Keats’s “The Eve of St. Agnes” is a long Romantic narrative poem of 42 stanzas set in the Middle Ages. The protagonist, Madeline is a pure and angelic creature who is in love with Porphyro, while their families are at war with each other.It is the eve of St. Agnes’s feast day (20 January) and… Read More “The Eve of St. Agnes” (2) – Poem (First Part)
St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,And silent was the flock in woolly fold. (1) The night between January 20 and January 21 is the eve of St. Agnes, the patron saint of virgins, who died a martyr during the reign… Read More The Eve of St. Agnes (1)
“Epigram for Wall street” is a poem attributed to Edgar Allan Poe, born on 19 January 1809 I’ll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,Better than banking, trade or leases —Take a bank note and fold it up,And then you will find your money in creases!This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,Keeps your cash in… Read More Epigram for Wall street 💸
Today 18 January 2021 is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year, a day that presents a combination of post-Christmas blues, cold dark nights and the guilt felt because none of New Year’s resolutions has been kept yet. The concept was first published in a 2005 press release from a British holiday company… Read More Blue Monday: {[W + (D − d)] × T …
Oggi si festeggia Sant’Antonio Abate, un eremita egiziano che visse in una grotta nel deserto della Tebaide in meditazione e contemplazione, lottando a lungo contro gli insidiosi attacchi del demonio (le famose tentazioni rappresentate in tante opere d’arte).Condusse una vita dura e piena di privazioni, ma questo non gli impedì di vivere molto a lungo:… Read More Sant’Antonio Abate
“I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them.” (1) Susan Sontag, one of the most prominent New York intellectuals of her generation, was a writer and political activist, born on 16 January 1933 (she died of leukaemia just two weeks before her 72nd birthday) When she was fourteen years old, she… Read More Susan Sontag
Aphorisms of Lord Acton, the great 19th-century historian (see here): 1 “Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.” 2 “Liberty is the harmony between the will and the law.” 3 “Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It… Read More Lord Acton on Liberty (2)
“Faye Dunaway, 80 anni di fascino e carisma”: questo è il titolo di un articolo apparso oggi su “La Repubblica”.Ebbene sì, la diva americana, bella, bionda, altera, anticonvenzionale, compie oggi ottant’anni, mantenendo intatto il suo fascino e conservando tracce della bellezza giovanile anche se con i tratti un po’ alterati. Nel 1968, anno in cui… Read More Faye Dunaway, 80 anni di fascino e carisma
Cabu (Jean Cabut) – artiste et dessinateur français – né le 13 janvier 1938, tué le 7 janvier 2015 dans l’attentat contre Charlie Hebdo. 😊 “Il n’y a pas de limites à l’humour qui est au service de la liberté d’expression car, là où l’humour s’arrête, bien souvent, la place est laissée à la censure… Read More 🙂 Humour 🙃
Tu non sei più qui, ma io ti trovo ancora nel Bolero di Ravel. Tu non lo consideravi un grande esempio di musica classica, eppure mi parla di te. E di me. Ricordi? Comincia con levità, quasi in sordina, con pochi tocchi, rarefatti, anche se già in un’atmosfera di liquida attesa. Va crescendo con l’aggiunta… Read More Bolero 💗
