no, the hospital administrators, the management CEO of the hospital. And yet, for all their swagger, the rest of the world has no trouble at all feeling quite egotistical.
Another's ego is an interior phenomenon of that person; and what _you_ think you see of its manifestations of "itself" are _greatly_ influenced by? ---- _your_ own ego. The most egotistical of us are, I suspect, more than a little insecure in their interior lives. What the hell makes us now so very concerned with how large others' egos are?
Seriously. Not only as a middling youth but also as a quite adult young man, I don't remember Americans being this obsessed about such trivial things.
As the public world becomes more and more obsessed with the sizes of other people's ego, the truly important things in social life _shrink_ from foolish neglect. Ours is a world of cheap and insecure constant second-guessing, constrant mirror-checking, constant "how do I look?", constant "What's that guy over there looking at? Me? What's he thinking? Who does he think _he_ is!?"
For God's sake! What self-respecting person can be proud of the reigning pettiness of our times?
And _you're_ one of this crowd's _saner_, more _grounded_ types, for crying out loud!
I haven't a clue what you are talking about.
Don't worry. Others shall.
Yes, but very destructive to all levels of society.
Thank you Bari and Douglas.