‘If a thief helps a poor man out of the spoils of his thieving, we must not call that charity.’— Dante There are lines in Dante that feel less like poetry and more like a divine diagnosis — a sudden flash of God’s own X-ray slicing through human pretence. This is one of them. It’s … Continue reading A Reflection on Dante’s Warning Against False Charity
Category: Writing
Casting the Runes: The Polite Horror of the Learned Damned
Some stories don’t so much frighten as warn. They creep into the mind like a chill beneath the door, whispering that intellect is no armour against the irrational. M. R. James’s Casting the Runes is one of these — a genteel little ghost story that begins with a letter of complaint and ends with damnation … Continue reading Casting the Runes: The Polite Horror of the Learned Damned
The Baritone at the Gate: A Requiem for the Living
‘Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death.’— Libera me, D There’s a certain note — not the pitch itself, but the tremor beneath it — that seems to belong only to men who’ve seen too much. It’s the sound of the baritone in Fauré’s Requiem, that grave, human register which stands between the innocence of … Continue reading The Baritone at the Gate: A Requiem for the Living
The Room in the Tower: A Dream with Teeth
For years I dreamt of a house that hated me. It wasn’t merely haunted — it was hostile. Its walls bowed with resentment, its staircase groaned in complaint, and the air inside was the colour of rot. Every visit was the same: I would wander through its ruined corridors, knowing instinctively that one door was … Continue reading The Room in the Tower: A Dream with Teeth
The Ugly Duchess: A Comedy of Flesh and Folly
The Ugly Duchess (c. 1513) by Quinten Matsys. The National Gallery, London. Public domain image. When I first looked at Matsys’ An Allegory of Folly (see previous post), I remember thinking that the jester’s cap was the most honest crown mankind ever designed. A fool’s bauble, yes — but at least it declared what kings … Continue reading The Ugly Duchess: A Comedy of Flesh and Folly
Wording 