Categories
Art and Photographic History French

Groups and Interiors and Smoking Breaks

Categories
Classics Literature Poetry

George Seferis – Collected Poems

VIMeditativeher heavy breastinside the mirrorVIIAgain I dress myselfin the tree’s foliageand you bleatVIIINight the windseparationspreads and undulatesIXThe young FateNaked womanthe pomegranate she brokewas full of starsXNow I raisea dead butterflywithout any make-upXIHow can you put togetherthe thousand little piecesof each person? https://draft2digital.com/book/3562890 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096TTS37J

George Seferis – Collected Poems
Categories
Literature Poetry Psychoanalysis

Nature or Nurture? John Clare, Peasant Poet

The poetry of John Clare feels different from that of other Romantic poets.  Since I am fully aware of what an ambiguous characterization that is, I will attempt to qualify some of the differences I see in his poems and, specifically, in his understanding of Nature.  When I read the poems of Wordsworth or Coleridge, […]

Nature or Nurture? John Clare, Peasant Poet
Categories
Art and Photographic History Psychoanalysis

Unpredictable Perception

Categories
Book Reviews Literature Psychoanalysis

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

Born in Lancashire in 1917, Leonora Carrington is perhaps now best known as a surrealist artist; in 2024, one of her artworks sold for $28.5 million. During her career, however, she also wrote novels, short stories, a play and a memoir, all infused with her dreamlike, idiosyncratic worldview. First published in English in 1976 but […]

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Categories
German Matters Literature

Missing Tom Stoppard

https://open.substack.com/pub/commonreader/p/tom-stoppards-ordinary-magic?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=9131h

Categories
Art and Photographic History

The Search for the Supreme

Categories
Classics Literature Poetry politics

Birth of William Blake (1757–1827) – The Visionary Poet Who Transformed the Imagination of English Literature

William Blake, born on November 28, 1757, transformed English poetry through visionary imagery, symbolic language, and prophetic intensity. His fusion of lyric clarity and mythic imagination reshaped Romanticism, expanded English’s expressive power, and left a linguistic legacy that continues to influence literature, art, philosophy, and modern cultural discourse.

Birth of William Blake (1757–1827) – The Visionary Poet Who Transformed the Imagination of English Literature
Categories
Classics Literature Poetry

Song of Sorrows (or The Wife’s Lament)

The Wife’s Lament is an Anglo Saxon poem from the Exeter Book. There are numerous articles on the poem and scholarly analyses—including the linked Wikipedia article—so I won’t go into it; but the poem has a fascinating history.. My own version is not a translation but is based on the original. There are a variety […]

Song of Sorrows (or The Wife’s Lament)
Categories
Literature Poetry

Birth of William Cowper (1731–1800) – The Poet Who Gave English Verse Its First Modern, Conversational Voice

Born on November 26, 1731, William Cowper reshaped English poetry by replacing Augustan formality with plain, humane language. His gentle humor, emotional candor, and conversational style bridged the gap to Romanticism, proving that poetry could speak quietly, personally, and in the natural rhythms of everyday life.

Birth of William Cowper (1731–1800) – The Poet Who Gave English Verse Its First Modern, Conversational Voice