Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. I first read Stevie Smith’s poem at school and could make neither head nor tail of it, yet this morning, lying in the dark, the lines above came to me and … Continue reading Not waving…
Category: philosophy
More on Metaphor: St Patrick and the Queen of Tropes
If we are to rescue metaphor from the charge of disrepute, of being essentially dishonest, saying something is what it is not, then we have to look at it differently. For a start, considering metaphor as a figure of speech is not helpful, for then it it is ranked with a host of others, most … Continue reading More on Metaphor: St Patrick and the Queen of Tropes
Metaphor, Queen of Tropes or Dishonest Harridan?
I’m not saying it’s all metaphor, but it is, just about - and vélophile though I am, if you were to press me on what our most important invention is, I would have to put metaphor first, even ahead of the bicycle. It was something we were taught very badly at school: the focus was … Continue reading Metaphor, Queen of Tropes or Dishonest Harridan?
Elective Causality
'Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by that same door as in I went.' (however, let us keep Omar Khayyam for another day) Myself when young was much annoyed by David Hume, particularly his account of causality, so I am … Continue reading Elective Causality
Anodyne
Anodyne: it’s an interesting word. Strictly, it means a medicine that allays pain, as its etymology suggests, being from the Greek for ‘painless’, or ‘without pain’. A good thing, then, you would think; so it is interesting to consider how it has come to have a pejorative sense, particularly as applied to literature. Pain and … Continue reading Anodyne
The Cartography of Childhood 2: a recanting
'Blog in haste, repent at leisure.' (old proverb, probably attributed to Albert Einstein/Dr Seuss/Abraham Lincoln) When I said ‘the fantasy element in fantasy literature is the embodiment of the child’s expectations of the grown-up world’ I felt I had pinned down an idea that I have been moving towards for some time - years, in … Continue reading The Cartography of Childhood 2: a recanting
COMPLEAT TROWZER 