Lari's Bookshelf

This post is my entry in the Book Nerd Out giveaway hosted by Book Riot: Reviews, Recommendations, and Commentary about books and reading (but, you know, fun). When I was studying my undergrad, I experienced the beginnings of what would become an existential experience. Many times I was confused and lost as I wandered around campus, since I was constantly deep in my thoughts.  Then one day I discovered a copy of  Meditations  by Marcus Aurelius in the library. This book was instrumental in pulling me out of a dark place and my introduction to stoic philosophy. I wrote a poem this morning about that experience: In the labyrinth of a library, Sanctuary is a small hardbound work, A dead emperor gives comfort, Words sweet like the plumeria, Musings echoed through millennia, Brittle pages redolent of weathered wood, Learning to live as bees that make honey, My own place in the universe,  Accepting what I cannot change,...

It is no secret that J. R. R. Tolkien was very much influenced by old Anglo Saxon literature. When contemplating the connections in between his work and Old English literature, I remembered learning about an elegy titled, "The Wanderer." In it a man, known as the "earth-walker," laments losing his lord, companions, and (how could you forget) his mead hall. The sense of loss that pervades this poem is iconic of much archaic Anglo-Saxon literature. Here is the text in its original language . (Check out the use of thorn , I love that letter. Let's bring back þorn !) [Stop giggling that is NOT a "p."] In the poem, the method of mourning the loss of what the "earth-walker" holds dear is done by the use of the word "where" and "what." Here is an excerpt from the translation of " The Wanderer " by E. T. Donaldson: So the Maker of mankind laid waste this dwelling-place until the old works of giants stood idle, d...