Never Pursue Literature as a Trade: Reflecting on Coleridge’s Advice to Young Writers

May 26, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Eastertide 26 May 2019 On the Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dearest Readers, As part of my research for a current project, I have been reading Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria for the first time. Today, as I was reading, attempting to make my way to chapter 13––the celebrated chapter putting forth Coleridge’s theory/theology of imagination––I came across chapter 11. This chapter is entitled, “An affectionate exhortation to those who in early life feel themselves to become authors.” Coleridge himself... Read more

Stop, Christian Passer-by: A Spiritual Review of Mariner by Malcolm Guite

May 15, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Eastertide 15 April 2019 On the Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dearest Readers, Recently, I finished reading Malcolm Guite’s Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The book itself is a heavy one, weighing (with notes, bibliography, and index) at 471 pages. It is, in one sense, a biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It gives what any biography should: dates, names, places, and a narrative to direct them all. Any biographer worth their salt knows that a certain theme must... Read more

C.S. Lewis’s Cosmic Turn: Finding Virtue through the Heavens

April 28, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Eastertide Divine Mercy Sunday The Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dear Friends, Here is an audio recording of my recent talk at the 6th Annual Catholic Literature Conference in Concord, NH. In the talk I focus on what the jovial and mercurial spirits are, with the help of C.S. Lewis, and give some suggestions on why and how we should reclaim them. So for those of you who couldn’t make it to the conference––or for those who did, but would... Read more

Celebrating England and the World with St. George and William Shakespeare

April 23, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Eastertide St. George’s Day 2019 The Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dearest Readers, Today, as many of you know, is the feast day of St. George, parton, amongst other things, of England. It is also the possible birthday and definite death-day of William Shakespeare. In many ways, today is a profoundly English day, which does my anglophilic heart good. While I’ve long known of St. George, my first introduction to him was as the Knight of the Red Crosse in... Read more

“From Arches Old, the Fire Enfolds the Spire” A Sonnet for Notre Dame

April 16, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Lent 16 April 2019 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, NH Dearest Readers, I’m still processing the events of yesterday. I can’t really begin to describe what I feel or think about these events. Still less can I give voice to the grief I feel for my brothers and sisters in Paris. What I can give, I give to you now, paltry as it may be. From arches old, the fire enfolds the spire. The holy relics, art, and host were... Read more

Notre Dame in Flames: Reflecting on 2 Years of Being Catholic

April 15, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Lent 15 April 2019 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, NH Dearest Readers, Today I have been in full communion with the Catholic church for 2 full years. Much has happened in those 2 years. Last year on this very day saw my wife receive the sacrament of confirmation, in December of 2018 my twin boys were finally baptized. There has been much to celebrate. And yet, in the last two years news of various sexual abuses have been brought to... Read more

Good Morning, Mr. Magpie: On Folklore and Science

April 7, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Lent 7 April 2019 On the Edge of Elfland Manchester, NH Dearest Readers, Recently I came across a BBC about the use of folklore in conservation efforts. A team from the University of Birmingham conducted an experiment to discover what made young students more likely to be in favor of conservation efforts. They chose magpie because they are not “poster animals” for conservation efforts like eagles or pandas. One group was given scientific information about magpie. Another folkloric information.... Read more

Sonnets for the Annunciation

March 25, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Lent Feast of the Annunciation 2019 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, NH Dearest Readers, Today is the feast of the Annunciation, 9 months to the day before we celebrate the feast of the Nativity. In a sense, the incarnation begins now, in the midst of Lent. The savior grows in his mother’s womb while remember that are sins put him in the grave. In light of that I have composed the following sonnet hopefully for your benefit, certainly for mine.... Read more

Curdled Words: A Review of The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

March 21, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Lent 21 March 2019 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, NH Dearest Readers, Recently, thanks to the work and suggestion of Malcolm Guite, I have had the opportunity to read The Lost Words. The book is written by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris. The origin of the book can be found in the most recent edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary. For reasons best known to themselves, the editors decided to remove somewhere around 40 formerly common words. What... Read more

For the Old Man at Apotheca

March 17, 2019 By David Russell Mosley

Lent St. Patrick’s Day The Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dearest Readers, Today while on a date with my wife, I saw an older man wandering around the coffeeshop in Goffstown, NH called Apotheca. This poem is for him, and for you. The old man wanders round the coffeeshop, Talking to any who will give him an ear. Change happens around him, and does not stop, Yes the seems much the same. He is not one to fear The transfigurations... Read more