‘Could a rule be given from without, poetry would cease to be poetry, and sink into a mechanical art. It would be μóρφωσις, not ποίησις. The rules of the IMAGINATION are themselves the very powers of growth and production. The words to which they are reducible, present only the outlines and external appearance of the fruit. A deceptive counterfeit of the superficial form and colours may be elaborated; but the marble peach feels cold and heavy, and children only put it to their mouths.’ [Coleridge, Biographia ch. 18]

‘ποίησις’ (poiēsis) means ‘a making, a creation, a production’ and is used of poetry in Aristotle and Plato. ‘μóρφωσις’ (morphōsis) in essence means the same thing: ‘a shaping, a bringing into shape.’ But Coleridge has in mind the New Testament use of the word as ‘semblance’ or ‘outward appearance’, which the KJV translates as ‘form’: ‘An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form [μóρφωσις] of knowledge and of the truth in the law’ [Romans 2:20]; ‘Having a form [μóρφωσις] of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away’ [2 Timothy 3:5]. I trust that's clear.

There is much more on Coleridge at my other, Coleridgean blog.

Sunday 27 October 2024

Substacking



I have started a substack, Substack-ships on Fire. You could subscribe, if you like!

I have spread myself across a large number of blogs over the years, and it has it has not been the most efficient use of my time and energies. I should consolidate. To that end I'm going to take some of my other blogs private. In the case of blogs that have run their course anyway, such as my H G Wells blog, my Anthony Burgess read-through or my translation of Vida's Christiad, I might as well leave them publicly accessible (it's not as if many people access them, anyway). But with my various other blogs, I will take them offline. 

This blog used to be literature and related stuff, but has, latterly, functioned as a kind-of Author Website, announcing my publications and so on. Elsewhere is the Sibilant Fricative blog, which has been where I (mostly) posted science-fiction-y stuff. Then there's my Notebook on Medium. I've been posting stuff there for a while sometimes quite substantial pieces, original work, essays, reviews of things, some creative work; but I can't say Ive been impressed with Medium as a platform. The interface is limited, in terms of layout and posting, glitchy, and I have not been able to monetize my writing. One must accrue a large number of followers before it becomes possible to do this, and my appeal is too niche and limited to do so. Really what Medium wants is accounts with millions of followers: posting about Taylor Swift or One Weird Tricks or whatever. That's not me.

Since starting Substack-ships I have already received a number of paying subscribers, along with larger number of free subscribers. My aim will be to post about two third free-for-all to one third subscriber-only posts, and by bundling into one place my various interests—SF, literature, poetry, culture, reviews of stuff, this and that—I will be making something of a mixed cassoulet. But there you go.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous27 October 2024 at 07:53

    I've read things you people wouldn't believe. Blog posts on the Sadean turn in contemporary fantasy. I read a series of posts on Walter Scott's Waverley novels. All those musings will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to archive.

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