My Lagan LoveJoseph Campbell Where Lagan stream sings lullabyThere blows a lily fair;The twilight gleam is in her eye,The night is on her hair.And like a lovesick lenanshee,She hath my heart in thrall;Nor life I owe, nor liberty,For love is lord of all. And often when the beetle's hornHath lulled the eve to sleepI steal … Continue reading My Lagan Love, by Joseph Campbell
“The Feminine Principle in Tolkien,” by Melanie Rawls
“The Feminine Principle in Tolkien” is an essay I happened upon about a month ago. I was meandering through various byways---an article to a book to an article on that book which mentioned this essay---and discovered it like one finds a pretty pebble on the road. It appeared at a particularly timely moment, as in … Continue reading “The Feminine Principle in Tolkien,” by Melanie Rawls
On “Gloaming”
Say the word gloaming aloud to yourself. Does it not have such a lovely sound? What does it make you think of? It reminds me of something like to dusk and twilight but…gloamier. Not as dark as dusk---perhaps not even as dark as twilight. That lovely, velvety time of evening when it is dark but … Continue reading On “Gloaming”
Concerning Means vs. Ends
During January, I was engaged in an elephant stampede through the works of C.S. Lewis: Surprised by Joy, “The Inner Ring,” “The Weight of Glory,” The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, and, most recently, The Great Divorce. Reading so much Lewis consecutively forces one to notice parallel themes throughout his writing, particularly the theme of redirecting … Continue reading Concerning Means vs. Ends
The Story of Stories
In our elated rampage through the tales of this world, it is crucial that we do not forget the Story: the Story of stories, the Tale from with all tales tend. This is a concept which I fully intend to bring up often throughout the life of this blog, but for the moment, let us … Continue reading The Story of Stories
The Wearing of Time on Mortal-Immortal Relationship
Sometimes, in reading a work of literature, I encounter a snippet of wording which illuminates a previously unnoticed pattern in another work. This was the case with a particular reference in W.B. Yeats’ preface to Lady Gregory’s translation of the Finn Cycle to the degradation of the mortal-immortal relationship over the course of Irish mythology. … Continue reading The Wearing of Time on Mortal-Immortal Relationship
A Particle of Truth Spoken by Lord Henry Wotton
Lord Henry Wotton is one of the chief characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. He is a young aristocrat who seeks to bring himself attention by an apparent careless attitude and wit. His flippant tongue drips with hedonic philosophy which he dolls out for the purpose of sensation alone. However, amongst … Continue reading A Particle of Truth Spoken by Lord Henry Wotton
The Pro-Vision of Provisions
Provision is composed of two Latin words: pro ‘ahead’ or ‘forward’, and videre ‘to see’. Thus provision means ‘to see ahead’. But this is not the meaning as it is used in modern English. When one says ‘provision’ he refers to the food and supplies needed for a journey...
Rereading The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, Part 4: The Return of the King (Raw Reflections)
It appears that The Return of the King is the hardest book in the trilogy for me to put down or, more accurately, the hardest for me to resist picking up. This may be because of the many day-spring moments in The Return of the King: flashes of incredible beauty...
“What the Bird Said Early in the Year,” by C.S. Lewis (Advent 2020, Week 4)
I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear: / This year the summer will come true. This year. This year. / Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees / This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas...
