A Mystery Which Will Never Happen Again
My thesis draft is due tomorrow! Fortunately, it is mostly done, and what isn't done, I can quickly outline and add tomorrow before the deadline at 5. After having done peer review today, I'm a lot more sanguine about the status of my draft. Also, at this point, I want feedback before continuing to fuck with it or writing much more. I've poked at it a bit tonight, but my brain is stalling out at this point.
Anyway, we have started reading the Iskandarnameh in Persian classical poetry. Or, well, part of it. It is basically a long ass post-Islamic fanboying of Alexander the Great. Complete with retcons to make his defeating the Persians more palatable, like he was totes Persian omg! or some people say he and Darius were half-brothers omg! and he was so clever and just and great that his empire was a gift to us all! Things I do not approve of though: writing out Olympias and saying Alexander was born to some poor noble woman who died in childbirth, somehow constructing a HS AU where Alexander and Aristotle were totes BFF while they were being taught by Aristotle's dad because WTF Hephaistion was his BFF >:( , and removing all fun references to Alexander being favored by Zeus Ammon (lol post-Islamic period). ...Needless to say, I have sadly been revealing the depth of my own Alexander fangirling in the process of pointing out how wildly untrue most of the shit in this poem is so far. ...also, I am surprising myself with just how butthurt I am that Hephaistion is not in this stupid poem yet.
On a more serious note, I do find it fascinating just how much Alexander has been mythologized, even by the peoples/cultures he conquered. He's one of those pivotal historical figures that actually did change the world single-handedly, more or less, and we know less about him than we think. But it's amazing how vividly he remains in the historical imagination. It's likely the combination of very human flaws and extraordinary achievements that makes him so fascinating. The accounts of his grief at Hephaistion's death are especially affecting, and his personality seems so clear even across so many second and third hand sources.
Today's poetry selection is by one of my favorite poets, E.E. Cummings. I think he writes some of the most beautiful love poems ever, and he never fails to warm my heart and just make me feel full. He's an acquired taste, to be sure, and I can't make sense of all of his poems. But he really rewards close reading, and his poems are just so bright and alive.
now all the fingers of this tree(darling)have
hands,and all the hands have people;and
more each particular person is(my love)
alive than every world can understand
and now you are and i am now and we're
a mystery which will never happen again,
a miracle which has never happened before--
and shining this our now must come to then
our then shall be some darkness during which
fingers are without hands;and i have no
you:and all trees are(any more than each
leafless)its silent in forevering snow
--but never fear(my own,my beautiful
my blossoming)for also then's until
This entry was originally posted at http://yasaman.dreamwidth.org/341007.html, with
comments there.
Anyway, we have started reading the Iskandarnameh in Persian classical poetry. Or, well, part of it. It is basically a long ass post-Islamic fanboying of Alexander the Great. Complete with retcons to make his defeating the Persians more palatable, like he was totes Persian omg! or some people say he and Darius were half-brothers omg! and he was so clever and just and great that his empire was a gift to us all! Things I do not approve of though: writing out Olympias and saying Alexander was born to some poor noble woman who died in childbirth, somehow constructing a HS AU where Alexander and Aristotle were totes BFF while they were being taught by Aristotle's dad because WTF Hephaistion was his BFF >:( , and removing all fun references to Alexander being favored by Zeus Ammon (lol post-Islamic period). ...Needless to say, I have sadly been revealing the depth of my own Alexander fangirling in the process of pointing out how wildly untrue most of the shit in this poem is so far. ...also, I am surprising myself with just how butthurt I am that Hephaistion is not in this stupid poem yet.
On a more serious note, I do find it fascinating just how much Alexander has been mythologized, even by the peoples/cultures he conquered. He's one of those pivotal historical figures that actually did change the world single-handedly, more or less, and we know less about him than we think. But it's amazing how vividly he remains in the historical imagination. It's likely the combination of very human flaws and extraordinary achievements that makes him so fascinating. The accounts of his grief at Hephaistion's death are especially affecting, and his personality seems so clear even across so many second and third hand sources.
Today's poetry selection is by one of my favorite poets, E.E. Cummings. I think he writes some of the most beautiful love poems ever, and he never fails to warm my heart and just make me feel full. He's an acquired taste, to be sure, and I can't make sense of all of his poems. But he really rewards close reading, and his poems are just so bright and alive.
now all the fingers of this tree(darling)have
hands,and all the hands have people;and
more each particular person is(my love)
alive than every world can understand
and now you are and i am now and we're
a mystery which will never happen again,
a miracle which has never happened before--
and shining this our now must come to then
our then shall be some darkness during which
fingers are without hands;and i have no
you:and all trees are(any more than each
leafless)its silent in forevering snow
--but never fear(my own,my beautiful
my blossoming)for also then's until
This entry was originally posted at http://yasaman.dreamwidth.org/341007.html, with
comments there.