Tag Archives: William Hazlitt

“My thoughts bustle along like a Surinam toad, with little toads sprouting out of back, side, and belly, vegetating while it crawls.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

He looked at his own Soul with a telescope. What seemed all irregular, he saw and shewed to be beautiful Constellations: and he added to the Consciousness hidden worlds within worlds. –Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notebooks It’s his birthday today. I’ll … Continue reading

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“For never has such soothing voice / Been to your shadowy world convey’d…” — Matthew Arnold on William Wordsworth

“I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity; the emotion is contemplated till by a species of reaction the tranquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to … Continue reading

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“I doubt sometimes whether a quiet and unagitated life would have suited me–yet I sometimes long for it.” — Lord Byron

— And who is the best poet, Heron? asked Boland. — Lord Tennyson, of course, answered Heron. — O, yes, Lord Tennyson, said Nash. We have all his poetry at home in a book. At this Stephen forgot the silent … Continue reading

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2022 Books Read

Some re-reads this year, but a lot of new-to-me authors as well. New novels written by faves. Been a year of upheaval and transitions. I’ve managed to keep up my regular reading schedule. I just don’t feel right if I’m … Continue reading

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Bookshelf Tour #10

An extremely dog-eared section of my library. These books are rarely on the shelf since I dip into them so often. — The mighty Joan Acocella, dance critic for The New Yorker, but also so much more. Her dance writing … Continue reading

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Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2013

Some of the things I’ve written in 2013, for my own site, and also other outlets. Thoughts on Memphis. “Memphis is wounded, and Memphis is obviously depressed. There are a lot of sad ghosts here. But Memphis does not forget. … Continue reading

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The Books: On the Pleasure of Hating, ‘On the Pleasure of Hating’, by William Hazlitt

On the essays shelf: On the Pleasure of Hating, by William Hazlitt My favorite quote about hatred is from Rebecca West: “A strong hatred is the best lamp to bear in our hands as we go over the dark places … Continue reading

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The Books: On the Pleasure of Hating, ‘On Reason and Imagination’, by William Hazlitt

On the essays shelf: On the Pleasure of Hating, by William Hazlitt Once you begin to get accustomed to Hazlitt’s style, you begin to see themes running through his work that pop up time and time again. Growing up in … Continue reading

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The Books: On the Pleasure of Hating, ‘What is the People?’, by William Hazlitt

On the essays shelf: On the Pleasure of Hating, by William Hazlitt Originally published in 1817, ‘What is the People?’ shows William Hazlitt’s radical background, and dissenting point of view. He grew up Unitarian (his father was a minister, and … Continue reading

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The Books: On the Pleasure of Hating, ‘On the Spirit of Monarchy’, by William Hazlitt

On the essays shelf: On the Pleasure of Hating, by William Hazlitt I went into William Hazlitt’s biography and background here. Growing up, as he did, in an age of world-wide revolution, he was interested in the concepts of power, … Continue reading

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