Books, Poems, Thoughts
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The best account of the story of Heloise and Abelard, the inspiration behind this poem, remains Helen’s Waddell’s Peter Abelard. Unhappy Heloise, as long as though breathest It is decreed thou must love Abelard. SHE HEARS WHAT HAS BEFALLEN HIM So to her confines there comes a horseman, Riding by night and in haste, To
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I would be my touchstone, Unearth my waiting heart Which is my own still centre, The source where springs the soul. False starts, mistakes, rebuffs Erode, as waves against a rock, To make my surface smooth And mould me to my shape. Come lap against me, waves, Refine but don’t destroy me, For I would
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When I came to say good-bye that night, Already you were drifting off Beyond the realms of speech and sight Or any common sight. Your cough At last was silent; eyes half-closed, Unseeing, yet I knew you heard, Felt my kiss, without a word Consented to let go. I dozed, And slept for half an
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We must be still and still moving Into another intensity For a further union, a deeper communion. (East Coker, T.S. Eliot) You wake to hear a chuckling stream Below a timbered house, and bird song Through the latticed windows; then cross The dewy garden to the light-soaked Silence, where time passes and is still. The
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I’ve just responded to an aspiring author on this topic, and thought it was worth sharing my advice (such as it is) more widely. Here’s what I told him: Here are a few thoughts based on my own experience of getting publishers/agents to be interested in my work. It’s always a struggle, as you have
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Herzog by Saul Bellow My rating: 5 of 5 stars Bellow wrote things in the 1960s one couldn’t write now, without howls of protest, more’s the pity. Here’s an example: ‘”My childhood was a grotesque nightmare,” [Madeleine] went on. “I was bullied, assaulted, ab-ab-ab … ” she stammered. ‘”Abused?” ‘She nodded. She had told [Herzog]
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Brompton Oratory, a hot lunch-time in July, a baby being received into the Catholic Church and Catholic upper-crust society; dressed-up, a group stands round the font. Otherwise the building’s almost empty, save a scattering of oddballs dotted round the nave, the occasional stray tourist fleeing from the sun. A little girl in blue and
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/apr/01/featuresreviews.guardianreview7 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/152461.Catherine_the_Great http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/catherine-the-great-love-sex-and-power-by-virginia-rounding-6105034.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3651156/More-than-a-monumental-libido.html
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And here’s one of Mark Forster’s books which I also recommend: Do it Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management
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The start of a new year is always a good time to consider one’s time management techniques. I’m a bit of an addict when it comes to lists and discovering new systems, but in recent years I have repeatedly come back to Mark Forster and his AutoFocus series – see Mark’s blog for details. The
Virginia Rounding: Author, editor, proofreader, indexer 