Herbert's poem is genuinely mysterious. Ultimately, I suspect there was a personal reference of some kind -- that it links to a conversation or in-joke or something of the sort with Bacon. Occasional verse for a specific person is often the hardest to interpret for this reason.
I spent ages this week trying to work out whether a Latin poem about being saved by a dolphin (!) written by an English chaplain in Russia in 1618 for a Dutch envoy who was passing through was actually a poem about being saved by a dolphin, or some sort of elaborate allegory of European politics. Still have no idea!
I’ll confess I read this as a sleep aid- I had galloping insomnia and it looked dry as dust. How wrong can you be. Beautiful and fascinating.
Ha! That made me laugh. Thank you.
No, thank you! Still turning the poem over in my head.
Herbert's poem is genuinely mysterious. Ultimately, I suspect there was a personal reference of some kind -- that it links to a conversation or in-joke or something of the sort with Bacon. Occasional verse for a specific person is often the hardest to interpret for this reason.
Lost in time… how frustrating. Or perhaps leaves more room for the imagination.
I spent ages this week trying to work out whether a Latin poem about being saved by a dolphin (!) written by an English chaplain in Russia in 1618 for a Dutch envoy who was passing through was actually a poem about being saved by a dolphin, or some sort of elaborate allegory of European politics. Still have no idea!
What the….?? Please make that your next stack!
I think it'll probably be the one after next but we'll see!
Very much looking forward to it.