The Ironist
Differing Perspectives
Ozymandias, Egyptian Tombs & the Song of the Harpist
Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias uses the Greek name for Ramesses II, the most famous of Egyptian pharaohs, and was written as a great statute of him was in transit to the British Museum in a wave of awe and Orientalism sweeping Europe.
The Joy of Mud
Children like to play in mud. It is (or was, for us ‘oldies’), a relatively rare treat to be able to play in the mud. It is slippery, fun, sticky, squishable, slimy, and well, just fun to mess around with wet dirt.
For Enid Blyton
(A Children’s Story for Grown-Ups) Editor’s note: The Pendulum has already swung back to defend Enid Blyton's Noddy books from charges of racism and of excessive insensitivity to such human afflictions as having large ears. See the Independent...