Jane

First little thing in a long time open.substack.com/pub/yeppjane/p…

Really looking forward to this instalment of our Lucretius seminar series tomorrow!

@s_r_tarnmoor No

What if I wrote a SF/F book the body of which was analysis of the plausibility of worldbuilding that was never expressly developed, and there were a few narratives in an appendix

Sad news about a great historian of the mediaeval Mediterranean. cai.cam.ac.uk/news/david-abu…

@s_r_tarnmoor The composition of* epigrams I should say

From the renaissance, Latin epigrams were assigned; in the very top schools there was a culture of continuity when it came to learning the classics, so that likely continued. At St Paul’s, clerihews grew out of a small literary society which was led by one of the teachers, though to my knowledge Bentley didn’t write these early clerihews with the help of a teacher (see the index here). the fable was published in a school magazine, the Debater

This is the kind of thing schoolboys used to write

@s_r_tarnmoor Point is that exercises in laconic verse, being part of the epigrammatic tradition in schools, were recognisable modes of childlike expression. that’s no longer true. Fables w comic latin nomenclature like this one were produced in part thanks to school culture, not just genius

@yeppjane To be fair, "the guy who invented clerihews" is not just some random schoolboy

@Cary_Bleasdale They might be equivalent in quality but this is a now extinct style. That’s all

@yeppjane This is the kind of thing *the best, most lauded schoolboy in all of Britain* used to write. Every year there's a bunch of short story contests that published stories by American school children that are all at least equivalent to this in writing quality.

The above fable is by E Clerihew Bentley, who collaborated w Chesterton on an illustrated notebook of early clerihews (the verse named after him) while at St Paul’s school. The notebook was given to St Paul’s and published in facsimile by my grandfather

@traddingtonbear These were the days

@ArmandDAngour @ae_stallings please say it is titled "Touch Grass"

@yeppjane @ae_stallings Writing one as we speak.

Many thanks to the Professor of Poetry @ae_stallings for a brilliant talk on her translation of De Rerum Natura (in rhyming fourteeners!) to kick off our Lucretius seminar series. A major takeaway: there are too many Stoic self-help books & not nearly enough Epicurean ones

@ericesheng @miserabiliter Yes, head to the lodge and you’ll be directed to the seminar room

@yeppjane @miserabiliter where in Exeter? On main site?

Attention all graduate students and researchers interested in Lucretius! I'm hosting a seminar series next Term with Barney Taylor @miserabiliter. Here is the call for papers, which will be given in weeks 3-8. Early in term, we will hear from a special guest-poet.

@ericesheng @miserabiliter Yes; the series will kick off with a presentation by the professor of poetry, Alicia Stallings, at Exeter on Monday. it has been advertised within the university. Hope to see you there!

@yeppjane @miserabiliter just to check, is this on as stated here on Monday of 1st week? (probably the only session I'll be able to come to)

@efarrellgregory Come back soon

Beautiful time of year but I still want it to end

Remembering Jackie Leven open.spotify.com/track/0vMTEPzH…

@SarahFPoetry 💀💀

This reads like AI generated Speccie headlines

@s_r_tarnmoor 👏👏

most successful re-reads:

2025 REPORT 78 books 21 old, 57 new 38 novels, 13 history, 10 poetry, 17 other most represented author: Joseph Conrad, Cormac McCarthy (tie)