“So he kept his kingly word and came with rings,
Treasures, and torques, the tables were heaped,
The hall reared up high, with horn-gabled corners,
Baiting the battle-flames; that burning would come.”
Beowulf, p. 9
A Second Round on John Piper, Me, and the Cool Shame Election
Introduction: So on Monday I wrote about John Piper's piece on the choice between Biden and Trump. A bit later, John Piper wrote me an email that began with "Heavenly days!" -- which is how respected ...
Audio Reading of Post
Burial at Sea
“Silent, sheathed in ice, the ship rode the harbor,
The ring prow was ready, and rigged for the journey,
They laid out their lord, beloved by all of them.”
Beowulf, p. 8
Letters With a Mind of Their Own
Important update: John Piper wrote me privately to say (and to say vigorously) that he does not hold to the two assumptions that I attributed to him in Monday's post. He does not believe that all ...
Tough and Good
“Shield Sheafson was one, scourge of all tribes
Took a maul to the mead-benches, mangled his enemies . . .
A torrent of terror, war tested his mettle . . .
The whale-road was wide, but his warriors still crossed it.
Gold came, and glory . . . a good king that was.”
Beowulf, p. 7
John Piper, Me, and the Cool Shame Election
Introduction: I will begin by saying that I owe a great deal to John Piper, and one of the central things I owe to him is respect. A number of years ago, he invited me to speak in Minneapolis for one ...
Audio Reading of Post
Or Maybe a Lot
“As Ovid taught us long ago, Ars est celare artem. It is art to conceal the places where you jiggered it a bit.”
Beowulf, p. 4
Which, Be It Said, Is Hard to Do
A Real Hazard, I Mean
“I know enough Anglo-Saxon to be a hazard, but not enough to set up shop as a translator of anything so important as Beowulf. I know the words attercop, which means spider, and rimcraft, which means arithmetic, and merscmealuwe, which means marshmallow. But unfortunately, none of those words comes up in Beowulf really, and so there I am, just sitting there.”
Beowulf, p. 1
The #MeToobin Movement
Introduction: In case anybody was worried that the year 2020 couldn’t get any zestier, along comes Jeffrey Toobin. Perhaps you missed it because you just got back from hunting moose in the Yukon, and so I will fill you in. The much feted (and apparently fated) Toobin, legal analyst for CNN, was on a Zoom …