I do not celebrate Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to give a shout out to all of my dear readers! You consistently show this blog (and its humble creator) so much love that I could not possibly let the 14th of February evaporate without some kind of acknowledgment. This is for you:
Valentine’s Day Image, circa 1910.
Everyone was a child once, even serious wordsmiths. Let’s get started:
A poised Gertrude Stein:
Gertrude Stein at three
An uncomfortable looking Franz Kafka:
Franz Kafka
Winter always looks nicer in paintings. Majestic. Charming. Unblemished. Like this:
Winter Morning by Andrei Ryabushkin, 1903.
I’m done trying to fancy up the season with quotes by intelligent, creative dead people. If they were here, they’d probably be annoyed, too.
Captain Jinks, Hero by Ernest Crosby. 1902. Illustrated by Daniel Carter Beard.
When you died on 11 February 1963, my mom was nine years old. My grandmother was your age: thirty. She’s eighty-one now, but to all of the world you still look like this:
Sylvia Plath.
How sad.
“The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”-Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
In all of the years that I’ve written about old movies, I’ve never done an essay about Shirley Temple…but that doesn’t mean I don’t love her. She was, and will always be, a star.
Shirley Temple in the full bloom of her stardom. She died yesterday, at 85.
Sir John Suckling, poet and inventor of cribbage, was born on 10 February 1609.
Sir John Suckling by Anthony van Dyck, 17th century.
“I prithee send me back my heart,/Since I cannot have thine;/For if from yours you will not part,/Why, then, shouldst thou have mine?”
Louise Tiffany, Reading by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1888).
Louise Tiffany, Reading by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1888).
You’ll want to read this.
Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous Bells by Charlotte Brontë [courtesy Project Gutenberg]
It is a quick and interesting read.
The Brontë Sisters by Branwell Brontë.
The literary Gods certainly favoured the 7th of February, at least during the 19th century. Charles Dickens, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Sinclair Lewis were born on that day. Impressive, right?
Charles Dickens and His Characters by William Holbrook Beard. Birth year: 1812.
“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder. Birth year: 1867.
“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”
Sinclair Lewis, 1914. Birth year: 1885.
“Every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on.”
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