(no subject)

On an entirely different ecclesiastical note: did you know Wordsworth wrote a sonnet to Our Lady? Not a bad one, at that...

Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied;
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon
Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast;
Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,
As to a visible Power, in which did blend
All that was mixed and reconciled in Thee
Of mother's love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene!


Admittedly "I ween" is Wordsworth at his clunkiest, but I do like the last three and a half lines very much indeed.

(no subject)

Weird reflections of the day so far:

(a) One of the reasons I find Reg/ Len squicky is that the situation, particularly with Jo's peculiar and slightly troubling enthusiasm for it, reminds me a bit of Effi Briest (incidentally, that Wiki article is linguistically very odd), only with bonus squick, because however ill you think of Innstetten, he at least didn't hang around watching her grow up.

(b) I was trying to imagine a worship song dealing with dark night experiences (since there are hymns which fall into that category, such as Abide With Me), and found myself wondering if you wouldn't end up with something suspiciously like 'Hit Me Baby One More Time', simply substituting 'Jesus' or 'Lord' for 'baby'/ 'boy' (you've even got the dodgy power dynamics):

My loneliness is killing me
I must confess I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign,
Hit me Jesus one more time....†

Oh Jesus, Jesus, the reason I breathe is you (etc)

Oh dear. Too easy. Except, of course, it's a far better crafted song than most of what emanates from Hillsong or whatever the favourite of the month is...

† Batter my heart, three-personed God, and all that.