Monthly Archives: September 2011

Word Cloud of Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” section 1

Using “Wordle” [available at wordle.net] and pasting in the online text of section 1 of “Song of Myself” (given at the end of this post), here is the “word cloud” that was generated: (Click on the image if you’d like … Continue reading

Posted in Literature | 1 Comment

Thoughts on Orsino’s opening speech in Twelfth Night, and on the ending of the play—as occasioned by re-reading the play to attend Pig Iron’s performance in the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, September 2011

Re-reading Twelfth Night in September 2011 in preparation for seeing Pig Iron’s interpretation of it in Philly’s Live Arts Fest, I re-lived my delight in this great comedy, which I first discovered when I was twenty.  But somewhat to my … Continue reading

Posted in Literature | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Could Beowulf Have Been a Source for the Star Wars Lightsaber?

I’ve been reading my colleague Craig Williamson’s splendid new translation of Beowulf, the first time I’ve re-read this poem since college.  Coming across Craig’s fun discussion of compound words and “kennings” in Anglo-Saxon poetry (pp. 8-9; kennings are 2-word metaphorical … Continue reading

Posted in Literature, Other (including pop culture of all kinds) | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment