tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937414969460147900.post842941907863957114..comments2024-03-06T07:06:38.928-08:00Comments on JSBlog - Journal of a Southern Bookreader: Google Books / London ruined yet againRay Girvanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05556764642402680159noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937414969460147900.post-19341919391030184332009-10-03T19:32:40.183-07:002009-10-03T19:32:40.183-07:00Two poems in the Skilton text are interesting in t...Two poems in the Skilton text are interesting in that one could substitute New York for London. It is hard to contemplate the demise of your own civilization. It may be even harder than contemplating your own demise.Dr. Cnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937414969460147900.post-15808648051637709662009-10-03T20:31:42.234-07:002009-10-03T20:31:42.234-07:00Two poems in the Skilton text are interesting in t...<i>Two poems in the Skilton text are interesting in that one could substitute New York for London.</i><br><br>Just so. I've occasionally wondered at what appears a Japanese obsession with the destruction of Tokyo, as in the Godzilla films, and thought it might be about some cultural subtext involving earthquakes ... but that doesn't wash elsewhere.Ray Girvanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05556764642402680159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937414969460147900.post-22214045730872498452009-10-04T05:48:55.003-07:002009-10-04T05:48:55.003-07:00PS - see the postscript to the blog post, which li...PS - see the postscript to the blog post, which links to an equivalent account of a ruined New York.Ray Girvanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05556764642402680159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937414969460147900.post-18571180884964058272009-12-05T10:39:17.355-08:002009-12-05T10:39:17.355-08:00I too have often wondered about all this, and, as ...I too have often wondered about all this, and, as far as London goes, it began with the early rise of the city to preeminence. There seemed to be, for Renaissance dramatists, a point at which London achieved the stature to be able to compare itself to the cities both distant and past, and so, of course, to the ruin. Is ther contemporary Spenser's the Ruines of Time, where again the river is the setting for the reflection, sequel to The Ruines of Rome, one of the first such poems to consciously project itself into the future as setting? The relation of this topos to the river seems interesting, the vector of movement by which London can be connected to Rome. Right down to Morris the melancholic river plays its part.London Archaeologist and the Windowless Consultanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15028165094787754674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937414969460147900.post-61453399737279261402009-12-06T05:07:22.825-08:002009-12-06T05:07:22.825-08:00Having happily posted the last comment, I lay back...Having happily posted the last comment, I lay back on the sofa to re-read the Ruines of Time. The melancholic river setting is there, the cities linked, etc., but there's no explicit reference to a future ruined state of a present city - that was the projection, in fact, of my own memory (not inappropriate in a poem so rich in dream visions?). Thought I'd better get that straight before someone else does!London Archaeologist and the Windowless Consultanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15028165094787754674noreply@blogger.com