David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


11 March 2018

Everything flows


On Monday, The Shape of Water won the Oscar for Best Picture.
Theatre of the Actors of Regard 
On Wednesday, we read in Seamus Heaney's Seeing Things :

    Everything flows. Even a solid man, 
    A pillar to himself and to his trade, 
    All yellow boots and stick and soft felt hat

    Can sprout wings at the ankle and grow fleet 
    As the god of fair days, stone posts, roads and crossroads, 
    Guardian of travelers and psychopomp.

    'Look for a man with an ashplant on the boat,' 
    My father told his sister heading out 
    For London, 'and stay near him all night 

    And you‘ll be safe.' Flow on, flow on 
    The journey of the soul with its soul guide 
    And the mysteries of dealing-men with sticks! 

 - Seamus Heaney : Seeing Things | Squarings | Crossings | xxvii

 Yesterday, Buxton Contemporary opened to the public with The shape of things to come.


 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something... 
         
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