Thank you Greg. A long time since I read those poems. The excerpts encourage me to re-read. As for the mention of current day "tyrants," I knew that road was not leading us to Rome or Xanadu. It was of course leading us to current day NYC, Moscow, Mar A Lago & indirectly to Tallahassee; where another wannabe despot lies in wait for his opportunity. May he too end up as failed, miserable & unhappy as the rest.....ROSEBUD..
Greg as many of your readers have noted your writings are teaching us about history that we didn’t know or only had a tiny understanding of. Today is another example! Sans-culottes is a phrase I didn’t understand. I looked it up. Culottes were short pants that the upper class wore, pheasants wore long pants. Did you know the pheasants who wanted a more democratic government also donned red caps?? They were called liberty caps! DFG steals from history again! Lol really enjoyed today’s lesson. PS must listen to side B of Abbey Road!
I love this so much! I've read Kubla Khan countless times, but you offered insights that I had never recognized. If you like biography (of Coleridge and Shelley) and such I would recommend Richard Holmes. And especially his shorter book Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer. Thanks so a bunch for your work! Have a peaceful week.
A great reading of lively poetic masterpiece, Greg, that sets an alert reader's imagination soaring far into his of her own space, fueled by Coleridge's rich language and versifying power. In your reading you give it timely relevance--which is what good critics do. I enjoyed what you've written, and with such spirit.
In a week filled with small photos and a ton of adversarial words, virtually all full of shit in a tidal wave of redundancy, this is by far the best thing I have read. Thanks. Saving insight and rationality requires using insight, knowledge and rationality.
And as for culottes, they were the bane of my later teenage years. I was trying to do some conquering of my own.
Sunday Pages has fanned a small spark of passion for literature in this octogenarian that I wasn’t sure was ever there. Between my Bible thumping parents and mediocre teachers, without exception, I thought for decades that literature was boring. (Or maybe my Bible thumping parents created an environment in which it was impossible to appreciate what the teachers were trying to offer.) I haven’t yet got my butt to the library to look for Byron, Shelley or Coleridge, and I don’t think I could still appreciate them on my own. But I look forward eagerly to these Sunday Pages and savor every word you have to say about the pieces you quote. My world is expanding, one tiny glimpse at a time!
Oh my, Greg, you always manage to get me! I sometimes will read a Sunday-post headline and think, "I'm not going to be interested in that," and then I read, and it draws me in every time! Now, Kubla Khan, which I managed to get through all of my eclectic schooling and have never read. Interesting, and yes, trippy!
Tidbit from Wiki: "The historical French term "sans-culottes" which was once the rejection of aristocrats' breeches, is now used colloquially to mean the same as an English colloquialism "going commando" or not wearing under-pants." How we just move language around, willy-nilly.
Finally, there must be some sort of personality profile that can be gleaned from the question: When I say "Xanadu," what's the first thought you have? I'm not sure what it would measure, but put me down for Olivia Newton-John, OF COURSE! LOL
Greg, as always, a magical mystery tour de force through words of yesteryear that resonate today. Tyrants, wannabe or actual, never seem to grasp, in the long sweep of history only time, at the level of us mere mortals, is permanent, Einstein notwithstanding. Many tyrant’s names are well-known. Yet there’s a panoply of ones who aren’t; those of vanished kingdoms, which happened to be the title of a book by Norman Davies. It’s definitely a slog, but if I were teaching Tyrant 101 it would be on the required reading list. The ending of the movie “Barry Lyndon” had it exactly right: “It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor; they are all equal now.”
Sunday Pages: "Kubla Khan, Or, a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment."
Fast thick pants sounds like something you'd wear in wintertime, also.
Thank you Greg. A long time since I read those poems. The excerpts encourage me to re-read. As for the mention of current day "tyrants," I knew that road was not leading us to Rome or Xanadu. It was of course leading us to current day NYC, Moscow, Mar A Lago & indirectly to Tallahassee; where another wannabe despot lies in wait for his opportunity. May he too end up as failed, miserable & unhappy as the rest.....ROSEBUD..
Ahhhhh, Xanadu. Magic. Thank you, Greg.
Greg as many of your readers have noted your writings are teaching us about history that we didn’t know or only had a tiny understanding of. Today is another example! Sans-culottes is a phrase I didn’t understand. I looked it up. Culottes were short pants that the upper class wore, pheasants wore long pants. Did you know the pheasants who wanted a more democratic government also donned red caps?? They were called liberty caps! DFG steals from history again! Lol really enjoyed today’s lesson. PS must listen to side B of Abbey Road!
OMG, you are so good. (!)
Loved your fresh and current interpretation of this one.
Your Sunday columns are often the highlight of my day.
I love this so much! I've read Kubla Khan countless times, but you offered insights that I had never recognized. If you like biography (of Coleridge and Shelley) and such I would recommend Richard Holmes. And especially his shorter book Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer. Thanks so a bunch for your work! Have a peaceful week.
Amazing Sunday morning post Greg! You’ve left me once again with a smile on my face and numerous questions, thanks, Sla’inte!!
No culottes just long pants for this uneducated peasant. Thanks Greg but like Algebra. I dont get it.
A great reading of lively poetic masterpiece, Greg, that sets an alert reader's imagination soaring far into his of her own space, fueled by Coleridge's rich language and versifying power. In your reading you give it timely relevance--which is what good critics do. I enjoyed what you've written, and with such spirit.
In a week filled with small photos and a ton of adversarial words, virtually all full of shit in a tidal wave of redundancy, this is by far the best thing I have read. Thanks. Saving insight and rationality requires using insight, knowledge and rationality.
And as for culottes, they were the bane of my later teenage years. I was trying to do some conquering of my own.
Sunday Pages has fanned a small spark of passion for literature in this octogenarian that I wasn’t sure was ever there. Between my Bible thumping parents and mediocre teachers, without exception, I thought for decades that literature was boring. (Or maybe my Bible thumping parents created an environment in which it was impossible to appreciate what the teachers were trying to offer.) I haven’t yet got my butt to the library to look for Byron, Shelley or Coleridge, and I don’t think I could still appreciate them on my own. But I look forward eagerly to these Sunday Pages and savor every word you have to say about the pieces you quote. My world is expanding, one tiny glimpse at a time!
Oh my, Greg, you always manage to get me! I sometimes will read a Sunday-post headline and think, "I'm not going to be interested in that," and then I read, and it draws me in every time! Now, Kubla Khan, which I managed to get through all of my eclectic schooling and have never read. Interesting, and yes, trippy!
Tidbit from Wiki: "The historical French term "sans-culottes" which was once the rejection of aristocrats' breeches, is now used colloquially to mean the same as an English colloquialism "going commando" or not wearing under-pants." How we just move language around, willy-nilly.
Finally, there must be some sort of personality profile that can be gleaned from the question: When I say "Xanadu," what's the first thought you have? I'm not sure what it would measure, but put me down for Olivia Newton-John, OF COURSE! LOL
A great week to all!
Failed algebra twice.
Not very good at figuring out poems
Takes your mind off of the shooting deaths og Black people, shopping on a Saturday, in Jacksonville. Florida, for a minute. Thanks.
Greg, as always, a magical mystery tour de force through words of yesteryear that resonate today. Tyrants, wannabe or actual, never seem to grasp, in the long sweep of history only time, at the level of us mere mortals, is permanent, Einstein notwithstanding. Many tyrant’s names are well-known. Yet there’s a panoply of ones who aren’t; those of vanished kingdoms, which happened to be the title of a book by Norman Davies. It’s definitely a slog, but if I were teaching Tyrant 101 it would be on the required reading list. The ending of the movie “Barry Lyndon” had it exactly right: “It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor; they are all equal now.”