Jeff posts a really very interesting elucidation of Blake’s “infernal method” as a reading practice, or a heuristic at This Public Address 3.0. He was very kindly responding to a question I had left him in his comments about how one applies the “infernal method” to the classics. His answer: Pushing propositions to their absurd limits, and looking at the benevolent (such as Socrates) as the enemy is what I meant by reading by the infernal method. It means to test, caustically and violently, all those things that even the �angels� tell you to be true. After all of that, …
The Ecotone Wiki: HomePage There is a very strange little subclass of bloggers out there (of whom I am a member) who keep blogs about “place.” In my case, it’s over at my other blog Bowen Island Journal. Since we made an appearance at last week’s Carnival of the Vanities a very busy wiki web has sprung up. We have called the wiki “Ecotone” for this reason: Ecotone: (noun) term from ecology. A place where landscapes meet– like field with forest, or grassland with desert. The ecotone is an area of increased richness and diversity where the two communities comingle. …
It’s obvious to readers of this blog that I’ve been reading a lot of poetry lately. I have a funny relationship with poetry. I have published a little in Canadian journals, but nothing for 10 years or so now. I have been involved in the Canadian literary scene, on the margins, as an associate editor of ARC magazine for a couple of issues, through which I stumbled around the Ottawa literary scene. I haven’t written much poetry for a few years, although lately I have been writing a little more. But mostly, I have been reading, and with few exceptions, …
A piece of William Blake poetry I uncovered today, whilst randomly flipping through my Penguin version of The Complete Poems: O for a voice like thunder and a tongue To drown the throat of war!�When the senses Are shaken, and the soul is driven to madness, Who can stand? When the souls of the oppressed Fight in the troubled air that rages, who can stand? When the whirlwind of fury comes from the Throne of God, when the frowns of his countenance Drive the Nations together, who can stand? When Sin claps his broad wings over the battle, And sails …