A poem and me (and much more)

Snowflakes

2012-01-15T22:44:00.003+01:00

The first snowflakes are here. The truth is that I do not like when it snows in the cities because public transportation punctuality fails very often, and snow causes many road accidents. However, it had to snow sooner or later; it was a matter of time.

This morning I have taken out of the closet my grey thick coat. I wear it when it snows heavily because its wide warm hood covers my head perfectly. I hate when snow falls on my head. Yes, I know that when I wear it I look like a polar bear wandering around, but I feel really good. The only problem is that when I button the hood up I can barely see anything.One day I almost crashed into a lamppost! :)

A dangerous method

2011-11-30T20:56:00.001+01:00

Last week, I was given two cinema tickets to watch the film "A Dangerous Method". I decided to go with my son because I thought it´d be fun to go together, buy some popcorn and go for a walk in the city center. Off we went. The cinema was crowded with people who, like me, had got their tickets for free and most probably did not have any other plans for the evening.

I should have taken a look in advance and see what the film was about, because there are some scenes that are not appropriate for youngsters. As a matter of fact, I disliked certain scenes that are, in my view, unnecessary. The only reason we did not leave the cinema was because of my son´s willingness to eat the big popcorn box he had in his hands.

The power of words

2011-11-16T22:47:00.001+01:00

Words are full of power. To use the right word at the right time is very difficult. To say exactly what you want is not easy, even in your mother tongue. A word can be full of love, peace, happiness, but also it can be tainted with sarcasm, irritation, anger, or frustration. It can carry whatever we want to because we choose the words. We are the owners of our own thoughts and silences, but the slave of our own words. We decide.

I have taken a look at some of the longest English words, and I think I have never used them. However, I have used very often words such as love and peace.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Antidisestablishmentarianism
Floccinaucinihilipilification,

Break

2011-09-25T22:38:00.000+02:00

Dear blog reader,

I am going to take a break for a little while and won´t be posting anything in this blog. I have some other projects in mind that are going to require most of my time.

I´ll be back soon.

Regards

Two very special books / Dos libros muy especiales

2011-08-23T00:56:00.000+02:00

I started writing when I was in my thirties. Yes, I know it's a little late but sometimes life is like that. Now I know that I love writing and I have published two books of which I am proud. These books are intimate, familiar, full of everyday language and easy to read. The reader can view details and many pages of these books in Google Books.

I have left several copies of both titles. If you wish to read them, the offer price is 10 euro each book, shipping included to any country in Europe. If outside of Europe, we can share the cost.

Me puse a escribir cuando tenía treinta y tantos años de edad. Sí, ya sé que es un poco tarde pero muchas veces la vida es así. Ahora sé que me gusta mucho escribir y ya he publicado dos libros de los que estoy orgulloso. Son libros íntimos, familiares, llenos de lo cotidiano y de lenguaje sencillo. El lector puede ver detalles y muchas páginas de estos libros en Google Books.

Me han sobrado varios ejemplares de los dos títulos. Si alguien quiere alguno, los ofrezco al precio de 10 euros cada ejemplar y yo pago el envío a cualquier país de Europa. Si es fuera de Europa, me ofrezco a compartir el gasto.

Eve and puns

2011-06-03T22:51:00.006+02:00

Any dictionary will tell us that a "pun" is a play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words. However, what the dictionary does not show is how the use of puns can be applied to the analysis of characters in literature. The first one that comes to my mind is Eve, the biblical character who has appeared countless of times in millions of books and magazines throughout the history of mankind.

Eve´s personality has been analyzed under different perspectives and to such an extent, that it does not come as a surprise that some of those perspectives or points of view are very often contradictory. Many modern scholars tend to describe her as a character who fought with all her strenth for her own independence. This specific analysis on Eve clashes with the point of view that most authors had until the 20th century. Their depiction of Eve was very often based on the idea that she was evil, vile and because of her we live in sin.

Interestingly enough, the words in red have something in common:they are all included in the word "evil". Hence, the word evil sound pretty much like the name of the first woman who, according to the Bible, lived in Paradise on earth, namely, Eve. So, evil is pronounced in English like /eevuhl/ and Eve is pronounced /eev/, as if Eve was contained in the word "evil".For many centuries, Eve has always being described as someone who is evil because she ate from the Forbidden Tree hoping that the veil she thought she had in her eyes would disappear, and she´d distinguish the good from the bad. Consequently, we all live now in sin and we die because of her bad behaviour.

This way to look at the biblical Eve can be explained with the following puns:

EVE

EVIL

VILE

VEIL

LIVE

Also, EVE was DECEIVED or DIS EVE D.

Paradise Lost, book 9:6-13
by John Milton (1608-1678)

Those Notes to tragic; foul distrust, and breach [6]
Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt,
And disobedience: On the part of Heav'n
Now alienated, distance and distaste,
Anger and just rebuke, and judgement giv'n,
That brought into this World a world of woe,
Sinne and her shadow Death, and Miserie
Deaths Harbinger: [13]

Milton, Blake and the Royal wedding

2011-05-15T11:56:00.008+02:00

I have just read an article in The Daily Telegraph that

contains the music list that was played at the Royal wedding

a few weeks ago. To my surprise, Blake (1757-1827)and

Milton (1608-1674) played an important part in the whole

event. Here is the video related to Milton´s

At a Solemn Musik poem which

starts with Blest pair of sirens.

BLEST pair of Sirens, pledges of Heav'ns joy,
Sphear-born harmonious Sisters, Voice, and Vers,
Wed your divine sounds, and mixt power employ
Dead things with inbreath'd sense able to pierce,
And to our high-rais'd phantasie present,
That undisturbèd Song of pure content,
Ay sung before the saphire-colour'd throne
To him that sits theron
With Saintly shout, and solemn Jubily, And here comes the video related to Blake´s Jerusalem . JERUSALEM (from 'Milton') *by: William Blake (1757-1827)* ND did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark Satanic Mills? Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire! Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire! I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land.

King Solomon, Faulkner and Boney M.

2011-04-28T13:07:00.009+02:00

When I was a child, Boney M. was very popular in Spain. I must have sung most of their songs hundreds of times. However, if there is a song that I remember more than the others is the one that speaks of the 'rivers of Babylon'. The rhythm is very catchy and I must admit that sometimes I hum it without realizing it.

Boney M's song is based on King Solomon's Psalm 137 in which one reads about rivers, Babylon, Zion, singing songs, foreign lands, Jerusalem and the Lord. It is precisely the same biblical psalm the one that links Boney M. and King Solomon with Faulkner (1897-1962).

If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem (Psalm 137:5) is the title W. Faulkner gave to the novel he published in 1939. However, the publishers decided to print it with a different title: The Wild Palms. Be as it may, Faulkner's story is now known to by both names to avoid confusion.

Obviously, these interconnections between King Solomon's psalms, Boney M.'s music and Faulkner's novel reminds me of Roland Barthes' ideas on intertextuality. I have the feeling that he was right when he said that " Every text is an intertext; other texts are present in it, at variable levels, in more or less recognizable forms...every text is a fabric woven out of bygone quotations."

Psalm 137 (King James Version)

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Harlots, wives and celibacy in Paradise Lost

2011-04-10T21:32:00.003+02:00

Book IV compares marital love and the love one can easily buy from women who sell their bodies for a short period of time in exchange of some money. Milton compares both types of love while he critizises the position of Catholicism in the issue of celibacy. His attack is straightforward and directed to "whatever hypocrites austerely talk / Of puritie and place and innocence, / Defaming as impure what God declares / Pure, and commands to som, leaves free to all./ Our Maker bids increase, who bids abstain / But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?" (744-749). Basically, Milton´s logical idea is based upon the question: who said that priests cannot get married or cannot have sexual relationships? Milton knew well that the Bilble does not say anything about it. Actually, it would not come as a surprise that Milton knew that the Bible talks about the apostle Peter´s "mother-in-law" (Mattew 8:14). There one reads that " When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever" (Mattew 8:14).

I have taken a look at quite a few Bible translations and this is what I have found out: The New International version 2011, the New American Standard bible, the New Living Translation, the English Standard version and countless list of other versions use the term "mother-in-law". However, I have found that some versions are even more specific. In this respect, the King James version says: "And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever."

Certainly, Milton knew that God had never ordered anybody not to get married and the poet mentions in Book IV that Adam and Eve enjoyed their sexuality. Hence he pens that the first couple were created "To fill the Earth ..." and they went "into thir inmost bowre [...] and eas'd the putting off / These troublesome disguises which wee wear, / Strait side by side were laid, nor turnd I weene / Adam from his fair Spouse, nor Eve the Rites / Mysterious of connubial Love refus'd" [732-742].

For Milton, who had married three times by the time he wrote those verses, the idea of celibacy was nonsense and was simply based on tradition. In this context, the Oxford Dictionary of Popes by Kelly mentions that there were 39 popes who were married. Tradition seems to be under the idea of modern celibacy.

If Milton describes marital love in romantic and pure terms such as being together " into thir inmost bowre", "fair Spouse" and "Mysterious of connubial Love", his description about having sexual relationships with prostitutes is much more different. A few verses later, and without using his well-known convoluted style, he writes: "[...] about not in the bought smile / Of Harlots, loveless, joyless, unindeard, / Casual fruition" [765-767].

If money buys a smile, a loveless and joyless short period of time with an unknown woman who sells her body for money in exchange of a "casual fruition" or copulation, marital love has God´s blessing.

Paradise Lost IV 765-767
by John Milton

not in the bought smile
Of Harlots, loveless, joyless, unindeard,
Casual fruition

3T

2011-03-13T22:25:00.003+01:00

A few days ago I run into an interesting article about Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881). When I was thumbing through the article, I noticed there were no political comments or anything related to his relationship with Queen Victoria, aspect that I was primarily interested in reading about. To my surprise, the article dealt with Disraeli´s contribution to literature. I had no idea that apart from being the British Prime Minister in a couple of occasions, he had also written poems and two novels. The article said that he penned several romances and two novels: Sybil and Vivian Grey, from which I had not heard much either. However, in the middle of this interesting reading, there was a quote that caught my attention and now serves as the excuse for this entry. Disraeli is supposed to have said once: "Traveling teaches toleration", or the mnemotechnic rule that I have applied to give a name to his entry and that, hopefully, will help me remember Disraeli´s words, 3T.

To me, traveling has always being an important part of a person´s education. It enriches people´s personalities, it helps us understand other cultures and respect everyone. Traveling teaches us that the world should not have borders because we are all the same, no matter how far we go. Traveling increases the appreciation for the traveler´s origins and roots, it also helps a person to be more self-assured and self-confident. Besides, it broadens the traveler´s perspectives and ideas about life and the world. It certainly increases the sense of independance and responsability...well, there are countless advantages of traveling, which brings me to mind Tennyson´s Ulysses (1842) and the following unforgettable lines:

Ulysses
by Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

[...] I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments...

Nothing compares to you

2011-03-06T19:48:00.002+01:00

It is interesting the way Milton describes Eve´s falling for Adam. "Nothing compares to you", Eve seems to be saying to Adam in Paradise Lost, book IV. The sun is pleasant, the morning birds are charming, the grass, the trees, the fruits, the rivers, the stars...all is delightful and beautiful. However, spending time with Adam seems to be the most precious moment of the day for Eve. It seems to me that Milton´s Eve is in love, at least in Book IV. The comparisons and images Milton use are very powerful and only related to nature and the Paradise they lived in, obviously, because it was Adam and Eve´s world.

Paradise Lost (Book IV: 641- 656)
by John Milton (1608-1678)

Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, [ 641 ]
With charm of earliest Birds; pleasant the Sun
When first on this delightful Land he spreads
His orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flour,
Glistring with dew; fragrant the fertil earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Eevning milde, then silent Night
With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon,
And these the Gemms of Heav'n, her starrie train:
But neither breath of Morn when she ascends [ 650 ]
With charm of earliest Birds, nor rising Sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, floure,
Glistring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful Eevning mild, nor silent Night
With this her solemn Bird, nor walk by Moon,
Or glittering Starr-light without thee is sweet [ 656 ]

Marvell and women

2011-02-19T19:50:00.002+01:00

Not long ago, I wrote a bit about John Donne. Next, it was Herbert´s turn. This time I feel obliged to write a few lines about Marvell and the reason is simply because the three of them belong to the so-called metaphysical poets that abounded in England back in the 17th century.

Although Marvell was not a Puritan , he was Milton´s friend. Books say that Milton wrote a great recommendation for the post of Assistant Latin Secretary for Marvell. They must have been bossom friends because there are quite a few critics who agree on the fact that Marvell pulled the strings so that Milton´s head would not end up in a basket at a time when Charles II would have been very happy to do so.

Among the very many poems he wrote about women and the feminine gender, there are two that I´d like to mention: "To his Coy Mistress" and "The Definition of Love". I have chosen these two because they are very different in their content and approach. If in the first one the speaker tries to get a girl´s love because life is short and there is no time to waste, in the second one he explains love in geometric terms; he uses very specific vocabulary such as lines, angles, parallel lines and the lovers are opposite poles.

Certainly, two different approaches to deal with the same issue.

To his coy mistress

[...]

For Lady you deserve this State;
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I alwaies hear
Times winged Charriot hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lye
Desarts of vast Eternity.
Thy Beauty shall no more be found;
Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall sound
My ecchoing Song: then Worms shall try
That long preserv'd Virginity:

The Definition of Love

[...]

As Lines so Loves Oblique may well
Themselves in every Angle greet:
But ours so truly Paralel,
Though infinite can never meet.

Herbert vs. Donne

2011-02-09T09:14:00.002+01:00

If my previous entry was about Donne, one of the most popular metaphysical poets, today I´ll be writing a few lines about George Herbert, an Anglican priest whose verses have always been related to the same type of poetry.

Even though both poets use similar features such as an ingenious use of metaphysical conceits and constant references to the soul and to the body, perhaps one of the most interesting differences between Donne and Herbert is the way they write about love. Donne´s direct references to tangible love and sex contrast with the psychological and metaphysical analysis Herbert does about the same issue.

In the poem below, the love between God and us is depicted as a heavenly feast in which humans are invited to eat, as in the Holy Communion.More to the point, such love is personified in God, who is defined in the Bible as "love" (1 John 4:8) and who seems to be the "guest" in Herbert´s poem.

Love III
by George Herbert (1593-1633)

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

Guiltie of dust and sinne.

But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lack’d any thing.

A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkinde, ungratefull? Ah my deare,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?

My deare, then I will serve.

You must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.

To his mistress going to bed

2011-02-01T11:37:00.003+01:00

Reading John Donne is always a pleasure. Most of his poems make me laugh, especially those related to sex and sensual pleasure. I would have never thought of describing a woman´s body the way he does. The naked female body becomes his "America, [his] new found land", "[a] kingdom" that has to be discovered, investigated, searched in detail.

Donne, perhaps the most popular of the so-called metaphysical poets, was an expert at making metaphysical conceits, comparisons, unusual similes or metaphores which are more ingenious that either true or appropriate. The images of a naked female body and the discovery of a new continent are strong enough to stay in the minds of Donne´s readers.

He seems to have lived his sexuality to the full :)

To his mistress going to bed

by John Donne (1572-1631)

[...]
O my America, my new found land,

My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned,

My mine of precious stones, my empery,

How blessed am I in this discovering thee!

To enter in these bonds, is to be free;

Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.

Full nakedness, all joys are due to thee

As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be,

To taste whole joys.

The poet's duty: Faulkner vs. T.S.Eliot

2011-01-23T11:49:00.022+01:00

Not long ago I read an interesting article about what William Faulker (1897-1962) said in the speech he delivered on December 10, 1950, in Stockholm, when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was convinced that men are inmortal, not because they live literally forever, but because they have a soul, a spirit that is capable of endurance even in the hardest times. He went on to say that the poet has the responsibility to lift men's hearts and help them "endure and prevail". Here is his quote:

"I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poets, the writers, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poets voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail."

Faulkner's view of a poet's role differs very much from T.S. Eliot's views (1888-1965). As Eliot stressed in a 1943 lecture the poet's duty "is only indirectly to the people: his direct duty is to his language, first to preserve, and second to extend and improve." I have the feeling that Eliot's main interest is in the language and he does not seem to pay attention to what many may regard as the social function of poetry.

Anyway, today I am including the first lines of Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Afred Prufrock"

LET us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.

And one of Faulkner's very few poems that I have managed to find online

If there be grief, then let it be but rain,
And this but silver grief for grieving's sake,
If these green woods be dreaming here to wake
Within my heart, if I should rouse again.
But I shall sleep, for where is any death
While in these blue hills slumbrous overhead
I'm rooted like a tree? Though I be dead,
This earth that holds me fast will find me breath.

The pleasure of listening

2011-01-09T17:34:00.004+01:00

I think it was Heraclitus the one who said that the majority of people do not listen or speak properly. I am sure he was right. Actually, I have the feeling that most people speak more than listen to others. Me too, I am afraid. However, last Friday I spoke very little and listened most of the time.

Like most Fridays, I went for a drink with some of my friends. Sometimes we just meet, have a short talk and go back home. Some other times, we get involved in deep conversations from which I learn a lot. Last Friday, it was one of those days that I enjoyed listening to a person who had many interesting things to say. A friend of mine came along with a university student from Vietnam who had come to Warsaw with an international grant and was planning to stay until summer. All she said about her country, her culture, her way of understanding life was amazing. It was so different to the way I see my own reality that I felt she was talking to me about things that happen in another world. Some of my colleagues seemed to dislike the way the conversation was leading to and went to another bar. However, I stayed there because listening to her was pure pleasure. Time flew very fast.

I forgot about time and I missed the last bus home. So, I had to look for the night bus and then walk home. On my way home, a couple of verses of PL IV crossed my mind, the ones that I am posting below.

Do not ask me what time I got back !

Paradise Lost book IV, 639-640

With you conversing I forget all time,
All seasons and their change, all please alike.

New Year´s Resolutions for 2011

2011-01-05T12:51:00.001+01:00

Like every single year, I have written a short list with some of the things I want to do in 2011. I know that many people consider this a bit silly. However, it helps me carry out my plans, ideas and goals. In order to write my resolutions for 2011, I have tried to be practical and objective because it does not make any sense to write things that are impossible to get or to do.

So, these are some of the things that I´d love to fullfil by the end of 2011:

1. I would like to improve my Polish.

2. I would like to start learning a new foreign language (perhaps Swedish or French).

3. I would love to lose a few kilograms :)

4. It would be great to finish writing what I started a year ago.

2010 is gone and it won´t be back.

A Song for New Year's Eve
by William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay—
     Stay till the good old year,
So long companion of our way,
     Shakes hands, and leaves us here.
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One little hour, and then away.

The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
     Has now no hopes to wake;
Yet one hour more of jest and song
     For his familiar sake.
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One mirthful hour, and then away.

The kindly year, his liberal hands
     Have lavished all his store.
And shall we turn from where he stands,
     Because he gives no more?
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One grateful hour, and then away.

Days brightly came and calmly went,
     While yet he was our guest;
How cheerfully the week was spent!
     How sweet the seventh day's rest!
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One golden hour, and then away.

Dear friends were with us, some who sleep
     Beneath the coffin-lid:
What pleasant memories we keep
     Of all they said and did!
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One tender hour, and then away.

Even while we sing, he smiles his last,
     And leaves our sphere behind.
The good old year is with the past;
     Oh be the new as kind!
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One parting strain, and then away.

2011 is already here to stay with me 12 months and I am planning to make the most out of it.

Xmas in Gdynia

2010-12-27T23:30:00.001+01:00

I have just come back from Gdynia, where I have spent Christmas. As usual, I have visited part of my family and some of my friends. I have been lucky enough to have a coffee with a Venezuelan friend who I had not seen for more than ten years. It is amazing how time flies! Quite a few things have changed in his personal life, but he looks the same. I am very glad he is happy now!

Like most years, there were plenty of presents waiting for me by the Christmas tree. I was happy to unwrap them hurriedly and see that there were quite a few bottles of Spanish wine, plenty of chocolate, and a shaving machine. Unfortunately, there was nothing to read. So, I will have to wait until the 6th of January to see if the Three Wise Men bring me a nice book for winter.

Since I arrived in Gdynia until I went back to Warsaw, it has been snowing all the time. So much snow has made my trip to the capital of Poland a little bit of a nightmare. The roads have not improved much for the past five years in this part of the country and driving is not an easy task. Yet, the lanscape is unforgettable!

Snow-Flakes

by Longfellow (1807-1882)

Out of the bosom of the Air,
    Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
    Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
      Silent, and soft, and slow
      Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take
    Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
      The troubled sky reveals
      The grief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,
    Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
    Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
      Now whispered and revealed
      To wood and field.

Night shifts

2010-12-19T21:28:00.003+01:00

A few days ago, I was reading Paradise Lost book IV and something caught my attention. Book IV is full of beautiful references to the Moon, to the skies and to the day and night ( I mentioned some of those references in my previous posts). Milton uses those descriptive references as an introduction to the logic of sleeping at night and working during the day. This concept, which may look very simple and logical at a first sight, made me think of my previous job. For more than five years I worked in shifts, which meant that sometimes I had to work in the morning, some other times in the afternoon and even some other times I had to work from 22:00 to 06:00. That was really bad ! I remember that before coming to work at night, I had to try and sleep during the day in order not to feel tired during my shift. No matter how much I tried, I never got used to working at night because I felt like sleeping when I had to do my duties and my body suffered all those changes.

Nowadays, night shifts are absolutely necessary. I cannot imagine a city where everybody sleeps during the night and sleeps during the day. Workplaces like tube stations, airports, train stations, building sites, police, fire brigades..there are so many workplaces where night shifts are needed that perhaps it would be easier to mention those businesses where working at night is not necessary.

Certainly, I prefer working during the day and sleeping during the night.

PL IV: 610-616

When Adam thus to Eve: Fair Consort, th' hour [ 610 ]

Of night, and all things now retir'd to rest

Mind us of like repose, since God hath set

Labour and rest, as day and night to men

Successive, and the timely dew of sleep

Now falling with soft slumbrous weight inclines

Our eye-lids; [ 616 ]

Literature and bullfighting

2010-12-07T23:28:00.008+01:00

Not long time ago, I read an article published by the Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 Mario Vargas Llosa entitled La Última Corrida, in English The Last Bullfight. In it, he made clear that whether one loves bullfights or not, “no one can deny that bullfights are full of violence and cruelty” (I have translated into English his words and all that appear in Spanish in this post). I agree with Vargas Llosa.

Many other Spanish and South American writers had their say in this respect. For example, the Spanish writer Pérez de Ayala once said that “bullfights are an art and a drama”, and added that it was impossible to understand what goes on in the political and religious Spanish arena without attending bullfights. Also, the great Salvador de Madariaga said that bulls and bullfighters “participate of all arts”.

I do not know exactly what Madariaga meant, but what I know for sure is that Spanish artists throughout the centuries have demonstrated their love and respect for the art of bullfighting. For example, Goya and Picasso´s paintings and sculpture about bullfights are known worldwide. Besides, poets such as Federico García Lorca wrote tenths of poems related to the beauty of bullfighting. A few days ago I ran into the poem that I am including in this post. The beauty of the poem contrasts with the sadness of the poet.

La sangre derramada
by Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)

¡Que no quiero verla!

Dile a la luna que venga,
que no quiero ver la sangre
de Ignacio sobre la arena.

¡Que no quiero verla!

La luna de par en par,
caballo de nubes quietas,
y la plaza gris del sueño
con sauces en las barreras

¡Que no quiero verla!

Que mi recuerdo se quema.
¡Avisad a los jazmines
con su blancura pequeña!

I do not want to see it!

Tell the Moon to come,
´cause I do not want to see the blood
Of Ignacio on the bullring sand

I do not want to see it!

The Moon wide-open
like a horse in quiet clouds
and the grey bullring of dreams
edged all round with willows

I do not want to see it!

´cause remembrance burns
Call the jasmines
with their little whiteness!

The heavens declare the glory of God

2010-11-22T19:55:00.012+01:00

Now Satan is looking for the place where Adam and Eve are. He seems to be a bit at a loss and needs the help of anyone “who might direct his wandering flight.” (III:631). However, as all the angels in the outer space know him well, he avoids possible problems by changing his appearance. Thus, he transforms himself into a young and handsome cherub, “a stripling Cherube […] / Not of the prime, yet such as in his face / In curls on either cheek plaid, wings he wore / Of many a coloured plume sprinkled with Gold." (III:636-642).

With delicate steps and a radiant face, he nears the archangel Uriel with the sole intention of obtaining the information he needs. With his peculiar style, Satan tickles Uriel´s ears by telling him that he is one “of those seven spirits that stand / In sight of God's high Throne, gloriously bright” (III:654-657). Satan informs Uriel that he has come closer to get to know God’s creation, “but chiefly Man” (III:663). Afterwards, he kindly asks him “in which of all these shining Orbs hath Man / His fixed seat” (III: 668).

Ariel is amazed by the way the young cherub expresses himself. Ariel replies that his craven for knowing God’s creation is understandable and logical “for wonderful indeed are all his works” (III: 702) and gives him precise information about how to get to the place where Adam and Eve are.

It is interesting to notice that most of what Milton wrote in Paradise Lost has no biblical support. For example, the archangel Uriel does not appear in the Bible and is Milton’s own creation. However, Uriel´s words about the beauty of God’s works are clearly based on what the Holy Scriptures mention to satiety. Thus, one can read in Psalm 19: 1-3 that “the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words. ”

PL III: 721-728

The rest in circuit walls this Universe. [ 721 ]
Look downward on that Globe whose hither side
With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;
That place is Earth the seat of Man, that light
His day, which else as th' other Hemisphere
Night would invade, but there the neighbouring Moon
(So call that opposite fair Starr) her aide
Timely interposes, and her monthly round [ 728 ]

Certainly, God’s work is wonderful.

Brilliant disguise

2010-11-12T16:05:00.014+01:00

On 28 December 2009, I wrote an entry blog entitled Appearances can be Deceptive. In it, I wrote about the way people change at Christmas. We all look happier than ever and wish health, money and love to everyone, even to those who never talk to us. Today, I am focusing on the same issue from a different perspective.

Nowadays many people get dressed in a great variety of ways to protest against the government, the system, the rules or whatever they consider important. It is their way to express that they are different, but appearances can be, and are, deceptive.

There are plenty of examples in the animal kingdom that indicate that gold is not all that glitters. For example, there are hundreds of insects, reptiles and birds that change their appearance in order to hide themselves from their enemies or to attack other animals.

Whenever I think of people who used their clothes to be seen different, clergymen come to my mind. Religious people dress in black, in white, in grey, in purple and in so many colors that it is impossible not to notice them.

In his Paradise Lost, Milton criticizes Catholic clergymen for the way they dress. They are seen from a distance due to the colorful clothes they wear, as if colors were a paramount factor to reach Heaven ! What a brilliant disguise!

Regardless of the religion, would clergymen all over the world be treated by their humble flocks the same way if it were not for the clothes they wear?, Did God ever inform them about the colourful clothes they should wear? , Did God ever tell them that they should look different?

Certainly, they are like colourful rainbows that do not actually exist at any particular location in the sky. Their apparent position depend on the observer's location and the position of the Sun. All is just an unreachable and untouchable optical phenomenon.

To what an extent is it similar to clerical authorities?

Paradise Lost III: 475-480

White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie. [ 475 ]
Here Pilgrims roam, that stray'd so farr to seek
In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heav'n;
And they who to be sure of Paradise
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd; [ 480 ]

O shame to men!

2010-10-30T14:10:00.016+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I read on the Internet that several suspicious packages were found on planes heading for the USA. Almost every single day I hear about civilians who lose their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. I hear the same kind of news everyday. I have just had a quick look at some of today´s most popular neswpapers and I do not like what I have just read. The news all over the world is very disappointing.

People kill people in the name of God. The North fights against the South. The South against the North. The East against the West. The West against the East. I am tired of all this. When all this hatred will end?, Will humans ever be able to live in peace someday?, Will religion ever be able to bring peace to the world?

The worst of it all is that it has always been like this. Since the beginning of times people have been fighting and killing others for a a great variaty of reasons. The list of reasons is endless: money, property, love, hate, jealousy, political reasons, religious reasons...

Four hundred years ago, Milton described very vividly in his Paradise Lost how empty and purposeless life is that of those politicians, religious leaders, financial sharks and individuals alike who enjoy causing pain to others. Using Milton´s words, shame on those who do not care about others and say in their hearts: "Havock and spoil and ruin are my gain!" [ PL II: 1009 ]

PL II: 496-507

O shame to men! Devil with Devil damn'd [ 496 ]
Firm concord holds, men onely disagree
Of Creatures rational, though under hope
Of heavenly Grace; and God proclaiming peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife [ 500 ]
Among themselves, and levie cruel warres,
Wasting the Earth, each other to destroy:
As if (which might induce us to accord)
Man had not hellish foes anow besides,
That day and night for his destruction waite. [ 505 ]

Devilish doubtful consultations

2010-10-23T08:58:00.019+02:00

After Belial´s speech, it is Mammon´s turn. He is sure that the only way to recover their heavenly position is by “peaceful counsels, and the settle state of order […] dismissing quite all thought of war” (II:278-282). He believes that there is no point in serving someone who imposes “strict rules” (II:241) to his followers. As he added a bit later on: “how wearisome eternity so spent in worship paid to whom we hate” (II:247-248).

After Mammon´s words, Beelzebub stands up and elaborates on the idea of hurting God through causing evil to God´s latest creation, a “new race called Man” (II:348). Beezebub suggests that they should find out where those human creatures are, “of what mold or substance” (II:355-356) they have been made, and “where their weaknesses are” (II: 357). If they managed to get the answer to those questions, they would certainly cause God deep pain because this “new race called Man” would stand against God himself. He finishes his speech raising the question of who should be sent to search for this “new race”.

At this point, Satan, “whom transcendent glory raised above his fellows” (II:427-428), spoke up and made clear that he was the only one who could succeed in such a difficult task. Moreover, he highlighted the fact that “none shall partake with [him]” (II: 466), thus, making clear to the others that he would be the only one to go and search for the human creatures. Right after uttering his last word, “rose the Monarch and prevented all reply” (II:466-467) from other devilish chiefs.

Once these “doubtful consultations” (II: 486) among God´s enemies ended, it occurred as if “the radiant sun extend[ed] his evening beam [and] the fields revive[d]” (II: 493). God´s foes were happy to have a common objective: to find Man and to put him against God.

Paradise Lost II:492-495

[…]the radiant Sun with farewell sweet
Extend his ev'ning beam, the fields revive,
The birds thir notes renew, and bleating herds
Attest thir joy, that hill and valley rings. [ 495 ]

(Claude Monet, Impression, soleil levant, 1872)

Belial-like politicians

2010-10-16T09:56:00.003+02:00

I concluded my previous entry with the Devil asking for advice to his devilish followers. He ended up his speech with the words: “…who can advice, may speak” (II: 40).

Suddenly, Moloc, who Milton describes as “the fiercest spirit that fought in Heaven”, (II: 44-45) stands up and delivers a long speech advocating for “open war” (II: 51) against God and his heavenly forces. After Moloc, Belial comes next. Milton describes him as someone who seemed “graceful and humane”, “a fairer person” (II: 9-10) but “all was false and hollow” (II: 112) in him.

Belial´s description reminds me of all those politicians who promise things endlessly in an attempt to win our valuable vote, but once they are in power, they simply forget about their voters. They give us their best smile in a graceful and humane way as if they understood our needs, as if they were close to us. However, the simple truth is that all in them is “false and hollow”, just like in Belial.

Most of them, if not all, have the ability of the gab. They can easily choose beautiful and sweet words, just like the “manna” (II: 113) that came down from Heaven and produce a long list of reasons to “make the worst appear, the better reason” (II: 113-114) in order to back up their actions, whatever they are. Their main goal is certainly “to perplex” (II: 114) us with their complicated and never ending laws that are understood only by very few people.

It seems to me that most politicians, as well as Belial, are finely described as creatures who “to nobler deeds [are] timorous and slothful: yet [they] pleased the ear” (II: 116) with their “persuasive accent” (II: 118).

Paradise Lost II: 113-118

Belial in act more graceful and humane; [ 109 ]
A fairer person lost not Heav'n; he seemd
For dignity compos'd and high exploit:
But all was false and hollow; though his Tongue
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest Counsels: for his thoughts were low;
To vice industrious, but to Nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful: yet he pleas'd the ear,
And with perswasive accent thus began. [ 118 ]

He who can advice, may speak

2010-10-09T23:27:00.016+02:00

Right at the very beginning of Paradise Lost, Book II, a devilish debate takes place. Satan the Devil takes the lead and, in a rather longish speech, he debates whether another battle to recover the Heaven might be a good idea or not. The Devil believes to be in the right position to address his speech to the rest of the devilish creatures because he is their leader, and in such a position, he has the right to talk to them. Using the Devil´s words, “me thought just right and the fixed laws of Heaven / Did first create your leader” (II:18-20).

Being their leader seems to be enough for the Devil to speak to the other fallen angels about the advisability to fight once more against God´s celestial creatures or not. Yet, he does not seem to know what is more convenient and calls for help. The Devil asks the other angels for support in an attempt to decide whether an open war or a covert guile might be the right strategy to fight against God´s forces. However, before any fallen angel utters a word, the Devil warns that only those “who can advise, may speak” (II:42). So, apparently not all were allowed to talk. Only those who had something important and serious to say, those whose argumentative line was logical enough to be followed had the right to talk in front of the rest.

Milton used a similar concept in his Areopagitica, the political tract he wrote in 1644 in an attempt to stop the Licensing Order, i.e. the censorship measures that parliament had established a year earlier that obliged authors to hand in their works to the local authorities before publication. In this context, Milton´s Areopagitica starts with a poem taken from Euripides entitled The Suppliants II: 438-441, where we read that “This is true Liberty when free born men / Having to advice the public may speak free”. Again, not all citizens are encouraged to address to the public; only those “having to advice to the public may speak free”.

In both works (PL and Areopagitica), Milton highlights the importance of speaking to great audiences only when the speaker has a good piece of advice to share with them. In other words, empty words are useless as opposed to an enriching piece of advice (even in the case of Moloc, the fallen angel who spoke after the Devil) that can add something new to what has already been said.

Paradise Lost II: 38-42

To claim our just inheritance of old, [38]
Surer to prosper then prosperity
Could have assur'd us; and by what best way,
Whether of open Warr or covert guile,
We now debate; who can advise, may speak. [42]

Always there

2010-09-29T21:22:00.009+02:00

Whether it is cloudy or cloudless, the Moon is always up there. Her beauty and brightness are unique and it has inspired hundreds of writers, poets, singers, philosophers, scientists and the like throughout the centuries. More importantly, lovers have always found in the Moon a perfect source of inspiration to describe what they feel deep inside their hearts.

The Moon is our only natural satellite and it is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun. There is, however, a "pale" [786] aspect in this bright and beautiful satellite: its synchronous rotation with Earth, always showing the same face.

Even though scientists say that it is 384 400 km away from the Earth, it looks as if the Moon was just a few km away from us. That is why, perhaps, Milton the poet described her as a satellite situated very closed to us or "neerer to the Earth" [785]. A satellite whose movement is compared to that of a wheel that performs as an "arbitress" [785]. In this context, the female poet Charlotte Smith (1749-1806) described the Moon´s role of an arbitress in the context of her influence in the oceans and tides.

Paradise Lost I:784-786
by John Milton (1608-1678)

...the Moon [784]
Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth
Wheels her pale course [786]

The hiss of russling wings

2010-09-22T09:46:00.006+02:00

Paradise Lost is full of direct and indirect references to a wide variety of animals. For example, at the end of chapter I, Milton compares the great multitude of Satan´s troops with the bees. In describing Satan´s forces, Milton uses expressions such as "industrious crew" (751), "winged Haralds" (752), "Band and squared Regiment" (758). These terms can easily apply to bees too. For Milton, Satan´s winged followers are so many that they look like "bees in spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides, pour forth their populous youth about the hive" (768-770) who "expatiate and confer their State affairs" (774-775).

Certainly, bees can live and work on their own or can be part of a well organized community. However, if there is a feature that has caught my attention while reading about them is the speed of their wings. Some researchers say that the honebee can flap its wings more that 200 times per second. Besides, they use what experts call waggle dance to communicate with others. Amazing insect !

Paradise Lost I: 768-775
by John Milton (1608-1678)

"...with the hiss of russling wings as bees [768]
In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth thir populous youth about the Hive
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank,
The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel,
New rub'd with Baum, expatiate and confer
Thir State affairs." [775]

(The author of this beautiful photograph is the author of the best blog on ants I have ever found on the Internet)