Oh Hannah! I love this so, so very much! What a wonderful professor. And all three of your fragments are so good! I live by similar literary fragments that lift my soul from despair. Here are some of mine:
-From the Brothers Karamazov: The deathbed scene of Fr. Zosima's brother has stuck with me since I first read it. This speech especially:
"there was such a glory of God all about me: birds, trees, meadows, sky; only I lived in shame and dishonoured it all and did not notice the beauty and glory.”
I think about that when I'm sucked into scrolling on my phone instead of noticing the glory that's all about me.
-in King Lear, Lear's speech during his reconciliation scene with Cordelia.
"We two alone will sing like birds i' th' cage.
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness. So we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news, and we’ll talk with them too—
Who loses and who wins, who’s in, who’s out—
And take upon ’s the mystery of things
As if we were God’s spies."
There's just so much despair and darkness in the play, and there's so much despair and darkness in this world, but Lear's words remind me of what it means to live by grace "as if we were God's spies" in a world that cares only for "court news" or the latest gossip or political headlines
-from Narnia:
Puddleglum's speech to the Green Lady:
“But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things–trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia."
I'm with you Puddleglum! The Christian vision and the witness of the saints and martyrs is always more compelling to me than anything the world offers
Also the vision of the new Narnia in the Last Battle is so heartening to me when I'm tempted to a materialist view of the world.
-And The Diary of a Country Priest for me too! Just the whole life of the priest is so encouraging to me--that everything looks like a failure on the surface and that he dies in squalid conditions, but that in reality his life totally conforms to Christ's life and is completely suffused with grace. It helps me when I start measuring the success of my life by any outward achievements to recall that the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God are the inverse of one another.
Sorry that was a lot 😅 and there are so many more! I don't know how people live without great literature.
Ahh thank you for sharing some of your fragments. The Silver Chair is my favorite of the Narnia books, and that scene also has remained with me so vividly!
And totally agree. The Diary of a Country Priest absolutely blew me away. It’s rare for me to love a book so much on a first read-through, so I’m excited to revisit it sometime in the next year!
Yes to Puddleglum’s speech! This is one for me, too. And, Aslan’s words to Lucy and Edmund at the End of the World in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
“It isn’t Narnia, you know, sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”
“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.
“Are—are you there too, Sir?” Said Edmund.
“I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This is the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here from a little, you may know me better there.”
That He loves us so much to give us all the ways to know Him better, in this place that can otherwise overwhelm our vision.
This is a beautiful reflection, Hannah! I love that Eliot line. I have that quote from Middlemarch framed on my dresser because I want to constantly remind myself of its truth and live in light of it! Thanks for sharing!
This is an inspiring post, Hannah. And yet another nudge for me to get serious about collecting my fragments “junk journal” style. I think that way it will be easier for me to find them, and remember them, too.
I love this! Unfortunately most of the fragments I have shored up are rather convicting instead of hopeful (e.g. Kichijiro rolling in his own vomit in Endo's Silence). Except perhaps Walt Whitman's Chant 50 from Song of Myself. That has always inspired me to look for Christ in the outlines offered by the great artists, and reminds me to try to be attune to the "music of the spheres", if you will:
There is that in me—I do not know what it is—but I know it is in me
Wrench'd and sweaty—calm and cool then my body becomes,
I sleep—I sleep long.
I do not know it—it is without name—it is a word unsaid,
It is not in any dictionary, utterance, symbol.
Something it swings on more than the earth I swing on,
To it the creation is the friend whose embracing awakes me.
Perhaps I might tell more. Outlines! I plead for my brothers and sisters.
Do you see O my brothers and sisters?
It is not chaos or death—it is form, union, plan—it is eternal life—it is Happiness.
I have not read The Diary of a Country Priest, and now, it seems, I must.
Oh Hannah! I love this so, so very much! What a wonderful professor. And all three of your fragments are so good! I live by similar literary fragments that lift my soul from despair. Here are some of mine:
-From the Brothers Karamazov: The deathbed scene of Fr. Zosima's brother has stuck with me since I first read it. This speech especially:
"there was such a glory of God all about me: birds, trees, meadows, sky; only I lived in shame and dishonoured it all and did not notice the beauty and glory.”
I think about that when I'm sucked into scrolling on my phone instead of noticing the glory that's all about me.
-in King Lear, Lear's speech during his reconciliation scene with Cordelia.
"We two alone will sing like birds i' th' cage.
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness. So we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news, and we’ll talk with them too—
Who loses and who wins, who’s in, who’s out—
And take upon ’s the mystery of things
As if we were God’s spies."
There's just so much despair and darkness in the play, and there's so much despair and darkness in this world, but Lear's words remind me of what it means to live by grace "as if we were God's spies" in a world that cares only for "court news" or the latest gossip or political headlines
-from Narnia:
Puddleglum's speech to the Green Lady:
“But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things–trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia."
I'm with you Puddleglum! The Christian vision and the witness of the saints and martyrs is always more compelling to me than anything the world offers
Also the vision of the new Narnia in the Last Battle is so heartening to me when I'm tempted to a materialist view of the world.
-And The Diary of a Country Priest for me too! Just the whole life of the priest is so encouraging to me--that everything looks like a failure on the surface and that he dies in squalid conditions, but that in reality his life totally conforms to Christ's life and is completely suffused with grace. It helps me when I start measuring the success of my life by any outward achievements to recall that the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God are the inverse of one another.
Sorry that was a lot 😅 and there are so many more! I don't know how people live without great literature.
Ahh thank you for sharing some of your fragments. The Silver Chair is my favorite of the Narnia books, and that scene also has remained with me so vividly!
And totally agree. The Diary of a Country Priest absolutely blew me away. It’s rare for me to love a book so much on a first read-through, so I’m excited to revisit it sometime in the next year!
Yes to Puddleglum’s speech! This is one for me, too. And, Aslan’s words to Lucy and Edmund at the End of the World in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
“It isn’t Narnia, you know, sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”
“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.
“Are—are you there too, Sir?” Said Edmund.
“I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This is the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here from a little, you may know me better there.”
That He loves us so much to give us all the ways to know Him better, in this place that can otherwise overwhelm our vision.
This is a beautiful reflection, Hannah! I love that Eliot line. I have that quote from Middlemarch framed on my dresser because I want to constantly remind myself of its truth and live in light of it! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! Yes, that quote is so inspiring!
This is an inspiring post, Hannah. And yet another nudge for me to get serious about collecting my fragments “junk journal” style. I think that way it will be easier for me to find them, and remember them, too.
Thank you! Yes, I am also trying to get better about keeping a commonplace book so that I can more regularly reflect on what I've been inspired by.
I love the idea of this post! I want to find a way to collect my “fragments”
I love this! Unfortunately most of the fragments I have shored up are rather convicting instead of hopeful (e.g. Kichijiro rolling in his own vomit in Endo's Silence). Except perhaps Walt Whitman's Chant 50 from Song of Myself. That has always inspired me to look for Christ in the outlines offered by the great artists, and reminds me to try to be attune to the "music of the spheres", if you will:
There is that in me—I do not know what it is—but I know it is in me
Wrench'd and sweaty—calm and cool then my body becomes,
I sleep—I sleep long.
I do not know it—it is without name—it is a word unsaid,
It is not in any dictionary, utterance, symbol.
Something it swings on more than the earth I swing on,
To it the creation is the friend whose embracing awakes me.
Perhaps I might tell more. Outlines! I plead for my brothers and sisters.
Do you see O my brothers and sisters?
It is not chaos or death—it is form, union, plan—it is eternal life—it is Happiness.
Oooh Kichijiro for sure - what an unforgettable character.
I've never heard the Whitman lines, but WOW. Beautiful.