1
Solomon recommends taking lessons from one of God’s smallest but most hard-working creatures.
The Book of Proverbs is traditionally ascribed to Solomon, son of King David, and himself King of Israel early in the tenth century BC, though as with the Psalms some of it was compiled from the works of other authors, and some is of later date. The following passage was translated into English for the Authorized Version of 1611, and the result is quite masterly.
Picture: © Tim Felce, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 20
2
Erasmus Darwin imagines how steam power will change the world.
Erasmus Darwin, father of pioneering zoologist Charles Darwin, wrote these lines in his poem The Botanic Garden, published in 1789 but written as many as twenty years earlier, when steam-powered vehicles were still decades away.
Picture: By Clément Ader, photo © Roby, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 16
3
Richard Cobden called on Parliament to support small, family-owned farms.
In 1864, Richard Cobden MP published an open letter arguing that small-holdings owned by the farmer, with the absolute right of inheritance, were the best guarantee of public morality and national prosperity. He began with the claim of public morality, arguing that the Government’s policy of super-farms was a step back towards feudalism, and a blow to aspiration.
Picture: © Christine Matthews, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 14
4
Lewis Carroll records a suburban photoshoot in the style of Longfellow.
The distinctive rhythm and tricks of speech that Henry Longfellow used in his narrative poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855) were just begging to be parodied. Lewis Carroll could not resist the temptation, nor could he resist descending from the lofty tale of a Native American warrior to suburban photography, in which Carroll was an early pioneer.
Picture: By Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 13
5
William Cobbett gives his son James some helpful examples of collective nouns.
In 1818, William Cobbett MP published some letters written to his son James, in which he had developed a thorough introduction to English grammar. Cobbett was a man of strong opinions, and more than happy to illustrate his remarks on good, plain English with some good, plain speaking on corruption in the House of Commons.
Picture: By John Wallace, via Wellcome Collection and Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 13
6
Henry Longfellow tells us how his tale of a heroic Native American warrior came to him.
In 1855, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published The Song of Hiawatha, a long narrative poem named after the twelfth-century Ojibwe warrior and leader of the Iroquois Confederacy of Native American peoples. The tale he told was wholly fictitious, but in the opening lines he nevertheless told us where he got it from.
Picture: © Balkowitsch, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted February 12