2019-04-08 15:00
April(from Literary Gazette: 5th April 1823)Of all the months that fill the year, Give April’s month to me, For earth and sky are then so filled &n&hell…Read More
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Edith's Miscellany Blog
edith-lagraziana.blogspot.com
A blog about good literature, including reviews of books, literary film adaptations and author's portraits supplemented by own writings.
2019-04-05 15:00
Sooner or later for the less lucky among us comes the moment, when we realise that, for one reason or another, the life that we had so far doesn’t feel right any longer. Often such exi… Read More
2019-04-01 15:00
Under the Leaves (from Poems: 1878)Oft have I walked these woodland paths. Without the blessed foreknowingThat underneath the withered leaves … Read More
2019-03-25 16:00
2019-03-22 16:00
However hard we try to reach perfection, we’ll never succeed because we are just flawed human beings. In love preconceived ideas and great expectations of the perfect partner-to-be usu… Read More
2019-03-20 16:00
This month three years ago, it was the turn of the letters E, F, U and V in my double alphabet of writers. I started with the fictionalised memoir A Man’s Place by Annie Ernaux that ev… Read More
2019-03-18 16:00
My Star(from Men and Women: 1855) All that I know … Read More
2019-03-11 16:00
Farewell to a Happy Day(from Rufus Wilmot Griswold: The Female Poets of America. 1873)Good-by, good-by, though gracious, golden day:Through luminous tears thou smilest, far awayIn the blue h… Read More
2019-03-08 16:00
As Charles Darwin impressively proved in his key works On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871), the ability to adapt to new conditions helped the human race enormously… Read More
2019-03-04 16:00
Old Winter is Gone(from One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets. Volume 1: 1880)The stormy and blustering Old Winter is gone,And Spring hath her sweet virgin blushes put on;And blushing, and smili… Read More
2019-03-04 13:23
Click on the index card to enlarge it!We all know moments when we feel like Job from the Holy Bible because nothing goes right and the whole universe seems to be against us. The longer such… Read More
2019-03-01 16:37
The Snowdrop (from Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book 1936: 1935)Thou beautiful new comer, With white and maiden brow; Thou fairy gift from summer, … Read More
2019-02-22 16:00
There is no way round it: times are and have always been changing. It’s true, however, that in some places life always seems to stay the same because people hold on to ancient traditio… Read More
2019-02-21 16:00
The second review month of 2016 I opened with two contemporary works set in Switzerland of the 1970s and the USA of the early 1950s respectively. The award-winning Swiss novel The Encyclopae… Read More
2019-02-18 16:00
The Winter Lakes(from Lake Lyrics and Other Poems: 1889)Out in a world of death far to the northward lying, Under the sun and the moon, under the dusk and the day;Und… Read More
2019-02-15 16:55
Undeniably, the world would be a rather hostile place to live in without the written and unwritten rules that determine more or less strictly our behaviour towards each other. Society is fir… Read More
2019-02-11 16:00
As from Dreams Awaking(from The Undying One and Other Poems: 1830)AS when from dreams awakingThe dim forms float awayWhose visioned smiles were makingOur darkness bright as day;We vainly str… Read More
2019-02-04 16:00
Le temps perdu(de Les Vaines Tendresses: 1875)Si peu d’oeuvres pour tant de fatigue et d’ennui!De stériles soucis notre journée est pleine:Leur meute sans piti&eacu&hell…Read More
2019-02-03 10:38
Since times immemorial people have been dreaming and telling stories. Ancient myths and legends are part of the cultural heritage that shapes our view of the world and helps us to cope with… Read More
2019-01-30 16:00
Click on the image to go straightto the *New* Decade Challenge post in the GOODREADS Bookcrossers group 1 January – 31 December 2019A Literary Voyage Through Twelve Decadesin Ten Plung… Read More
2019-01-28 16:00
The Garden in Winter(from The Watchman & Other Poems: 1916)Frosty-white and cold it liesUnderneath the fretful skies;Snowflakes flutter where the redBanners of the poppies spread,And the… Read More
2019-01-25 16:00
The racist frenzy of the Nazis that drove them to commit the most barbaric deeds in order to “protect” the actually only imagined purity of the Aryan bloodline of the German peop… Read More
2019-01-23 16:00
Click on the image to go straight to the challenge on Becky’s Book Reviews1 January – 31 December 2019 My 2019 Literary Mail Portion of100 Novels in Letters – planned and r… Read More
2019-01-21 16:00
The Darkling Thrush(from Poems of the Past and the Present: 1901)I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey,And Winter's dregs made desolate … Read More
2019-01-19 11:59
The experience of the holocaust marked forever the lives of the survivors, no matter how much they would have liked it to be differently. Many of them will have pushed aside all thoughts of… Read More
2019-01-16 16:00
The reviews of three classics and two contemporary works rang in 2016. On New Year’s Day I presented the classical Italian satire The Man Who Searched for Love by Pitigrilli surroundin… Read More
2019-01-14 16:00
Falling Snow (from Pictures of the Floating World: 1919) The snow whispers around me And my wooden clogs Leave holes behind me in the snow. But no one will pass this way Seeking my footsteps… Read More
2019-01-11 16:00
During the years of Hitler’s Third Reich, many saw their only realistic chance to survive Nazi terror and later war in vanishing from the scene, if possible without leaving a trace. Li… Read More
2019-01-09 16:00
Click on the image to go straight to the challenge on Becky’s Book Reviews1 January – 31 December 2019My Literary Balance of Books First Released &nb&hell…Read More
2019-01-07 16:00
Snow at Morning(from An Macaomh Vol. I, No. 2: Christmas 1909)As with fitful tune,All a heart-born air,Note by note doth fallThe far vision fairFrom the Source of allOn the dreaming soul,Fal… Read More
2019-01-05 09:13
The horrors that alleged “enemies of the Third Reich”, most of all those with Jewish ancestors, had to endure under Nazi reign were so appalling that at the time many simply coul… Read More
2019-01-02 16:00
Another blogging year has begun here on Edith’s Miscellany – the seventh already! – and it’s time to make some literary resolutions. It’s true that I haven&rs&hell…Read More
2018-12-31 16:00
New Year's Eve(from Songs and Sonnets: 1893)Another full-orbed year hath waned to-day,And set in the irrevocable past,And headlong whirled long Time's winged blastMy fluttering rose of youth… Read More
2018-12-29 14:33
Sometimes it can be just as difficult to understand own behaviour and thoughts as it can be to figure out a complete stranger, not least because we all have traits in us that we like to over… Read More
2018-12-26 16:00
The Summaryclick on the image to go to thechallenge post on Escape With A Good Book1 January – 31 December 2018 An Alphabet of Book TitlesThere are only few days left until we start ye… Read More
2018-12-24 16:00
The True Christmas(from Thalia Rediviva: 1678) So stick up ivy and the bays,And then restore the heathen ways.Green will remind you of the spring,Though this great day denies the thing.And m… Read More
2018-12-20 16:55
My blogging year 2015 closed with reviews of four rather un-Christmassy books. In the classical spy novel The Angry Hills by Leon Uris set in World War II, a writer from San Francisco gets s… Read More
2018-12-17 17:35
Tęsknota(z książki Wybór poezyi: 1909)Tęsknię, ach! tęsknię w zimie za kwiateczkiem, A gdy mam z wiosną kwiatków łąkę ca… Read More
2018-12-14 16:00
Books of truly great writers sometimes feel as if they were written just for the person who is reading them. They deeply touch our souls and drag us straight into the stories told, while the… Read More
2018-12-12 16:00
The Summaryclick on the image to go to thechallenge post on Becky's Book Reviews1 January – 31 December 2018My Teatime Reads of the Year December has arrived and there isn’t much… Read More
2018-12-10 16:00
I Heard a Bird Sing(from B.J. Thompson (ed): More Silver Pennies: 1938)I heard a bird singIn the dark of DecemberA magical thingAnd sweet to remember.“We are nearer to SpringThan we we… Read More
2018-12-07 16:00
It can be a big shock to realise that it’s absolutely impossible to know any person inside out, not even closest relations like a spouse, children or parents, sometimes not even oursel… Read More
2018-12-03 16:00
The Wind Frost(from Enthusiasm and Other Poems: 1831)I come o'er the hills of the frozen North,To call to the battle thy armies forth:I have swept the shores of the Baltic sea,And the billow… Read More
2018-11-30 16:00
When a young person sets out to conquer the adult world, it’s usually with great expectations and high-flying dreams because everything seems possible to someone no longer subject to… Read More
2018-11-28 16:00
The Summaryclick on the image to go to thechallenge post on GOODREADS1 January – 31 December 2018 (Nearly) A Century in Ten Books When 2018 still was fairly new, I signed up for the *… Read More
2018-11-26 16:00
First Winter Song(from The Irish Poems of Alfred Perceval GravesVolume I: Songs of the Gael. A Gaelic story-telling: 1908)Take my tidings!Stags contend;Snows descend—Summer’s end… Read More
2018-11-25 10:23
For certain people, especially for those who stand out of the masses for one reason or another, be it in reality or just in their subjective experience, it seems to be harder than for others… Read More
2018-11-21 16:00
Three years ago I reviewed four very different books. November being a month of commemoration, I started with the classical novella The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh that is love story as well a… Read More
2018-11-19 16:00
Autumn in England (from Straws on the Stream: 1907)1st November, 1837Another bright summer for ever has fled.And the song of the warblers is silent and dead;The heavens are weeping, the bree… Read More
2018-11-16 16:00
When we are children, we know little of life and around every corner we expect a big new adventure to be discovered and fathomed. Growing up uses to be somewhat sobering in this respect beca… Read More
2018-11-12 16:00
Gold Leaves(from The Wild Knight and Other Poems: 1900)Lo! I am come to autumn,When all the leaves are gold;Grey hairs and golden leaves cry outThe year and I are old.In youth I sought the p… Read More
2018-11-09 16:00
To bring up children means to prepare them best possible for adulthood, but standards and methods of education have undergone constant change in the course of human history. While children t… Read More
2018-11-05 16:00
November(from Poems: 1895)Much have I spoken of the faded leaf;Long have I listened to the wailing wind,And watched it ploughing through the heavy clouds;For autumn charms my melancholy mind… Read More
2018-11-02 16:00
In school children learn more than just book knowledge. Apart from the family it’s the most important environment for their socialisation, a place where they have to struggle more or l… Read More
2018-10-29 16:22
Genius des Herbstes(aus Buch der Gedichte: 1929)Jetzt ist er leise wieder eingetreten,Der stille Mann mit seinem müden Segnen,Und alle Wesen, die ihm ernst begegnen,Verneigen sich im le… Read More
2018-10-26 16:55
Exclusion happens every day and even in the family as the most intimate social group. Often it results from misunderstandings that nobody cared to clear up out of pride, shame or simply lack… Read More
2018-10-22 15:00
Autumn Song(from Songs of Love and Empire: 1898)“Will you not walk the woods with me?The shafts of sunlight burnOn many a golden-crested treeAnd many a russet fern.The Summer’s r… Read More
2018-10-19 15:00
Society doesn’t like intruders and if they come to stay despite all they risk to be treated like lepers if not worse. It seldom matters if they arrive as aggressive conquerors, as powe… Read More
2018-10-17 15:00
Three years ago I read two classics illustrating the aftermaths of World War I and three very different novels about love. While the forgotten English classic The Happy Foreigner by Enid Bag… Read More
2018-10-15 15:00
The Autumnal Walk(from Tales of the Hall: 1819)It was a fair and mild autumnal sky,And earth’s ripe treasures met the admiring eye,‘As a rich beauty, when her bloom is lost,Appea… Read More
2018-10-13 06:20
Undeniably, it’s an innate impulse to go in search of a better place to live in when for some reason things turn tough where we are and it’s thanks to it that, in the course of t… Read More
2018-10-08 15:00
Sonnet On the Approach of Autumn(from The Warrior’s Return and Other Poems: 1808)Farewell gay Summer! now the changing windThat Autumn brings commands thee to retreat;It fades the rose… Read More
2018-10-05 15:00
No matter where, the lot of an immigrant can be terribly hard, especially when all hopes are crushed and things still continue to turn from bad to worse barring even the way back into the bo… Read More
2018-10-01 15:00
In October(from Later Poems: 1921)Now come the rosy dogwoods,The golden tulip-tree,And the scarlet yellow maple,To make a day for me.The ash-trees on the ridges,The alders in the swamp,Put o… Read More
2018-09-28 15:00
To everybody the world may occasionally seem unreal like the scenario of a fairy-tale or a dream because something unusual and improbable is happening. The situation may even be so dumbfound… Read More
2018-09-24 15:00
Knights and the Dragon(from The Desolate Star and Other Poems: 1929)I found no dragon, and the maid,His prey, was dead these many yearsAnd slumbered in a little gladeOf purple flowers, brigh… Read More
2018-09-22 09:27
Most legendary creatures are archetypical manifestations of certain aspects of human nature, good or evil, and the myths surrounding them represent a general idea of the world, i.e. of how i… Read More
2018-09-19 16:31
In my reviews of three years past, I evoked classical love as well as a modern dystopia starting my tour in Japan and returning there via New York and Germany. Confessions of Love by Uno Chi… Read More
2018-09-17 15:00
That Bright Chimeric Beast(from Black Christ and Other Poems: 1929)That bright chimeric beastConceived yet never born,Save in the poet's breast,The white-flanked unicorn,Never may be shakenF… Read More
2018-09-14 15:00
Fairy-tales, legends and myths have always been key sources of inspiration for writers. Among the most striking examples of this doubtlessly count the plays credited to William Shakespeare… Read More
2018-09-10 15:00
2018-09-07 15:00
All kinds of bizarre, often magical creatures from fairy-tales and ancient legends inhabit the minds of people young and old everywhere on the planet. There are figures of light that use to… Read More
2018-09-03 15:00
The Sphynx(from The City of the Soul: 1899)I gaze across the Nile; flamelike and redThe sun goes down, and all the western skyIs drowned in sombre crimson; wearilyA great bird flaps along wi… Read More
2018-08-31 15:01
To be an artist usually implies many struggles, some of them useless not to say quixotic. Part of the problem are people who feel called upon to decide what true art should or should not be… Read More
2018-08-27 15:00
Summer Hours(from The Ride to the Lady: 1893)Hours aimless-drifting as the milkweed’s downIn seeming, still a seed of joy ye bearThat steals into the soul when unaware,And springs up M… Read More
2018-08-24 15:00
To write a book doesn’t necessarily mean that its writer is ready to show it to another person or even to see it published. Convinced that nobody could possibly be interested or even l… Read More
2018-08-20 15:00
Sunshine(from Songs in Ziklag: 1888)Bathed in balmy odours Sitting upon flow’rs,By the rippling waters, Thus we pass the hours.In the tr… Read More
2018-08-17 15:23
It’s one of the greatest possible achievements of a writer – at least in my opinion – to be able to write fiction that leaves the reader wondering from beginning to end whe… Read More
2018-08-15 15:00
The travel destinations of My Reading Summer of Nordic White Nights in August 2015 were Scotland, the USSR, the USA, and Sweden. Two of my reads were classics, though very different ones. Wh… Read More
2018-08-13 15:00
The City Tree(from Old Spookses’ Pass, Malcolm’s Katie, and Other Poems: 1884)I stand within the stony, arid town, I gaze for ever on the narrow street;I h… Read More
2018-08-10 15:00
There is no way round it, that an author’s inspiration is fuelled by all kinds of experience, be it personal, from hearsay or from books. When setting out to tell a story, every writer… Read More
2018-08-06 15:00
A Sight from the Shore(from A. Wilmot: The Poetry of South Africa: 1887)I look upon the ocean. Far away,A fleet of thunder-clouds is sailing by.High in mid heaven the aërial canvas swel… Read More
2018-08-03 15:00
At one point or another in life many people feel the urge to write the memoirs of their young years and to share them with others, be it only the family, be it the whole world if they can fi… Read More
2018-07-30 15:00
The Summer’s Sun(from One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets: 1880)I would the Summer’s sun was bright, As Summer’s sun was wont to be;I would the flower… Read More
2018-07-27 15:00
It’s true that all year round the plants cultivated in fields, gardens and vineyards need a lot of attention and work, but when it’s time to yield the fruits of the earth many mo… Read More
2018-07-23 15:00
Treet(av Digte og sange: 1879)Treet stod ferdig med blad og med knopp.“Skal jeg ta dem?” sa frosten og pustede opp.“Nei, kjære, la dem stå &nbs&hell…Read More
2018-07-20 15:00
To the outsider, the life of a gentleman farmer on a country estate somewhere not too far from town may look pretty agreeable, if not splendid, and yet, it doesn’t warrant prosperity a… Read More
2018-07-18 15:03
For My Reading Summer of Nordic White Nights I read in July 2015 five more books set in countries with Arctic territories. The contemporary German novel The Discovery of Slowness by Sten Nad… Read More
2018-07-16 15:00
The Wild White Rose(from I Left It All With Jesus and Other Poems: 1875)Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for.—Job 6:8.It was peepin… Read More
2018-07-13 15:42
Up to this day it means a lot of hard work to run a farm and without doubt it’s even harder to start one from scratch proving right the ancient wisdom from the Holy Bible that reads: … Read More
2018-07-09 15:00
The Wonderful World (from Lilliput Lectures: 1871)Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful World, With the wonderful water round you curled,And the wonderful grass upon your breast,World, you are b… Read More
2018-07-06 15:00
From the perspective of someone like me who has always lived in a bustling, though not too big city, country life seems enviably quiet, simple and stress-free. But put to the test of reality… Read More
2018-07-02 15:00
Ode to the Poppy(first published in Charlotte Smith’s novel Desmond: 1792)Not for the promise of the labor’d field,Not for the good the yellow harvests yield,I bend at Ceres&rsqu&hell…Read More
2018-06-29 15:00
However pleasant island life can be, it can also have serious disadvantages when it comes to assuring supply with all those things that nature can’t offer at all or not in sufficient q… Read More
2018-06-25 15:00
Midsummer Noon(from London Visions:1908)At her window gazes over the elmsA girl; she looks on the branching green;But her eyes possess unfathomed realms,Her young hand holds her dreaming chi… Read More
2018-06-23 11:39
While beauty and wealth especially of tropical islands always attracted adventurers, fortune-hunters and eventually colonists from other parts of the world, ancient cultures thriving there w… Read More
2018-06-20 15:00
In the month of June of three years ago I started My Reading Summer of Nordic White Nights that led me around the Arctic Circle making a literary stop in each country with territory that far… Read More
2018-06-18 15:00
Rose of Love(from Between the Lights: 1904) Many a rose &nb&hell…Read More
2018-06-15 15:00
A small island can be a very quiet and private place to live in provided that it’s sparsely populated and outside the usual shipping routes. In our ever closer connected world –… Read More
2018-06-11 15:00
O, Gather Me the Rose(from A Book of Verses: 1888)O, gather me the rose, the rose, While yet in flower we find it,For summer smiles, but summer goes,  &hell…Read More
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