Word: serpentes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Serpent's Tail. Admittedly, most La Fontaine precepts are as sound as Ben Franklin's-e.g., "Better think of the outcome before you begin," "A counterfeit's sure to be exposed to light"-although they are dressed in brocade rather than homespun. The fables he borrowed from Aesop in La Fontaine's hands became tart and graceful satires on society, with neat plots and sharp blackout punch lines...
...whether they lend themselves to English translation is another matter. Marianne Moore is the only first-rate poet who has ever undertaken to do the whole job. How much better she has done than the standard translators becomes quickly apparent in The Head and Tail of the Serpent. A turn-of-the-century version put the familiar stanza this...
...parts the serpent has- Of men the enemies- The head and tail: the same Have won a mighty fame, Next to the cruel Fates;- So that, indeed, hence They once had great debates About precedence...
Poetess Moore's version: A serpent has mobility Which can shatter intrepidity. The tail-tip's mental to-and-fro And taillike taper head's quick blow- Like Fate's-have the power to appall. Each end had thought for years that it had no equal And that it alone knew What...
...against the night sky a haloed camel being worshipped by three Arabs who look rather like melting vanilla cones. Guardians of the Primal, which the Baltimore Museum bought, shows a bird-faced man doing a minuet with a man-faced bird; between them on a string stretches a fanged serpent. Toledano says he was trying to show "the seeds of life and the forces which protect it," using human, bird and animal parts to create "a synthesis of life." In Parallel, Toledano's intent is clearer. As he explains it, "The man and the vase, the animate...