The Copybook
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
John Donne gives God a free hand to do whatever needs to be done.
In this sonnet, John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s, compares himself to a town occupied by an enemy and now under siege by its true King. The inhabitants want to let him in to liberate them, but their own leading men are too weak or corrupt; so the people send out a desperate message: use all force necessary.
The busy crossroads outside the Houses of Parliament was the testing ground for a new technology.
The first traffic lights in the world began operation outside the Houses of Parliament on December 9th, 1868. The previous evening, readers of the Express learnt about the ingenious if somewhat ungainly new technology, and looked forward to a time when all busy junctions would be made safe by traffic lights.
Being a free citizen doesn’t mean that everyone else has to get out of your way.
In 1917-18, Arthur Ransome (who would later write Swallows and Amazons) was in St Petersburg, then named Petrograd, reporting on the Communist revolution for the Daily News. One of his tales tickled fellow journalist Alfred Gardiner, who nonetheless drew from it a serious lesson about liberty, a word bandied about as carelessly then as it is today.
George Santayana reprimanded politicians and military men who thought war was good for the country’s soul.
Writing in 1905, American essayist George Santayana was full of admiration for the common soldier, and for the ordinary citizen who stands up to a bully. But to bellicose politicians and generals, and to anyone who romanticised war, he had some stern words to say.
Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
This poem is a look back over how William Wordsworth’s love for his wife Mary had developed over time. “The germ of this poem” he admitted “was four lines composed as a part of the verses on the Highland Girl. Though beginning in this way, it was written from my heart, as is sufficiently obvious.”
When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
On March 15th, 44 BC, Julius Caesar, the most powerful man in Rome, was due in the Senate to receive yet more honours from the Republic. But last night his wife Calpurnia had dreamt she held his murdered body in her arms, and her fears had frankly unsettled him. Brutus told him that he must not look weak, and steered him out of the door.