“Der Erlkönig” (The Elf King)
Who goes there riding through the night and fog?— A father and son come journeying along. He holds him tight as he rides through the storm, He grips him safely and he keeps him warm. […]
The Forgotten “Freddy the Pig”
Even though Walter R. Brooks’ “Freddy the Pig” series doesn’t aim to teach a moral story, deliver great epiphanies, or grapple directly with universal human themes, the books are refreshingly unself-conscious and yet still make a considerable contribution to American literature in the same way the works of P.G. Wodehouse have done for English literature—through [...]
America’s “Logres”: The Mythology of a Nation
C.S. Lewis believed that every nation possesses what he called a “haunting,” a “Logres,” which baptizes it with a unique inner life. What, or where, is America’s Logres? Who is the mythological hero that could guide the American identity the way Arthur guided Britain and inspired generations of English poets and artists? During my undergraduate [...]
“Advent of the Eskaton”
‘You may say this to Théoden son of Thengel: open war lies before him, with Sauron or against him. None may live now as they have lived, and few shall keep what they call their own. —J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings ‘Ware, ‘ware! in the watches of the night; for the devil reigns in darkness while [...]
Ernst Jünger’s “The Forest Passage” and the Conservative Mind
Written in the shadow of the Second World War, Ernst Jünger’s “The Forest Passage” reimagines the forest as a symbol of freedom in an age where the “Leviathan,” or all-encompassing totalitarian state, threatens to encroach on liberty and free space. Yet as long as the “forest rebel” has access to the domains of art, philosophy, [...]
Joseph Conrad’s Imagination
For Joseph Conrad, the struggle between good and evil in the human soul was a permanent reality, a reality one might prefer to avoid, or try to sublimate, but one that nobody who has lived long can absolutely deny. Joseph Conrad: His Moral Vision, by George A. Panichas (165 pages, Mercer University Press, 2005) In [...]
“The Seventh Day”
You left the final day for re-creation, For art and song and festive feasts for all. You knew we’d work and toil to our damnation, So you left us space where we could wholly call Upon your name. Our feasts and songs are sourced In celebration of you, our only Lord. […]
“Hungary”
History’s tyrants and thieves remain with us, and if things get very dark sometimes, then my best hope is to do the right thing in the light of His Grace. That’s all I can hope to do, passing on that Grace whenever I can. It’s strange how I can’t remember this guy’s whole name but [...]
Edgar Allan Poe’s Metaphysics: Rediscovering “Eureka”
Many details of Edgar Allan Poe’s scientific treatment of the universe in “Eureka” has flaws which we may today see as errors. However, the value of this masterpiece lies primarily in the concise method of fruitful thinking showcased throughout and the broad universal principles of order, beauty, goodness, and creativity which Poe makes intelligible to [...]
“The Sixth Day”
The lumbering beasts all graze upon the land, And offer up themselves to one another. Not just survival but harmony and Symbiosis was how the world was governed. […]
“Waves”
Turquoise waves on shell-white sand Rush forth – crashing, crashing, crashing – Dying gladly as they land, Surging, breaking, foaming, splashing. […]
“Notes from Underground” in Lockdown and Isolation
The fear of the coronavirus allows our governing bodies to keep us in isolation and the consequences of our permitting this act are more pernicious than we can imagine. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground” has never appeared less fictional. And why are you so firmly, so triumphantly, convinced that only the normal and the positive—in [...]
“The Fifth Day”
The birds all fly their pelicanic flights, Prepared to pierce their hearts to feed their young. The phoenix on its pyre-like nest alights And burns, the song that never goes unsung. […]
Castalia and St. John’s College
“Waldzell” is the name Hermann Hesse gives to the school in a “Pedagogical Province” brought to life in the book called “The Glass Bead Game.” St. John’s College is an American school with two campuses. The features in which Waldzell is like St. John’s as well as those in which it differs are responsive; they [...]