-
Hippopotamus
This is a fun word…just the sound of it is pleasing, and its etymology interesting. The English name for this large mammal found in the swamps, lakes, and waterways of sub-Saharan Africa comes, like several African animals, from ancient Greek. The hippo segment, ἵππος in Greek, means “horse”. Several other words in English use this…
-
Inevitable
The shades drawn all dayErasing time, a circleThe elm seed in spring
-
Beasts, Men, and Gods
Back near the end of 2020, I read Beasts, Men, and Gods. After finishing the last chapter, I wrote up what was to be the first of what I’m calling a “book jot” (a simple little reaction after reading a book). In an effort to include these book jots on The Vulgar Eclectic, here it…
-
JMW Turner and Ruskin
In The Queen of the Air, John Ruskin mentions the landscape painter J. M. W. Turner several times, and once refers to a specific work of his. Perhaps it is this painting. Here is the passage: “But, opposite me, is an early Turner drawing of the lake of Geneva, taken about two miles from Geneva,…
-
The Queen of the Air
I finished reading The Queen of the Air (1861) by John Ruskin, an English writer who explored a wide range of topics throughout his life. This book was a collection of four different pieces, all connected in some way to the ideas represented by the Greek goddess Athena. It took me a while to fall…
-
Hedda Gabler
I just finished reading Hedda Gabler (1891), a play written by Henrik Ibsen and translated by Una Ellis-Fermor. The play elicited one of the strongest reactions I’ve had in a reading experience in recent memory. I found myself shouting out loud at a few points, so agitated was I by the circumstances of the play…
-
Alone, alone, all, all alone, alone on a wide wide sea
I’ve discovered a couple of new-to-me musical works I’ve really enjoyed. It’s as if music like this creates a whole other world, a world one can swim through…tranquilly like a cyclopean whale or darting about like curious minnows among the shadows of sunken driftwood cities, waving aquatic forests, and silent sea meadows. The first is…
-
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
I just finished reading Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821) by Thomas De Quincey. This is a delightful little autobiographical book. A good chunk of it is a memoir of De Quincy’s youth, and includes an interesting description of his time living on the streets of London as a runaway. The remaining segments of…
-
Orestes by Euripides
I finished reading Orestes by Euripides (408 BC), translated by Philip Vellacott. I love Euripides and this play is no exception. It is beautifully written and was exciting and dramatic to read, but also encourages prolonged reflection. The ending of the play left me a little confused, as did the moral nature of many of the…