There's a Legion that never was ’listed,That carries no colours or crest,But, split in a thousand detachments,Is breaking the road for the rest.Our fathers they left us their blessing—They taught us, and groomed us, and crammed;But we’ve shaken the Clubs and the MessesTo go and find out and be damned(Dear boys!),To go and get shot … Continue reading Poem – “The Lost Legion”
Author: DBreitenbeck
Saturday Sundry: Gods of the Copybook Headings and Ten Years of Misery
1. I had my students read The Gods of the Copybook Headings this week (it's almost exam time and I didn't want to start new lessons, so we're just reading Kipling poems). It's really amazing that this was written in 1919, when its subject matter and thesis are a pitch-perfect match to the present. But … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Gods of the Copybook Headings and Ten Years of Misery
Poem – “Hymn”
At morn — at noon — at twilight dim —Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!In joy and wo — in good and ill —Mother of God, be with me still!When the Hours flew brightly by,And not a cloud obscured the sky,My soul, lest it should truant be,Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;Now, when storms … Continue reading Poem – “Hymn”
Sunday Sundry: Principles of Unity
1. A bout of insomnia this week left me only half-rational, hence why this is extra late. 2. Unity – ‘Oneness’ – is one of the transcendentals: qualities of Being that transcend the Ten Categories. It is the ability to speak of something as a single unit or concept. Coupled with this is Distinction: that … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Principles of Unity
Poem – “Yarrow Visited”
And is this—Yarrow?—This the streamOf which my fancy cherished,So faithfully, a waking dream?An image that hath perished!O that some Minstrel's harp were near,To utter notes of gladness,And chase this silence from the air,That fills my heart with sadness! Yet why?—a silvery current flowsWith uncontrolled meanderings;Nor have these eyes by greener hillsBeen soothed, in all my wanderings.And, … Continue reading Poem – “Yarrow Visited”
Sunday Sundry
My father's out visiting, so my schedule is a little off (as far as I have one). That means no Flotsam this week. Sorry.
Poem – “Marius Amongst the Ruins of Carthage”
Twas noon—and Afric's dazzling sun on high,With fierce resplendence fill'd th' unclouded sky;No zephyr wav'd the palm's majestic head,And smooth alike the seas and deserts spread;While, desolate, beneath a blaze of light,Silent and lonely, as at dead of night,The wreck of Carthage lay—her prostrate FanesHad strew'd their precious marble o'er the plains;Dark weeds and grass … Continue reading Poem – “Marius Amongst the Ruins of Carthage”
Friday Flotsam: ‘The Running Man’ and ‘Epic’
1. Last week's movie night was The Running Man, starring Ahnold. It was more or less your typical action-sci-fi film of the 1980s: over-the-top violence, bitingly funny satire, mounds of creative energy, and a charismatic cast (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonzo, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, etc). It's not brilliant, but solidly … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘The Running Man’ and ‘Epic’
Friday Flotsam: Mostly Politics, with a Godzilla Chaser
1. The supreme law is the well-being of the people. It is not the well-being of the economy. 2. The Right Wing - Left Wing dichotomy is a product of Revolutionary politics and does not exist outside them. They mean the same thing today as they meant in 1793: Right Wing means favoring a limited … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Mostly Politics, with a Godzilla Chaser
Payoffs and Ripoffs at Noble Cobra Magazine
As promised, the written version of the talk I gave (to a tiny, self-selected audience) at Legend Haven is up at Noble Cobra Magazine: There is a passage in C.S. Lewis’s seminal essay On Stories which has informed a lot of my approach to fiction. It comes when Prof. Lewis is trying to describe what he calls … Continue reading Payoffs and Ripoffs at Noble Cobra Magazine
Serpent's Den 