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Category: in search of God/dess
__________ in all the fallout from the very early reactions still to the present global crisis, self-isolation, a retreat from the, not only usual but consolidating, aspects of our communal interactions, there remain effective manners of dealing with this sea, this profoundly existential, change we are viscerally experiencing a social animal is being asked to eschew – Gesundheit – social contact, this is not an inconsequential ask religions might’ve earlier been common recourses for many believers, but the restrictions on assembly are already impeding such solutions, we are left, therefore, to find personal answers to our prescribed isolation – what do I do with my time, how do I subsist when my supports are disintegrating let me suggest immersion in the lessons art has bequeathed us through the ages it isn’t a bad time to review, for instance,, the majesty of Homer’s Iliad , Ovid’s the origin of the world, its genesis, Shakespeare’s tragedies, Beethoven’s transcendental music, since many of us are confined to our homes rather than rue, bristle, use our time, I suggest, to contemplate, learn, discover in looking for flowers recently, for a friend who’s undergone her own private agony, unrelated to the recent international medical crisis, I fell upon, again, the magical like many other, even celebrated, even revered, artists, this, however insulated, however apparently isolated, visionary, with the strength of his inspiration, gives weight to the power of mere poetic passion, a thrust towards what is thought of as beautiful, however individual, suggesting that each our own aesthetic is of value, when fervently followed, pursued , meanwhile, I’m learning to sing, creating a repertoire, what have I got to lose R ! chard
_______ To this came next in course, the brazen age: A warlike offspring, prompt to bloody rage, Not impious yet… brazen, of brass, the pride, and collective title, of the military, not to mention of industrialists, CEOs, still Hard steel succeeded then: And stubborn as the metal, were the men. Truth, modesty, and shame, the world forsook: Fraud, avarice, and force, their places took. now, during this Iron Age , “fors[aken]” Then sails were spread, to every wind that blew. Raw were the sailors, and the depths were new: note “sails” here, a perfect example of a metonymy , where the word means not only the cloth, the canvas that catches the wind, but also its larger self, the ship, which benefits from that integral propulsive action, like the body the heart Trees, rudely hollow’d, did the waves sustain; hollowed out trees could manage to remain above the water, could float E’re ships in triumph plough’d the watry plain. our archetype here would again be Columbus , however ignominiously Then land-marks limited to each his right: For all before was common as the light. though all land had earlier been common, available to all to freely enjoy, now fences, signposts prohibited collective access Nor was the ground alone requir’d to bear Her annual income to the crooked share, crooked, awry, disproportionate But greedy mortals, rummaging her store, Digg’d from her entrails first the precious oar; “greedy mortals”, mining, not only from “the ground alone”, but from the earth’s very “entrails”, her “oar”, or ore Which next to Hell, the prudent Gods had laid; And that alluring ill, to sight display’d. the “prudent Gods” had set the precious metals near that unholy place to ward off, however ineffectually, eventually, potential pilferers, plunderers Thus cursed steel, and more accursed gold, Gave mischief birth, and made that mischief bold: or again “ Truth, modesty, and shame, the world forsook: / Fraud, avarice, and force, their places took. “, lines 3 and 4 from the top And double death did wretched Man invade, By steel assaulted, and by gold betray’d, double death, assault and betrayal, invade, become components, properties, of Man Now (brandish’d weapons glittering in their hands) Mankind is broken loose from moral bands; immoralities follow No rights of hospitality remain: The guest, by him who harbour’d him, is slain, The son-in-law pursues the father’s life; The wife her husband murders, he the wife. The step-dame poyson for the son prepares; The son inquires into his father’s years. the stuff, at present, of all of our arts and literature, of our collective consciousness, we are the Iron Age where Faith flies, and piety in exile mourns; And justice, here opprest, to Heav’n returns. “justice” has flown, fled, to Heaven, to our universal, and grievous, distress R ! chard
___________ discord among the gods would bring But when good Saturn, banish’d from above, Was driv’n to Hell, the world was under Jove. Saturn , god of plenty, had presided over Jove , or Jupiter , god of thunder, was king of the gods there would be consequences for this disarrangement, this strife Succeeding times a silver age behold, Excelling brass, but more excell’d by gold. silver might not have been gold, but it was still better than brass, as, later, we’ll see Then summer, autumn, winter did appear: And spring was but a season of the year. by casting Saturn into the Underworld, Jove set off the cycle of the seasons, whereby Saturn , clutching his way back to the realm of the deities, after his initial fall, would inspire regeneration, the return of springtime, for a while, before being ousted again, and again, and again The sun his annual course obliquely made, Good days contracted, and enlarg’d the bad. in keeping with the suns “oblique[ ]” progressions, not parallel, not at right angles Then air with sultry heats began to glow; The wings of winds were clogg’d with ice and snow; the emergence of heat and cold And shivering mortals, into houses driv’n, Sought shelter from th’ inclemency of Heav’n. Those houses, then, were caves, or homely sheds; With twining oziers fenc’d; and moss their beds. oziers, or osiers , shrubs of which the branches have traditionally been used to make baskets, basketry Then ploughs, for seed, the fruitful furrows broke, And oxen labour’d first beneath the yoke. not to mention Man, the advent of agriculture, toil R ! chard
_______ once the Creation is complete, Time becomes one of its components, ages, or eras, or epochs ensue giving credence to the fact of an evolutionary process, instead of stasis a continuation of the inner workings of primordial Chaos still roils, bristles, but among more orderly elements now is positively blissful The golden age was first; when Man yet new, No rule but uncorrupted reason knew: Evil was not yet even a concept And, with a native bent, did good pursue. a native bent, naturally, by instinct, inately Unforc’d by punishment, un-aw’d by fear, His words were simple, and his soul sincere; therefore Needless was written law, where none opprest: where no one offended, laws were unnecessary The law of Man was written in his breast: a function of his emotions No suppliant crowds before the judge appear’d, No court erected yet, nor cause was heard: suppliant crowds, petitioners for justice But all was safe, for conscience was their guard. remember conscience , something that too often now has fallen, it seems, by the wayside though we’re a long way off at present, admittedly, from the Golden Age The mountain-trees in distant prospect please, please is a verb here, as in the mountain-trees bring pleasure but E’re yet the pine descended to the seas: E’re, or before, the pine trees descended, grew closer to, gravitated toward, the water compare here, ” About her coasts, unruly waters roar; / And rising, on a ridge, insult the shore.”, from earlier , where “water vies with earth for its place upon the strand” instead of water, Earth encroaches here, an equally formidable opponent E’re sails were spread, new oceans to explore: E’re, or before, ships set out to conquer,see Columbus for the archetypal example And happy mortals, unconcern’d for more, Confin’d their wishes to their native shore. a world without an economy No walls were yet; nor fence, nor mote, nor mound, Nor drum was heard, nor trumpet’s angry sound: drums and trumpets at any distance would’ve been cause for alarm, or at the very least caution Nor swords were forg’d; but void of care and crime, note the negative no, nor, nor hammered out through the last three verses, describing by omission the state of the original age, what there was not The soft creation slept away their time. soft creation, not inclined to struggle The teeming Earth, yet guiltless of the plough, And unprovok’d, did fruitful stores allow: Content with food, which Nature freely bred, On wildings and on strawberries they fed; the subject here throughout is the “teeming Earth”, the Earth, metonymized , becomes earthlings – therefore “they” replaces “teeming Earth” as subject in the last two lines – who’d feed on wildings , uncultivated plants, crab apples, for instance, strawberries Cornels and bramble-berries gave the rest, And falling acorns furnish’d out a feast. The flow’rs unsown, in fields and meadows reign’d: flowers bloomed unbidden, covering fields I watch the cherry blossoms grace our streets with their opulence as I speak, decking our April days with springtime, a remnant, a bequest, of that golden past And Western winds immortal spring maintain’d. like very Paradise, stretching into even immortality In following years, the bearded corn ensu’d From Earth unask’d, nor was that Earth renew’d. renew’d, tilled, harvested From veins of vallies, milk and nectar broke; valleys engender streams that create the conditions for milk and nectar And honey sweating through the pores of oak. or our own indigenous syrup of maple R ! chard
________ done by a clutch of eminent poets, John Dryden principally, England’s first Poet Laureate, 1688, but with Congreve , among a number of celebrated others, under the direction of the poet and physician, over 300 hundred years ago this will explain the sometimes disorienting spelling of some otherwise common words, you’ve read already , for instance, “ extreams” for “extremes” , “watry” for “watery”, “blustring” for “blustering” it might also be that my own reading of the text could be influenced by idiosyncratic interpretations given by the above poets, who would’ve written according to the perspectives of their own time, the 18th Century, somewhat altering, most likely, the pristine intentions of Ovid’s original contritely confess – can, can be forewarned but onwards to the completion of the Creation High o’er the clouds, and empty realms of wind, The God a clearer space for Heav’n design’d; Where fields of light, and liquid aether flow; a description of Heaven, “fields of light and liquid aether” Purg’d from the pondrous dregs of Earth below. “the pondrous dregs of Earth”, our dwelling Scarce had the Pow’r distinguish’d these, when streight The stars, no longer overlaid with weight, Exert their heads, from underneath the mass; And upward shoot, and kindle as they pass, “the Pow’r”, or “the God, whatever God was he”, while gravitation again allows the “fields of light”, newly “distinguished”, or separated, from the “ pondrous dregs of Earth “, to “streight …upward shoot, and kindle”, or sparkle, like firewood, or nebulae, aurorae, very constellations And with diffusive light adorn their heav’nly place. diffusive, evanescent, aetherial, nearly transcendental Then, every void of Nature to supply, With forms of Gods he fills the vacant sky: New herds of beasts he sends, the plains to share: New colonies of birds, to people air: And to their oozy beds, the finny fish repair. note that all life forms are “forms of Gods” , than “people air” A creature of a more exalted kind Was wanting yet, and then was Man design’d: the design follows Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast, For empire form’d, and fit to rule the rest: though the specific initial progenitor will remain ever the secret of that Creator Whether with particles of heav’nly fire The God of Nature did his soul inspire, Or Earth, but new divided from the sky was it “heav’nly fire” or “ Earth”, which malleable And, pliant, still retain’d th’ aetherial energy: we are, in other words, quintessentially, however muddied, starlight Which wise Prometheus temper’d into paste, And, mixt with living streams, the godlike image cast. us of clay, and gifted us with fire despite the opposition of the Gods, for which he was cruelly punished, but that’s another story Thus, while the mute creation downward bend Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, mute creation, species who have no language, animals, lizards, insects Man looks aloft; and with erected eyes Beholds his own hereditary skies. hereditary, received from the Creator, the primordial ancestor, generator From such rude principles our form began; And earth was metamorphos’d into Man. R ! chard
__________ next, the creation of climate And as five zones th’ aetherial regions bind, Five, correspondent, are to Earth assign’d: the five zones are the equatorial zone, the two temperate zones, and the polar zones The sun with rays, directly darting down, Fires all beneath, and fries the middle zone: the equator gets the brunt of it The two beneath the distant poles, complain Of endless winter, and perpetual rain. the poles get the other brunt of it Betwixt th’ extreams, two happier climates hold The temper that partakes of hot, and cold. “ temper”, as in “temperate”, as in zones The fields of liquid air, inclosing all, Surround the compass of this earthly ball: fields of liquid air, cloud covers The lighter parts lye next the fires above; fires above, the sun and the stars The grosser near the watry surface move: “grosser” Thick clouds are spread, and storms engender there, And thunder’s voice, which wretched mortals fear, And winds that on their wings cold winter bear.
they gravitate towards the denser earth, creating conditions “there” for storms, strife, thunder ever so ominously Nor were those blustring brethren left at large, On seas, and shores, their fury to discharge: blustring brethren, the winds, are not, we learn, not apportioned, not not allocated Bound as they are, and circumscrib’d in place, They rend the world, resistless, where they pass; And mighty marks of mischief leave behind; Such is the rage of their tempestuous kind. tempests, tsunamis, hurricanes they call the winds First Eurus to the rising morn is sent (The regions of the balmy continent); And Eastern realms, where early Persians run, To greet the blest appearance of the sun. Westward, the wanton Zephyr wings his flight; Pleas’d with the remnants of departing light: Fierce Boreas , with his off-spring, issues forth T’ invade the frozen waggon of the North. where we encounter, incidentally, aurorae borealis While frowning Auster seeks the Southern sphere; And rots, with endless rain, th’ unwholsom year. it is to be noted that in 8 AD, when Metamorphoses was purportedly first published, one gathers from the text that the world was understood to be spherical, with two poles, the boreal and the austral, from which we later get the eponymously named Australia the world went flat, note, only later in the Middle Ages R ! chard
__________ by the Gods, is what happens before the world is created Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball, which is to say, the earth And Heav’n’s high canopy, that covers all, One was the face of Nature; if a face: the “face of Nature” was “One” , an indistinguishable, perhaps not even, “face” Rather a rude and indigested mass: A lifeless lump, unfashion’d, and unfram’d, Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos nam’d. this undifferentiated agglomeration, this “lifeless lump” was called Chaos note the “seeds”, however, potential, though “jarring”, or conflicting, the genesis for what is to follow No sun was lighted up, the world to view; No moon did yet her blunted horns renew: the horns of the moon are visible when the crescent moon lies flat on the horizon, in the shape of a smile, presenting “horns”, the twin elevated extensions Nor yet was Earth suspended in the sky, Nor pois’d, did on her own foundations lye: or lie Nor seas about the shores their arms had thrown; But earth, and air, and water, were in one. see again Chaos here Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable, And water’s dark abyss unnavigable. No certain form on any was imprest; All were confus’d, and each disturb’d the rest. For hot and cold were in one body fixt; And soft with hard, and light with heavy mixt. next, the first metamorphosis stay tuned R ! chard
_________ a friend expressed some interest in Ovid’s Metamorphoses recently after I’d sung for a few moments its praises, had told her I was revisiting it after some time with the intention of duly , this time, completing it, given that, hey, we’ve got lots of time, at present, all of us, on our hands, by very mandate it sounds wonderful, she briefed me after are some parts I don’t understand I’ll help, I said, only too eager to share a gift nearly two thousand years old, with the magic still of very revelation equivalent of the Bible for those who revered the Roman deities, the same deities that the Greeks revered, but transplanted, renamed, to Roman stock, like the Puritans did their Christian seed at Plymouth Rock Ovid , 43 BC to 17/18 AD, was a Roman poet, paying fealty to Augustus, Emperor of Rome, 63 BC to 14 AD, therefore his Roman goddesses, gods, and his, contemporary, Latin which was translated into English early in the Renaissance, but found its best expression, to my mind still, in the others in, already, 1717 Of bodies chang’d to various forms, I sing: Ovid is saying my topic is transformation, verymetamorphoses, plural of metamorphosis Ye Gods, from whom these miracles did spring, Inspire my numbers with coelestial heat; ‘Till I my long laborious work compleat: And add perpetual tenour to my rhimes, Deduc’d from Nature’s birth, to Caesar’s times. poets have traditionally called upon their related muses to inspire them to accomplish their task, Ovid invokes his Gods, compare Shakespeare’s “Ye Gods”, Ovid says, “ from whom these miracles did spring”, those everyday wonders that surround us , inspire me, he asks, that I might “compleat”, which is to say complete, his poem, “ this long laborious work” his “numbers” are his years, “coelestial”, or celestial, “heat”, is inspiration “tenour to my rimes” means rhythm, weight, to his poetry “Nature’s birth”, or the beginning of time, to “Caesar’s time”, Ovid ‘s own period under Ovid asks the Gods to fuel him with the fire to tell the story of the world from its very beginning to his own epoch, Caesar’s how’s that for a project enough for now but stay tuned for, to follow, the Creation, capital C , I tell you R ! chard
unidentified
_______
for Danielle and Joe
a few nights ago, friends came over, a young couple, in the bloom of youth, relatively speaking, half, approximately, my age, I’m seventy, for a glass of wine
during a conversation about the many knickknacks scattered about my apartment, pictures, paintings, assorted paraphernalia, memorabilia, they asked, was there one piece of information I could give them, something not just physical, but metaphysical, that could lead to a good and meaningful life
after cautioning that any answer would be way too complex, the question way too broad, I nevertheless trotted out, convivially, a few words of ready wisdom, a couple of trusted and true maxims I hold in store for such occasions, personal precepts, however seemingly flippant, I faithfully and diligently live by
pray for grace, for instance, make sure your tie’s on right, the only two practicable positions in any predicament, I’ve found
later, after privately thinking more about it, I realized there is indeed a specific answer, I’d been singing it already for a while, to help me deal with recent, and even accumulated, loss, it is the punchline to this wonderfully enchanted
the greatest thing you’ll ever learn ,
it knowingly advises
is just to love, and be loved in return
words eminently worth retaining
________ for Susan, who urges me ever to write a friend wrote recently, extolling a Symphony he’d just seen, a noteworthy conductor conducting
then again, how can you go wrong, I wrote back, with that already enchanting music, sent him, in tried out for him, had been duly enchanted, had laughed, had cried, taken shelter from the storm, come out the other side transported, again I wondered about the power of music, during my intermittent musings throughout the variegated movements, as the peregrinations ambled on along their own magical explorations , long irrepressible arpeggios running up or down the scales, performing arabesques at their peaks, rumbling tremolos at their grumbling bottoms, before returning to the more stable middle ground of the melody where, I wondered, does it all find its source sounds, individual sounds, would have been signals of danger, originally, a single note from a horn warning of strangers on the way to a community of otherwise peaceful cohabitants if not only family, a twig cracking in the forest when you believe you’re all alone individual sounds would’ve picked up meaning beyond their own pitch and volume, resonance, reverberation, rotundity, through Darwin ian, even, time a mother’s voice, for instance, identified immediately, upon a single note, perenially, by any of her brood it’s a long way from there to a symphony , but those are its roots, why we laugh, why we cry, take shelter from the storm, and come out the other side transported notes are written, emblazoned, on our consciousness, our lives depended, depend still, on it R ! chard psst: interestingly, our Darwin ian evolution has produced pitch as an identifying factor for our species, a female voice is higher than a male’s, this has allowed us, as a species, to sing
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