Ian H > Recent Status Updates

Act III complete.

“To be, or not to be…” yeah, you all know the rest.

Book VIII complete.

Canto I complete.

100 days left in the year means 100 days of the Divine Comedy (1 canto per day). I’m primarily reading the Longfellow translation, but consulting the Hollander translation for better notes.

Act II complete.

“More matter with less art.”

Or the best way of saying “get to the point.”

Books V, VI, and VII complete.

Act I complete.

“So excellent a king, that was to this / Hyperion to a satyr;”

I actually just read this tale in the Metamorphoses yesterday. Hyperion skinned the satyr alive. Happy Monday!

Books VI and VII complete.

Sonnets CXX - CXXVI

With this week’s batch, we have concluded the love sonnets and will be moving onto the Dark Lady sonnets for these last 4 weeks. I’m definitely appreciative for a change in subject. As for this week’s batch, I’m going to have to re-read these. Shakespeare’s finally gotten out of his repetitive cycle, and these were actually more difficult than anything I’ve read in weeks.

“Only unconscious activity bears fruit, and a man who plays a role in a historical event never understands its significance. If he attempts to understand it, he is struck with fruitlessness.”

Book V complete.

Act IV complete.

Book IV complete.

Act III complete.

Book IV complete.

Volume III complete!

Act II complete.

Book III complete.

Act I complete.

“Men at some time are masters of their fates. / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Ah, so that’s where John Green got that book title from.

Sonnets CXIII - CXIX

Of this batch, Sonnet CXVI is the standout for discussing love as a concept in a way that felt reminiscent of Act II of As You Like It.

Book III complete.