Wednesday – New Year’s Day Reader Letitia Grimes sent me a poem by Horace so seasonally appropriate that I’m turning my New Year’s post over to her. The Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a time of merrymaking that has inspired our New Year rituals. At the same time that we celebrate the return of the sun, we […]
Monthly Archives: December 2019
Dreaming of a Saturnalian Golden Age
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Golden Age of Saturn, Hegel, Horace, Horatian Satires, New Year's Day, Saturnalia Comments closed
Mentor: Rare for Sons to Be Like Fathers
Homer explores the difficulty of a young man living up to his famous father. It’s a problem that continues with fathers and sons.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, fathers and sons, Homer, Odyssey, Ulysses Comments closed
What Would Jesus Think of Christmas?
A poem arguing that Christmas has strayed from Christ’s mature message.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "It is as if infancy were the whole of incarnation", Christmas, Luci Northcote Shaw Comments closed
Lit that Championed Chimney Sweeps
Watching modern chimney sweeps at work, I’m relieved that we’ve left behind the days of William Blake and Charles Dickens.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Chimney-Sweeper", Charles Dickens, chimney cleaning, chimney sweeps, Oliver Twist, William Blake Comments closed
Welcoming the Stranger
In Homeric terms, Trump, in his treatment of immigrants, is akin to barbarians like the Cyclops and the Laestrygonians.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged border separations, Donald Trump, Homer, immigrant border crisis, Odyssey, Stephen Miller, strangers Comments closed
Ring Out Ye Chrystal Spheres
Milton’s “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity” celebrates Christmas with the ornate trumpet-and-organ imagery of the 17th century.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", Christmas, John Milton Comments closed
Feeding Birds in the Bleak Midwinter
Tuesday – Christmas Eve Over the past few cold and rainy days, chickadees, goldfinches, titmice, and nuthatches have been swarming out feeders, bringing to mind one of my father’s Christmas poems. I first posted it nine years ago. I excerpt a portion of previous post, only adding that (this in response to the allusion to […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Bird Watcher's Christmas Dinner", birdfeeders, Christmas, Hermes Trismegistus, Scott Bates Comments closed
The Tradition of the Yule-Log
Christmas symbolism, including the yule-log, comes from many different faith traditions. This helps explain its power.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Yule-Tide", Christmas, Seymour William Kean, syncretism, yule-log Comments closed
