Daedalus

I replied in a comments box earlier where it may get lost – so I’ve copied my comment here.

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Definitely good going, Richard. Thank you for this post.

Of these various translations I prefer the ones with shorter lines. They feel more immediate, less worked. That seems to be the magic of Sappho’s lines – the way they leap almost three mil…[Read more]

Rather annoyingly, shortly after posting this I came upon another translation. Annoyingly, because its publication on a page headed ‘The Center for Hellenic Studies,’ its juxtaposition with the Greek, and most of all the clumsiness of its English suggest to me that it is the closest to a word-for-word rendition of Sappho’s original that I’ve yet…[Read more]

I’m looking forward to reading this, Richard. I became more aware of Sappho when I read Selby Wynn Schwartz’s novel After Sappho, which I enjoyed a lot. Before that I’d hardly known who Sappho was.

Great blog, Richard. Sadly I have very little internet right now. Will get back asap. Also, yikes! One of the updates has broken my menus (at least in mobile mode).

Not sure it meets the brief and it’s a bit on the short side, but it’s where the fancy took me, so…

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Nay. Thrice nay, unless that day be cold and dreich.

Then shall I liken thee to the first rose of summer? Nay, again, save that bloom be not perfect and proud but…[Read more]

Thank you, Terrie! This is lovely surprise, and I’m pleased you liked my story.

I really enjoyed Sandra’s and Ath’s stories too. So lifelike. Thank you both of you for being such excellent competitors.

Only three entries but what a selection!

All expertly written and cleverly presented is evidence that Den of Writers contains a wealth of experienced and skilled writers.

1. Wow Libby what a wonderfully executed piece of verb-less writing; plus a well-crafted opening sentence as well.

Richly descriptive but without verbs, the shorter…[Read more]

Don’t ever cross a crocodile.

Back when Chubby was chubby and not six inches taller than me and good looking, his nan died, and he went to the funeral. Afterwards, we met up near his gaff and he was in a bit of a moody with me.

‘All your fault, Teabreak, you twat!’ he goes.

‘Woss that then,’ I say, and I offer him a Number 6 to make up f…[Read more]

“Season to taste”

I could say it started as a joke, except I knew, at that age, Suze and I were, a bit self-consciously, aiming to bridge the gap between our schoolgirl selves and the mysterious, scary-but-enticing grown-up world we were bracing ourselves to enter.

Both of us were in top English. Read our homework to each other, critiqued (a mor…[Read more]

An explanatory note: I saw an exercise which asked for story without verbs and wanted to give it a go, so that’s what I’ve attempted here.

A Delivery

Inside the shadowed arch of a canal bridge: a half circle of water-drips and their echoes, drops and plops, plips, a full saucepan of water on the towpath, someone’s rubbish, new drink…[Read more]

This was such a good challenge producing three different  perspectives .

I agree with Sandra picking a winner is  always difficult  at the best of times and I think we all did brilliantly. So well done Ath and  Sandra and thanks for passing the baton over to me, Libby.

I will be posting  next months challenge shortly .

Thank you for the challenge, Libby. And very well done to Terrie for another powerful piece of story telling.

Wow. Thank you Libby for this at-first-sight innocuous challenge. (I tried to resist the autobiographical, but in the end it was the only way for me to go) so thank you Terrie and Ath for such impactful alternatives; I’m glad I didn’t have the task of choosing between them.