Comments by Christopher Stokes Most recent public comments by Christopher Stokes https://nowcomment.com/users/112587 Types of history... https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2590124 https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2590124 I suppose the word 'bard' tends to imply verbal/oral poetry. I'm sure Chris E. mentioned the fashion for Ossian in the lecture, so Johnson attacking the bard as a "barbarian among barbarians" is attacking the idealisation of that, and - as you say - insisting on education, writing, modernity, progress (as Johnson sees these things) Interesting you mention the "writing of history" - the unreliable Bardic history of Scotland (oral tradition, legends etc) is perhaps being contrasted to 'proper' history. It's a key divergence, as you say. Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:35:18 -0500 Enchantment and the Past https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2590086 https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2590086 Yes - in travelling back in time, it is as if Johnson feels a traveller might be bewitched or fooled, maybe as if travelling back into a pre-enlightened era by travelling across a less 'civilised' space. Yet, of course, it is actually the *traveller* who is credulous, not the natives (who are suspected as manipulating tourists...) Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:17:21 -0500 Clever linking! https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2590084 https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2590084 Yes, cultivation is pretty key as a motif. It's interesting, of course, that writing/speech can become linked through analogy to land, culture, history etc. Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:15:07 -0500 Great points https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2589065 https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2589065 Breath is fragile, yes - romantic, but sort of doomed, doomed to a less legitimate past. I like the sense of inaudibility, as well as the hint it is just mere sounds i.e. less important, perhaps less linked to thoughts. Your comment reminded me of Wordsworth's 1807 (ish??) poem 'The Solitary Reaper', which seems so much more positive but maybe expresses similar sentiments. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45554/the-solitary-reaper Wed, 06 Oct 2021 07:05:46 -0500 Wow! What does this say about Johnson as a travel writer? https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2584760 https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2584760 Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:17:21 -0500 What’s the alternative idea of the Bard that Johnson is working against? https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2584759 https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2584759 Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:35:18 -0500 Beyond the speaking vs writing angle, I wonder how we can unpack the potent image of breath here…? https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2584758 https://nowcomment.com/documents/290844?scroll_to=2584758 Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:15:07 -0500