June 17, 2009: The peasants' refrain - 0 Comments

I absolutely love this. At first it seemed awkward, but as it repeats throughout the poem it becomes quite lovely - a beautiful, chorus-like refrain. It's almost incantatory.

"We argued and argued,
While arguing quarrelled,
While quarrelling fought,
Till at last we decided
That never again

Would we turn our steps homeward
To kiss wives and children,
To see the old people,
Until we have settled
The subject of discord;
Until we have found
The reply to our question--
Of who can, in Russia,
Be happy and free?"

- Nicholas Nekrassov (trans. Soskice), Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia?, 1879.

June 2, 2009: Trueman on blog attacks - 0 Comments

"The gung-ho ferocity of blog attacks is often matched only by the oleaginous fawning of the webwarriors when encountered in the flesh, something which I confess has been, on occasion, a source of some mild, and probably sinful, amusement to me as I observe their unctuous and sycophantic squirming in my presence. I have seen the future, and, frankly, it looks like Uriah Heep with a Facebook account."

- Carl Trueman, Thank God for Bandit Country, 2009