The Daily Dick: Musings on the Relevance of Moby-Dick Today
"In times of strong emotion mankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent. The permanent constitutional condition of the manufactured man, thought Ahab, is sordidness." Musing: I wonder if Melville was right about his take on humanity. It is true that in times of tragedy or great harmony, people tend to walk the high road. But, Melville points out, that emotion is fleeting. Soon humans return to "base considerations." In fact, Melville writes, "manufa
A Moment with Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand. In the dark aftermath of violence, I often turn to Yeats. His words are fu
