August 7, 2020

“Thank you, sir! Another thing we can’t make out is what wood the Trojan Horse was really built of.”

“Fir, my boy. Line 16.”

“Yes, sir, it’s fir in line 16, but it’s maple in line 112, and oak in line 186, and pine in line 258, and oak again in line 280…”

“Yes, now I remember. But in Virgil’s time a poet was licenced to use any particular sort of timber as a synonym for timber generally, even if it involved him, as here, in apparent contradictions.”

“Thank you again, sir!”

–- Robert Graves remembering T.E. Page.

(Things I learn from reading Michael Gilleland’s blog)

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writedullards what thou lovest well remains When writing to or for dullards, a writer must work harder not to write dully. The witty whet our wit. We write