Digger's Clue of the day reveal

Device used a lot in Lear, it turns out (12)

Digger's Clue of the Day

Artist makes brief entrance (6)

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

Alot of 19th century Russian Literature is interested in exploring the moral dillemmas of reconciling the personal, spiritual ethos of Orthodox Christianity and the political developments in Russian society in the Age of 'scientific progress'. Turgenev uses the prism of the father-son relationship to explore a variety of the contemporary Russian political movements including: Romanticism, Nihilism and Liberalism. With the foreknowledge of the looming crisis in Russian society, the social, moral and political concerns of the Russian gentry might seem irrevelant, quaint or petty yet there are some 'universal' insights into the problems of reconciling the personal and the political 'self' that still resonates, at least to my ear, in the 21st century.

The Railway Children by E Nesbit


I would describe this as a wonderful 'gateway' text for young readers. When a middle class family 'falls' upon hard times; the love, labour and wisdom of a wonderfully generous matriarch provides the security for the 3 protagonists to explore the moral and ethical dillemmas of poor children in the Victorian age. Where Dicken's explores the dark and disturbing aspects of youth, crime and poverty; Nesbit chooses to focus upon the generous and noble humanity seen in struggling communities. The text has such a warm heart to it, that it is difficult to criticise it too harshly although it has some drawbacks to it such as a too serendipidous ending. A good gift for a young reader.

1900

1923

~2000


If you were to designate that one generation = 20 years. Then consider that in around 5 generations the political boundaries of the Middle East have moved considerably. The above three maps do not account for all the changes given that there have been a number of 'smaller' wars that have shifted the boundaries as well.

Whatever cause you choose to account for the instability in Syria, Iraq and Israel/Palestine; is it really suprising that each lurches from crises to crises?


1914

1919

1945-1989



NATO aligned countries c 2000.

Without considering the rights and wrongs of the 20th century European conflicts; consider how the changes in the world look like from Moscow's point of view in the past century. Think about what sort of narratives are taught about the sacrifice and loss of life in those 100 years and how it is like to impact upon the Russian leadership's perception of the world.
I am no apologist for the current Russian regime, but do you really think economic sanctions are really going to have an impact upon what the Russian leadership thinks is Russia's sphere of influence? Really?

Digger's Clue of the Day reveal

Artist makes brief entrance (6)

Digger's Clue of the Day Difficult
Will they always support region in tremors near farm enclosures? (14)

Digger's Clue of the Day Reveal Difficult
Will they always support region in tremors near farm enclosures? (14)



Digger's Clue of the Day

Hideous tabloid's gutless in pieces distributed (6,3)

Unrelated ruminations.

I am thoroughly enjoying reading Conrad's writing. His writing style and the narrative structure of Lord Jim I find intriguing.

I am seriously considering applying for a MRes in English Literature candidature for 2015, my dreams of gaining a permanent high school position appear to be unattainable (in a reasonable period of time).

I have gained another student to tutor, this student is going to be doing her final year in 2015 - it will be once a week and appears that her parents are keen for this to be a permanent gig until her graduation.

I have been playing around with ideas for writing an epic poem. I have written some poetry in the past but I do not have a huge portfolio of work. I think some of my ideas have some merit and can see alot of the structure of the narrative arc, the major concerns and some possibilities for the narrator.

I have been thinking about this reading project and perhaps altering its course slightly. I am thinking that I want to read Paradise Lost and I want to reread Dante's Divine Comedy.

Also on my wish list
Rime of the Ancient Mariner Coleridge
Don Juan Byron
Bible

With practical application for my MRes I should read:
All Austen works I have not read.
+ Some Shakespeare plays.

Although I have not made up my mind to shift my focus yet. But I think I might start jotting out ideas that I have and try transforming them into blank verse poetry during my daily coffee, crossword timeouts.

Hope everything is going well in your world. Speak to you soon.

Digger's Clue of the Day Reveal

Hideous tabloid's gutless in pieces distributed (6,3)

best of luck choosing your next step, Digger. I'm sure you'd thrive in a graduate program.

Digger's Clue of the Day

Tragic Othello pun there - don't make me laugh (4,3,5,3)

Digger's thought for the day

The enemy of idealism is zealotry. Neil Kinnock

I disagree.

Idealism and zealotry are two sides of the same coin.


Reading Update

Finished Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

I have read the first couple of pages of Finnegan's Wake and Tale of Two Cities, but neither have inspired me to continue. That might have something to do with the fact that I am abit under the weather.

Life Update
I have started writing some lines of poetry, jotting ideas and flexing the grey cells.
One of the benefits of teaching or tutoring someone is that you really have to think about the subject your teaching particularly when you are teaching a skill. For example, essay writing - which is a key skill that high school students need to demonstrate - when you break down the process of essay writing it requires alot of thought to describe simply the function of each sentence with a paragraph and the relationship between each sentence.
Of course, poetry writing is very different to essay writing. One of my fears is: that although I love reading poetry, believe that I can analyse poetry with a high degree of sophistication; that I might not actually be good at writing poetry.
With the above in mind, I want to read poetry from a process point of view. Hopefully by doing this, as well as practising writing poetry - I can find a poetic voice. However, perhaps deconstruction is not the best way to find a poetic voice - I guess I will find out.

Did you know?

There has been a coup d'etat in the African country Lesotho in the past week.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29010132



Lesotho (i/lɨˈsuːtuː/ li-SOO-too), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country completely surrounded by South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population slightly over two million.[1] Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sotho.[5] About 40% of the population lives below the international poverty line of US $1.25 a day.

In medias res (Latin "in the midst of things") is the literary and artistic narrative technique of relating a story from the midpoint, rather than the beginning (cf. ab ovo, ab initio).[1] In an in medias res narrative, the story opens with dramatic action rather than exposition setting up the characters and situation.

In medias res often, though not always, entails subsequent use of flashback and nonlinear narrative for exposition of earlier events in order to fill in the backstory. For example, in Homer's Odyssey, we first learn about Odysseus' journey when he is held captive on Calypso's island. We then find out, in Books IX through XII, that the greater part of Odysseus' journey precedes that moment in the narrative. On the other hand, Homer's Iliad has relatively few flashbacks, although it opens in the thick of the Trojan War.

Fancy

Ever let the Fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home:
At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth,
Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;
Then let winged Fancy wander
Through the thought still spread beyond her:
Open wide the mind’s cage-door,
She’ll dart forth, and cloudward soar.
O sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Summer’s joys are spoilt by use,
And the enjoying of the Spring
Fades as does its blossoming;
Autumn’s red-lipp’d fruitage too,
Blushing through the mist and dew,
Cloys with tasting: What do then?
Sit thee by the ingle, when
The sear ****** blazes bright,
Spirit of a winter’s night;
When the soundless earth is muffled,
And the caked snow is shuffled
From the ploughboy’s heavy shoon;
When the Night doth meet the Noon
In a dark conspiracy
To banish Even from her sky.
Sit thee there, and send abroad,
With a mind self-overaw’d,
Fancy, high-commission’d:— send her!
She has vassals to attend her:
She will bring, in spite of frost,
Beauties that the earth hath lost;
She will bring thee, all together,
All delights of summer weather;
All the buds and bells of May,
From dewy sward or thorny spray
All the heaped Autumn’s wealth,
With a still, mysterious stealth:
She will mix these pleasures up
Like three fit wines in a cup,
And thou shalt quaff it:— thou shalt hear
Distant harvest-carols clear;
Rustle of the reaped corn;
Sweet birds antheming the morn:
And, in the same moment — hark!
’Tis the early April lark,
Or the rooks, with busy caw,
Foraging for sticks and straw.
Thou shalt, at one glance, behold
The daisy and the marigold;
White-plum’d lilies, and the first
Hedge-grown primrose that hath burst;
Shaded hyacinth, alway
Sapphire queen of the mid-May;
And every leaf, and every flower
Pearled with the self-same shower.
Thou shalt see the field-mouse peep
Meagre from its celled sleep;
And the snake all winter-thin
Cast on sunny bank its skin;
Freckled nest-eggs thou shalt see
Hatching in the hawthorn-tree,
When the hen-bird’s wing doth rest
Quiet on her mossy nest;
Then the hurry and alarm
When the bee-hive casts its swarm;
Acorns ripe down-pattering,
While the autumn breezes sing.

Oh, sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Every thing is spoilt by use:
Where’s the cheek that doth not fade,
Too much gaz’d at? Where’s the maid
Whose lip mature is ever new?
Where’s the eye, however blue,
Doth not weary? Where’s the face
One would meet in every place?
Where’s the voice, however soft,
One would hear so very oft?
At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth
Like to bubbles when rain pelteth.
Let, then, winged Fancy find
Thee a mistress to thy mind:
Dulcet-eyed as Ceres’ daughter,
Ere the God of Torment taught her
How to frown and how to chide;
With a waist and with a side
White as Hebe’s, when her zone
Slipt its golden clasp, and down
Fell her kirtle to her feet,
While she held the goblet sweet,
And Jove grew languid. — Break the mesh
Of the Fancy’s silken leash;
Quickly break her prison-string
And such joys as these she’ll bring. —
Let the winged Fancy roam
Pleasure never is at home.

John Keats

The filtered word is a word for a small piece of firewood, that in modern parlance might be more often used as a derogatory term for a gay person. F_ _ _ _T

In Greek mythology, Hēbē (/ˈhiːbi/; Greek: Ἥβη)[1] is the goddess of youth[2] (Roman equivalent: Juventas).[3] She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera.[4] Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Heracles (Roman equivalent: Hercules); her successor was Zeus' lover Ganymede. Another title of hers, for this reason, is Ganymeda. She also drew baths for Ares and helped Hera enter her chariot.


Madame De Caumartin as Hebe

Why Orwell was a literary mediocrity...

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28971276

Yeah I read this piece. The author is an attention seeking intellectual narcissist IMHO.

Digger's Clue of the Day reveal

Tragic Othello pun there - don't make me laugh (4,3,5,3)

Digger's Clue of the Day

Eskimo largely responsible for the tooth (5)

We all are a product of our times.
To what extent can we shape ourselves into something different, something new?

Can we burn away our past, do as the Christian does - bathe oneself and create oneself anew?

Digger's Clue of the Day Reveal

Eskimo largely responsible for the tooth (5)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Digger's clue of the day
Initially, the primates have a go at making pictures in fabric (8)

Digger's clue of the day
Initially, the primates have a go at making pictures in fabric(8)