Poetry

[elskuligr]

Trying to write a PhD thesis and being in more or less constant self-doubt tend to be synonymous, I'm afraid, not least when the said thesis deals with something as elusive as the style of ancient poetry (Old English in my case).

It is strangely comforting to have one's doubts confirmed and somehow gently mocked by a witty quote, which is what

Comments

[fpb]

I would just send you to Matthew Arnold and his list of great lines. He is a better critic than Stoppard - wittier, too. And whatever Stoppard may say, he will never stop my skin from getting goosebumps when Aeneas, at the end of the eighth book, looks at the shield of the gods, and though not understanding it, rejoices, and does not know that he is carryin his glory and the destiny of all his descendants.