About Christmas Trees: T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot

The Cultivation of Christmas Trees 

There are several attitudes towards Christmas, 

Some of which we may disregard: 

The social, the torpid, the patently commercial, 

The rowdy (the pubs being open till midnight), 

And the childish – which is not that of the child 

For whom the candle is a star, and the gilded angel 

Spreading its wings at the summit of the tree 

Is not only a decoration, but an angel.

The child wonders at the Christmas Tree: 

Let him continue in the spirit of wonder 

At the Feast as an event not accepted as a pretext; 

So that the glittering rapture, the amazement 

Of the first-remembered Christmas Tree, 

So that the surprises, delight in new possessions 

(Each one with its peculiar and exciting smell), 

The expectation of the goose or turkey 

And the expected awe on its appearance,

So that the reverence and the gaiety 

May not be forgotten in later experience, 

In the bored habituation, the fatigue, the tedium, 

The awareness of death, the consciousness of failure, 

Or in the piety of the convert 

Which may be tainted with a self-conceit 

Displeasing to God and disrespectful to children 

(And here I remember also with gratitude 

St.Lucy, her carol, and her crown of fire):

So that before the end, the eightieth Christmas 

(By “eightieth” meaning whichever is last) 

The accumulated memories of annual emotion 

May be concentrated into a great joy 

Which shall be also a great fear, as on the occasion 

When fear came upon every soul: 

Because the beginning shall remind us of the end 

And the first coming of the second coming.

Puedes leer una versión en español del poema aquí

Brand-New Section: WORD BUFFS

I am so excited to introduce a new section in this blog! It will be called Word Buffs. Buff is one of those buzzwords I used to teach in my classes, that's how much I love it. For those of you who are not familiar with it, here is a short podcast going into its meaning.

Word Buffs will be a space to showcase logophiles  (word lovers): lettori appassionati, philologists,  literarians, bookworms, librarians, word nerds and bouquineurs.  People who must carry a book at all times, book-bosomed, as Sir Walter Scott called them in The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805).  All guilty of epeolatry, the worship of words. 

They will share their reading memories, habits and recommendations. I think you will all find it interesting to see what others' words are, discover their background, their tastes, and maybe follow their profiles in social networks to see what they read and share.

I certainly hope you will enjoy Word Buffs  and that it will make you (re)discover the "texture" and vibrancy of reading, an action of stark, chilly beauty, blurred at the edges, and layered with all sorts of emotions.

"For last year's words belong to
Last year's language,
And next year's words await
Another voice"
T. S. Eliot