Dive in, splash around, skim and dip and spout about the latest quotations, metaphors, words and, of course, triologisms. You’ll feel better for it!
For love of a letter
A letter carried, quite literally, close to the heart, despite the torment its presence provokes. Vasily Grossman's mother died in a ghetto, and...
Podcast review – Barry Lopez’ Arctic Dreams
Listening time: 15 minutes. It’s about a quarter of a century since I first read this moving and enlightening book. Having recently re-read it, I...
Focus your light
Wise guidance for writers. I like the way George Eliot calls herself to order and her self-reminder to focus, focus, focus resonates. A perennial...
It happens to the best of them
Isn't it somehow reassuring that even the Steinbecks of the world can have creative meltdowns? Here he describes a play which ran through his...
The translation of thinking
Steinbeck seeks to understand the difficulties his interpreters faced when supporting him on his trip to the Soviet Union with Robert Capa. The...
Podcast review – Molly Peacock’s Paper Garden
Listening time: 12 minutes. This is a biography of an artist written by a poet. It's also a meditation on creativity in life and art. Mary Granville...
A quote to note
Drawing on thousands of sparkling, moving and inspiring quotations amassed during decades of attentive reading. To delight your mind and spirit and improve your presentations beyond belief.
The age of rumours
Why let facts get in the way of a good prejudice? When John Steinbeck and Robert Capa let people know they were planning to visit Soviet Russia,...
Nail a rumour and pin down a fact
Steinbeck appears to have anticipated the age of fake news. This is particularly pertinent as we try to tease out virus fact from sickness fiction...
Of fire and fizzle
This Hungarian historical novel spans the 19th century including the European mid-century revolutions which pretty much burned out, as summed up in...
Change whispers
Although this isn't universally true, I liked the idea that great changes can begin with the whispers of a few people. From a compelling...
Metaphorically speaking
More marvelous metaphors on Mondays … Monday, metaphor day.
As agreeable as …
What a satisfying simile for something being agreeable, like the ease and relief of a successful sneeze. How odd that this simile has come to the...
As naturally as …
Following the death of her husband, Dorothea dutifully tries to repress a deep wish to meet Will Ladislaw. George Eliot conveys beautifully the...
The spread of news
It's some time since I noted this simile for the effective spread of news. Now, re-reading it as we watch the advance of the Covid-19, I realize it...
Eyes meeting eyes
Dorothea stuns a silly, wilful and selfish young woman with her powerful, radiant kindness and, having meant to disdain her, the girl is undone by...
Triologisms
Bringing you pithy, evocative imagery in the form of three-legged microcosms of meaning. Updated on Tuesdays … Tuesday, triologism day! You’ll never see this day of the week in the same way again.
Mutton-headed galoots
Arthur Ransome's characters have some out of date but still appealing ways to describe their own, or others', stupidity. I had never heard 'galoot'...
Hoar-rimed trees
A crisp and unusual description of a Russian winter day in its chill beauty. 'White winter had set in with the cruel stillness of cloudless frosts,...
Lute-shaped sabretache
A fine triologism and, for me, a new word, clearly demonstrating that I don't mix in adequately aristocratic circles. A sabretache is a small...
Silver-handled flyswatter
Just what you've always wanted, I'm sure. This caught my attention, the existence of silver-handled flyswatters, particularly as it was included in...
Finely-touched spirit
A lovely summary of the ineffable subtleties of human beings. Of whom would you say, in your acquaintance, that they had a 'finely-touched spirit'?...
Dull-eyed neutrality
A fine description of the impartial and indifferent gaze of age that has seen it all, in this case attributed to an old dog. '... while the grizzled...
Words
Sharing words that sparkle, appeal, intrigue or otherwise grab me, including those in other languages. And adoring alliteration, new words will be added on Wednesdays… Wednesday, word day. See you back here then.
The tum-ti-tums of poetry
The best and most memorable summary of the difference between an 'iambic', a 'spondee' and a 'trochee', by the author of a marvelous biography of...
The cuckolds’ collective
An imaginative collective noun for the poor cuckold, perhaps the last person to see, or believe, what is going on. I wonder if this originally meant...
Imp
Before reading Drury's splendid biography of the poet George Herbert, I knew 'imp' only as a small being of occasional mischievousness.But it is...
A threatening of …
What would you associate with 'a threatening'? Clouds? Storms? Thugs loitering on street corners, or skulking in doorways and dark alleys?No,...
Cumbrian sheep counting
Rory Stewart came across these numerals, apparently still used to count sheep by Cumbrian farmers. They trot off the tongue like spring...
Of farsang places
A measure of distance which has an echo of 'farflung', though no direct connection. It means one day's walk or journey, or a day's...
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