A voice to clear the head
Trying to imagine a 'head-clearing voice' - is it a singing, shouting or speaking voice? Â Or is it just...
Iron-braced door
A door to keep enemies at bay?  Except perhaps Grendel who would have torn it off by the hinges.
Source: Seamus...
Swingeing cuts
'Swingeing cuts' usually refer to sharp budget cuts - note the 'e' making it a soft 'g' (like a 'j'),...
Thrice condemned monster
Heaney's tripling summary of Grendel, the world's fear and monster: a guilt-fouled fiend and a God-cursed brute with a hall-watcher's hate.  Thankfully,...
Hate-honed swords and other battle gear
Everything a battle-scarred Swede could need: fine-forged mesh to protect him from other people's hate-honed swords, and a great-shafted spear...
Golden-eyed!
Wouldn’t you like one of these to hang on your wall?  Golden-eyed!  From a wonderful, vividly illustrated children’s version of England's...
Where gannets swoop and rise
In the countdown to a major gift-giving season, I liked this ancient reference to a human presents. May you give and...
Translation as hammering
Heaney conveys in a simple image the difficulty of translating poetry. Elsewhere, he refers to his progress as being ‘scriptorium...
Love writingredux.com? Â Enjoy our sister sites:
www.foolsareeverywhere.com  I   www.nuannaarpoq.com  I  www.spyderceleste.com  Â
© Beatrice Otto 2023 - design & content unless otherwise stated - all rights reserved