OK, so you want poetry? Try this. Macbeth, 1.6.1-3, Duncan speaking: “This castle hath a pleasant air. The air / Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself / Unto our gentle senses.” Put aside the fact that Duncan is at the gate of hell, and that he’s wholly deceived about the atmosphere of Dunsinane. The lines are an aural painting of their sense. They skip along on short vowels and repeated s’s. They are as nimble and sweet as Duncan thinks the... Read more
In a 1979 article in PMLA, John D. Niles examined the “ring composition” of Beowulf. He argued that each of the major battles (Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, the dragon) are arranged chiastically, and that the poem as a whole also has a chiastic shape. He outlines the initial fight with Grendel in this way: A. Preliminaries Grendel rejoicing (Grendel laughs before he enters Heorot). B. Grendel devours warriors C. Grendel’s wishes to flee once Beowulf gets hold of him: “fingers cracked”... Read more
Daniel Sarewitz argues in New Atlantis that science is sick, and that the disease is systemic and terminal. When science is detached from technology, it is loosened from real-world effects. Research exists only for the sake of further research, and science loses the ability to judge whether or not it is making progress. Contemporary science doesn’t observe limits, but intrudes into “trans-science,” attempting to explain phenomena too complex, with too many variables, for controlled examination. Trans-science keeps the research grants... Read more
Daniel Sarewitz argues in New Atlantis that science is sick, and that the disease is systemic and terminal. When science is detached from technology, it is loosened from real-world effects. Research exists only for the sake of further research, and science loses the ability to judge whether or not it is making progress. Contemporary science doesn’t observe limits, but intrudes into “trans-science,” attempting to explain phenomena too complex, with too many variables, for controlled examination. Trans-science keeps the research grants... Read more
Since her recent canonization, Mother Teresa’s letter on abortion, addressed to the US Supreme Court, has been making the rounds. It’s a call to America to live up to our own stated values, and includes this penetrating analysis of the wider effects of legalized abortion: “The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation... Read more
Pete Spiliakos doesn’t see Trumpism as the fulfillment of Buchananism. Trump is rather evidence of “the erosion of the Buchanan coalition.” Buchanan’s appeal didn’t depend on his views on trade or foreign policy. He appealed because of his social conservatism. In recent cycles, Spiliakos notes, social conservatism gets no traction: In 2016, Ted Cruz was able to repeat the feats of Huckabee and Santorum in tapping Iowa’s evangelical social-conservative networks and winning the Iowa Caucuses. Cruz also followed Huckabee and... Read more
Gracy Olmstead has joined the chorus of praise for Netflix’s Stranger Things. She has many insightful things to say about the program, but I have to register a dissent from this: My husband and I joined the legions of hooked fans, as we followed the journey of Will’s mother Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and his faithful cohort of best friends—Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin)—in their quest to find Will. Ryder has (rightly)... Read more
Peter Milward writes of “meta-drama” in Hamlet and Macbeth in his contribution Shakespeare’s Christianity. He argues (unconvincingly) that Shakespeare had in mind the situation of recusant Catholics in England. Milward’s analysis of the biblical features of the play is more compelling. He notes that “already from the opening description of Macbeth’s performance on the field of battle, in the words of the bleeding sergeant, we are introduced to him as one set to ‘memorize another Golgotha’ (1.2.41), and so he... Read more
Peter Milward writes of “meta-drama” in Hamlet and Macbeth in his contribution Shakespeare’s Christianity. He argues (unconvincingly) that Shakespeare had in mind the situation of recusant Catholics in England. Milward’s analysis of the biblical features of the play is more compelling. He notes that “already from the opening description of Macbeth’s performance on the field of battle, in the words of the bleeding sergeant, we are introduced to him as one set to ‘memorize another Golgotha’ (1.2.41), and so he... Read more
“What purpose do the Weird Sisters have for confronting the hero—or what is their masters’ purpose, if they in fact have such masters?” asks Susan Snyder in her contribution to Macbeth. She doesn’t think the play gives a clear answer, and she adds that the play doesn’t explain Macbeth’s motivations either: “Even Macbeth’s personal motives are mystified. In early soliloquies he explores at length the moral and political consequences of killing Duncan but not his reasons for doing so. Does... Read more
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