Wednesday, January 31, 2007
There's a certain slant of light...
There's a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
- Emily Dickinson
In Dickinson’s original manuscript version the last two lines of the stanza read “That oppresses, like the heft/Of cathedral tunes”, which seems better to me, as having a more Anglo-Saxon sense of violence and doom. *
However, there is also a certain slant of light, winter afternoons, that inflates, rather than oppresses. Perhaps it’s easier to see this light on the Riviera than in Amherst,
Massachusetts. But still, this is sunset light that suggests that maybe, just maybe, spring is possible. After all, the days now are about the length of days in late November, and that never seems so completely doomstruck.
However, there is also a certain slant of light, winter afternoons, that inflates, rather than oppresses. Perhaps it’s easier to see this light on the Riviera than in Amherst,
Massachusetts. But still, this is sunset light that suggests that maybe, just maybe, spring is possible. After all, the days now are about the length of days in late November, and that never seems so completely doomstruck. ---------------------
* This poem is an exception to the occasionally made observation that Dickinson's poems can be successfully sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas." You can make it work, but it's a stretch with this one.
Said observation having been made once, that I know of, on the criminally cancelled "Joan of Arcadia" which was the only thing that redeemed Friday night TV since the even more criminally cancelled "Homicide." "Ghost Whisperer" tries to fill the gap, in its Jennifer Love Hewitt-esque way, but it's a pale imitation, pun intended.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
The European wilderness
We just returned from a short trip to southern France – company meeting plus a couple of vacation days. January is not peak season on the Riviera. The temperature never got much above 40 or so (F - I haven't achieved a fluency in Celsius) and it drizzled a lot. Not great beach weather.
But we rented a car after the meeting, and drove up to the old medieval hilltown of Vence, which is definitely worth a trip, and went futher up into the pre-Alps. It is amazing to me that even in Europe, which has a population density roughly 4 times that of North America, there are large areas where there just aren't many people. Like this one.
Friday, January 12, 2007
It is better to light a candle than curse global warming
It finally got cold enough long enough to get out the first ice candle of the season last night. The walls of the ice cylinder were no more than a quarter of an inch thick – frequently by this time in January the buckets are solid blocks, and I have to drill and chisel out holes for the candles. Temperatures were well above freezing today, so I expect it will be completely melted by the time I get home.
Clearly, one unseasonably warm winter does not a trend make. Equally clearly, drowning polar bears and ice shelves breaking off are more consequential than my backyard decorations. Still, it makes you stop and think.
