Monthly Archives: March 2007

Wolcott’s Heraldry

Wolcott’s Heraldryfor Elizabeth Wolcott – happy 19th birthday Chess with the kingWon him nothingother than a drawingfor a shield. His comrades-in-armswould laugh in scorn:“Valor on a boardis not valor born.” But beyond bloody squaresa defender remained -in a world more than pain,his symbol beyond blame.

March 22, 2007 – 11:40 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Comments (1)

Update

Passed the Greek exam, just barely, but it is a pass and I’m happy. I can’t concentrate right now after writing the first comprehensive exam for four hours and studying a little bit more afterward. I thought this first comprehensive exam went well, and while there were a few mistakes I made, I know I …

March 22, 2007 – 12:42 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (1)

And Now For Something Completely The Same…

The Greek exam wasn’t too hot. There were a few words I didn’t know – 2 or 3 – and they threw the translation off quite a bit. What I did know, I knew well, but let’s see what the grade is. I’m not happy with it because it doesn’t show the knowledge of the …

March 21, 2007 – 9:35 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Tagged | Comments (0)

In Case You’re Curious…

Before the comprehensives start, the first hurdle is a Greek exam. I’m working on it now, but it is a lot to consume, and the fun thing is that while my Greek as a whole is getting better, the work doesn’t really affect the translation I’m doing on Aeschylus at all: that Greek is so …

March 20, 2007 – 1:38 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (2)

Tasks

I have numerous things to do, and do well, and it is the last minute. As I do them, I can’t stop thinking about her, and how she was able to forget me so thoroughly. It is so easy to be absorbed in tasks, after all, and miss life, and each other. I miss her. …

March 19, 2007 – 3:52 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (1)

The Virtues of Selflessness

I saw Bruce Almighty last night, and it seemed to make a pretty powerful case for selflessness as regards prayer. The case rests on two main contentions: 1. Things given that are not worked for or reflected on are things abused, as we fall in love with the fact of having power simply, and do …

March 18, 2007 – 1:31 pm | By ashok | Posted in christianity, movies | Tagged | Comments (0)

Learning the Hard Way

When reading the phrase “acquire grace” in the first sentence of the Epistle Dedicatory to Machiavelli’s “Prince,” I wondered for a while at the nature of my own “love,” and every bad memory regarding a relationship or would-be relationship flooded my skull. With those memories came challenges to my assumption that I might have loved. …

March 17, 2007 – 6:12 pm | By ashok | Posted in love | Tagged | Comments (0)

The Finality of Speech?

Of possessions cattle and fat sheep are things to be had for the lifting, and tripods can be won, and the tawny high heads of horses, but a man’s life cannot come back again, it cannot be lifted nor captured again by force, once it has crossed the teeth’s barrier. – Achilles to Odysseus in …

March 16, 2007 – 1:37 pm | By ashok | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (0)

On Blake’s “A Divine Image”

Thank you to Josh for bringing this poem to my attention. A Divine Image William Blake Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face; Terror the human form divine, And Secresy the human dress. The human dress is forged iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sealed, The …

March 15, 2007 – 3:32 pm | By ashok | Posted in Blake, poetry | Tagged , , | Comments (5)

Walking

I walk only about a mile to campus every day, but it has been rainy here, and my shoes and jeans are always getting muddy. I can’t walk on the road because there is no shoulder, and of course there is no sidewalk, just hilly uneven ground. Traffic is pretty vicious, too, with one intersection …

March 14, 2007 – 11:40 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (1)