Trust, Truth, Trinkets

🔆“Trust is the first step to love.”🔆“If there were a being in the world whose eyes could look into other people’s hearts, very few men or women would be able to face up to it.”🔆“Beauty doesn’t need ornaments. Softness can’t bear the weight of ornaments.” Premchand, Indian novelist and poet (31 July 1880-1936) 🔆”La fiducia… Read More Trust, Truth, Trinkets

Computers

On 29 July 1947, ENIAC, the world’s first digital computer, was reactivated after a memory upgrade.ENIAC, short for “Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer”, was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, developed for the U.S. Army and completed in 1945.In 1946, it was shut down for a refurbishment and a memory upgrade, and it was… Read More Computers

Pied Beauty

Gerard Manley Hopkins (born on 28 July 1844) was an English poet and Jesuit priest whose posthumous fame placed him among the best Victorian poets. None of his poems were published during his lifetime. In a period of traditional verse. he was an innovator in prosody (especially as regards his “sprung rhythm”, based on the… Read More Pied Beauty

Crossing the Bar

Henley’s poem “Margaritae Sorori” (see here) about the longing for a peaceful end is reminiscent of Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar”. Alfred Lord Tennyson, who was Britain’s poet laureate for much of Queen Victoria’s reign, wrote this poem in 1889, three years before his death.It is believed that the poet composed it while at sea, crossing… Read More Crossing the Bar

W. E. Henley: “Margaritae Sorori”

William Ernest Henley‘s poem “Invictus” (here) insists on individual strength and unwavering resilience in the face of adversity. Even the loss of his five-year-old daughter Margaret, despite being a deeply traumatising event, did not truly dampen his outlook on life as a whole. The following lesser-known poem, instead, evokes the acceptance of death and dying,… Read More W. E. Henley: “Margaritae Sorori”