Clipmarks | akarra's 'literature' clips

A Lack of Moral Absolutes in Poetry?

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:12:58 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A blogger quotes a critic in order to muse on world and language.

Clip Source: scribblingsandsketches.wordpress.com

Mind seeks echoes between world and language. Every mind does this. Lack of echo leaves us with sullenness and, sometimes, poison. Metaphor is echo. Bronowski stepping into the pond (in the film below) scooping the mud is echo. His act is poetry in motion: simple, dramatic, almost too perfect, but stopping short of perfection and self-admiration. Bronowski understood this. He wrote a study of William Blake that I used as a student when writing a thesis on Blake. Language has led him to the edge. That moment of stepping in is the echo. Poetry is that kind of stepping in, shoes and all. But it cannot afford perfection. It is the lack of absolutes that makes poetry: not smoothness but falling short. Almost a clumsiness. There is an element of uncomfortable soaking in it.

Tags: poetry, criticism, philosophy, literature

On Macbeth

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:26:32 GMT

clipped by: akarra

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

Banquo says, in act 1, scene 3, lines 79-80 that the earth has bubbles as water. The witches are tied to primordial chaos, they are the descendants of Cain whom God purportedly destroyed when he flooded the earth. From them come thunder, lightning, and rain, which is not merely Macbeth killing Duncan and then Macbeth being killed for Malcolm's sake, but also Malcolm being challenged by Fleance or Donalbain later. The wars will not end, for God is dead early on in Macbeth, and all men are tyrants, seeking mastery over Fortune. They can be placated, certainly, but this is the modern world that has been born, and it is literally a witches' brew. The witches don't disappear because they were only out to torment Macbeth; they disappear because they have set us in motion.

Tags: shakespeare, macbeth, drama, literature, poetry

Epic Literature and Film

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:56:47 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: An attempt to explain why someone might want to watch movies and read books when there's so much to be done, and when ideology seems to explain all.

Clip Source: irate-nation.com

Look, we as conservatives can stick to saying “it’s about God and country.” But I don’t think we can just dismiss art. God smiles on those who try their best, who make use of their talents not just to bring people into the Church. Two very good friends are getting more evangelical, and I love them dearly, but it gets harder to talk to them as bigger issues consistently get reduced to what the Bible might be saying about some issue, and that’s all there is to know. I remember one friend of mine saying that since the Bible existed, there was no need for any other book. An analogous reasoning can be used to say that since we need to win elections, there’s no time to watch anything thoughtful.

And I just sit there, and wonder if the Gospels are as short as they are not because Jesus spent his brief time on Earth preaching the same thing continuously, but listening to others, and wondering about the beauty that each of us are, and the beauty in what we do.

Tags: conservatism, movies, christianity, literature