It’s probably silly to be excited about this, but this morning as I was reading my morning poetry it occurred to me that I might have online access to the Oxford English Dictionary via my staff position at Hope College.
I checked and I do! Frabjous day! Callooh Callay!
I have long been in love with this dictionary and have a copy of the compact edition which I bought back in the 70s.
Here’s some words I looked up this morning.
“But there is a different kind of performance at the heart of the renascence of poetry as an oral art—the art of the griot, performed in alliance with music and dance, to evoke and catalyze a community or communities against passivity and victimization, to recall people to their spiritual and historic sources.” from the essay “Someone is writing a poem” by Adrienne Rich
… But this evening deep in summer
the deer are still alive and free,
nibbling apples from early-laden boughs
so weighted, so englobed
with already yellowing fruit
they seem eternal, Hesperidean,
in the clear-tuned, cricket throbbing air.…
…she finds herself,
becoming now the sherd of broken glass
slicing light in a corner, dangerous
to flesh, now the plentiful soft leaf
that wrapped round the throbbing finger, soothes the wound;both excerpts from the excellent poem, “Transcendental Etude,” by Adrienne Rich
And whereas, you say, there are good examples to be learnt in them : truly, so there are ; if you will learn falsehood; if you will learn cozenage, if you will learn to deceive; if you will learn to play the hypocrite, to cog, to lie and falsify
PHILIP STUBBES The Anatomie of Abuses 1583
from a diatribe against the evils of the theater quoted on the Shakespeare Sonnet site I have been reading.
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How to Read a Racist Book to Your Kids – NYTimes.com
Some level headed advice and discussion.
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‘Barack Obama,’ by David Maraniss – NYTimes.com
This new bio covers the first part of President Obama’s life with what sounds like excruciating detail.
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Aung San Suu Kyi Accepts Nobel Peace Prize – NYTimes.com
Sounds like prizes can make a difference.
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Dowd comments again on the Sandusky scandal. Eileen’s comment was that her late grandmother felt that sexual abuse of children was not becoming more prevalent, sadly only more reported.
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Russian Spy Nathan Nicholson and Father Harold James Nicholson: Newsmakers: GQ
BBC – Adam Curtis Blog: HOW TO KILL A RATIONAL PEASANT
Bookmarked to read.
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Fair Use, Art, Swiss Cheese and Me – NYTimes.com
What if your the subject of some art and it embarrasses you? Sometimes your just shit out of luck.
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Missing – My Dad – NYTimes.com
William Styron’s daughter writes a beautiful and surprising tribute to her father figure (not her dad).
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The top 10 reasons why music is compressed | The Audiophiliac – CNET News
Interesting how narrowly this techie guy looks at music. I have heard the comment before how music that insists on having contrasts in loudness and softness is not appealing to listeners (presumably listening to it in the background or in their car).
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