More poetry - sorry but your stories do that - lovely hadnling of the parallelism of the hope and optimism and physical contentedness of the boys just at the moment and poor Hunter - it is his own constrct the prisoin as much as it is the bars of Ferrol Excellent and restrained -as usual very much enjoyed
but the boys conversation about the birds reminds me particularly of something very special to me as it partly caused one of the more romantic episodes in my life ;) do you know the Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy - contains the line
Oh...yes that is exactly right. They do fling their souls up, and I love the description of the thrush as sort of old and thin and shabby.
And Hunter is shabby too, isn't he? And so lonely. No song from him now.
I was really thinking in this one that young love is a little selfish. Horatio can see Archie in all his nuance, but everything else has gone a little dim for him.
Its funny. I have had personal experience with depression,not just being a little down, but the kind that makes life just seem like too much work to endure. (I think you may have guessed this about me.) You would think that having been through it, I would be able to write it adequately for poor Hunter. But it is hard to capture.
Still, as usual, you saw to the heart of what I was trying to convey. And gave me a poem to return to. So generous. Thank you.
Poor Hunter. And the boys upstairs, so sweet and smutty. And yes selfish. But faced with trying to figure out how to escape from prison, when escape is almost impossible and incredibly risky, and the chances of making it back home so slim... well I'd stay in bed with my long lost lover too.
Is it Tolstoy that said something about every happy family being the same, but every miserable one being different? I think that depression can be like that, so very individual to personality, place, and circumstance. I certain can't imagine what it would be like to be this wretched, desperate, crabby, hateful man, stuck in prison and unable to be happy about anything. Bleh. I could do Archie laying in bed quietly hating himself and the world though, passably at least.
One does wonder, whether Hunter hears the boys having at each other! That couldn't be good for his peace of mind.
Archie in his handsome brave bitterness is much more palatable. Hunter is just Blech... and yet. If he had discovered the long lost love of his life, maybe the shoe would be off the other foot.
It was of course, Tolstoy. It was Anna Karenina.
I hope that Hunter does not hear them. I don't know how he would react having that lever over Horatio. (Were the articles enforced for POW's?)
I'm not sure about the articles. I'd assume that prisoners would live under whatever rules the prison had, but whether deeds in prison could also be punished under the Articles once they were at sea again... I don't know. I feel like there is some sort of distinction between things you can do at sea, and things you can do on the shore, but that might just be too much "It's ok, it's not against the Articles if we bugger each other in this inn" fan-fic.
I think you've captured and communicated Hunter's frustrations really well here. He come across as being really on edge, so strung our that every little irritation grates on him. You can just feel him seething with impotent rage.
But that final little exchange between between Horatio and Archie is just divine! Lovely :)
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Excellent and restrained -as usual very much enjoyed
but the boys conversation about the birds reminds me particularly of something very special to me as it partly caused one of the more romantic episodes in my life ;)
do you know the Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy - contains the line
in a full hearted evensong,
of joy illimited
and is a great poem
Reply
Oh...yes that is exactly right. They do fling their souls up, and I love the description of the thrush as sort of old and thin and shabby.
And Hunter is shabby too, isn't he? And so lonely. No song from him now.
I was really thinking in this one that young love is a little selfish. Horatio can see Archie in all his nuance, but everything else has gone a little dim for him.
Its funny. I have had personal experience with depression,not just being a little down, but the kind that makes life just seem like too much work to endure. (I think you may have guessed this about me.) You would think that having been through it, I would be able to write it adequately for poor Hunter. But it is hard to capture.
Still, as usual, you saw to the heart of what I was trying to convey. And gave me a poem to return to. So generous. Thank you.
Reply
Reply
Is it Tolstoy that said something about every happy family being the same, but every miserable one being different? I think that depression can be like that, so very individual to personality, place, and circumstance. I certain can't imagine what it would be like to be this wretched, desperate, crabby, hateful man, stuck in prison and unable to be happy about anything. Bleh. I could do Archie laying in bed quietly hating himself and the world though, passably at least.
One does wonder, whether Hunter hears the boys having at each other! That couldn't be good for his peace of mind.
Reply
It was of course, Tolstoy. It was Anna Karenina.
I hope that Hunter does not hear them. I don't know how he would react having that lever over Horatio. (Were the articles enforced for POW's?)
Reply
I'm not sure about the articles. I'd assume that prisoners would live under whatever rules the prison had, but whether deeds in prison could also be punished under the Articles once they were at sea again... I don't know. I feel like there is some sort of distinction between things you can do at sea, and things you can do on the shore, but that might just be too much "It's ok, it's not against the Articles if we bugger each other in this inn" fan-fic.
Reply
Reply
But that final little exchange between between Horatio and Archie is just divine! Lovely :)
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