1/ Gustave Doré’s illustration of Paradiso XXXI*:

2/ From An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything,” Garrett Lisi’s proposed model of the universe, which is based on the E8 geometry**:

 
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1/ “Signals at Sea,” a poem by Annie Dillard built of passages from Cugle’s Practical Navigation and published in Mornings Like This:

(If the flags in A’s hoist cannot be made out,
B keeps her answering pennant at the “Dip”
and hoists the signal “OWL” or “WCX.”)

CXL Do not abandon me.
A I am undergoing a speed trial.
D Keep clear of me - I am maneuvering
with difficulty.
F I am disabled. Communicate with me.
G I require a pilot.

P Your lights are out, or burning badly.
U You are standing into danger.
X Stop carrying out your intentions.
K You should stop your vessel instantly.
L You should stop. I have something
important to communicate.

R You may feel your way past me.

2/ “ROMEO AND JULIET,” a poem by Hannah Weiner built of passages from the International Code of Signals and published in The Code Poems (now available in Hannah Weiner’s Open House, a new selection of her poems edited by Patrick Durgin):

MFD Juliet: Try to enter
KZU Romeo: I am in difficulties; direct me how to steer
OOX Juliet: You should swing and enter stern first
HBK Romeo: What is the nature of the bottom or what kind of bottom have you?
HAY Juliet: Double bottom
FHR Romeo: Stern way. Going astern
LK Juliet: Go astern easy. Easy astern
ODI Romeo: I am going full speed
HC Juliet: It is not safe to go so fast
KZY Romeo: It is difficult to extricate
BK Juliet: Is anything the matter
VLA Romeo: Cock broken or damaged
EHR Juliet: What do the cost of repairs amount to?
DF Romeo: With some assistance I shall be able to set things to rights

1/ From “Late and Soon,” Dan Chiasson’s review of Robert Hass and Mark Strand in this week’s New Yorker:

The zero-sum fluctuations of Hass’s material, some intellect followed by some feeling, coolness here, warmth there, at times become a formula—more a recipe for soup than soup—but at other times yield work that, exquisitely receptive to actual happiness, has opened up new territory for the personal poem.

2/ From “The Cat Went out for Good,” Charles Simic’s much-lamented review of Robert Creeley’s Collected Poems:

The aesthetic theory—and there is always a theory behind such reductive views—may sound persuasive, but it was foolish on Creeley’s part to believe that it could ever validate a poem. If poetics were like cooking and one could write down a recipe for all of one’s future poems, that would be true. However, great cooks rarely bother to consult cookbooks.

2.5/ A bonus View, from Chiasson again:

Being a poet doesn’t help you cook a meal or bathe your three-year-old daughter…

1/ From Don Share’s post at Harriet, the Poetry Foundation’s blog, referring to an article by Richard Rorty that appears in the new issue of Poetry:

Rorty knew he was dying from pancreatic cancer at the time he was working on the piece. When asked by his son whether the reading or writing of philosophy gave him any comfort, he said, surprisingly… no: “neither the philosophy I had written nor that which I had read seemed to have any particular bearing on my situation.” “Hasn’t anything you’ve read been of any use?” his son persisted. “Yes,” Rorty reports blurting out, “poetry.” He explained:

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Filed under Literature + Two Views on November 2, 2007
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1/ From the cover of the November 2007 Harper’s. Photo by David Graham:

2/ From “The Mission,” in the October 29, 2007 New Yorker. Illustration by Steve Brodner:

1/ From James Fallows’s response to Peter Navarro in the Letters section of the October 2007 Atlantic Monthly:

Readers should certainly read Navarro’s book to see his argument in its full version. The notes section of his book begins, ‘Much of the research conducted for this book was done over the Internet.’ All of the research for my article was done on-scene in factories and trading companies in China.

2/ From Caitlin Flanagan’s response to Mike Males in the Letters section of the October 2007 Atlantic Monthly:

In reporting this essay, I attended an eye-opening presentation at my children’s elementary school.