#and that's why neither Robert or Owen mention him

[oldfangirl81]

Fic idea

TK is in LA attending a conference that Buck is also attending. Something happens because they have the worst luck. They end up at Angels Memorial Hospital. TK is very surprised to run into his uncle. He didn't even know the guy was stateside again.

[andersunmenschlich]

Episode 12: First Aid

Another snatched moment hour. Tonight I get the story of one Lesere Seraki, a nurse at St. Thomas Hospital in London.

The story takes place in 2012, two days before Christmas.

Lesere Seraki is working in the Accident and Emergency department that night, and is pleasantly surprised by the absence of fights and angry drunks, which apparently she was expecting. Sounds like the worst they got was some broken bones. It's 1:30 am when the ambulance arrives. They'd radioed ahead to tell Accident and Emergency to expect a couple burn victims (severe burns), so Lesere was ready for that.

Oddly, the waiting room's totally silent.

All the patients are still sitting there doing normal things—looking at phones, reading books, cradling injuries, comforting one another—but without making any sound.

Huh. Now, this makes me wonder. I've got really good hearing, so I can tell you that just because no one's talking doesn't mean a place is silent! The rustle of pages turning, the rasp of skin on paper, the thud of fingertips hitting screens or armrests or table tops (interspersed with the occasional sharp click of a nail), the constant cacophonous rush of air sweeping into and out of noses and mouths....

What does Lesere Seraki mean when she says "the A & E waiting room was totally silent"? Are we talking a supernatural, sound-deadening silence? Or just a normal, noisy, no one making deliberate mouth-noise silence?

She's surprised by it, so I'm inclined to think the silence was supernatural.

But then she says "not one of them spoke," which makes me think it was natural (and not really all that silent).

Whatever the case, the ambulance pulls up and Lesere runs out to help with the first patient. She notes that the doctor (Kaylee Grice) speaks very quietly: not quite a whisper, but near it. No one else seems to notice this, so Lesere concludes she's just having trouble hearing because she's very tired.

Hmm.

I'm often told that I speak very quietly, but from my perspective everyone else speaks far too loudly. They breathe too loudly, too. If there's some kind of something in this episode that's making people be quieter than usual, I think I just might like it, whatever it is. Even if all it's doing is keeping the chatter down, well, I'll take what I can get!

The hospital employees get the first patient to the only available treatment room, and Lesere Seraki gets started while Dr. Grice and the EMTs go back for the other one.

Lesere is 48, and has been a nurse for most of her life.

She's baffled by these burns. They're second-degree, and apparently they cover the patient's entire body—even under the undamaged clothes. Now, that's interesting. In fact, that's fascinating. I wonder what Ivo Lensik (from episode 8) would've looked like if Father Edwin Burroughs hadn't turned up in time. That heat seemed to come from inside him, remember? Wouldn't it be interesting if it only burned him, and didn't touch his clothes?

According to Lesere Seraki, patient one is a tall, heavy-set, athletically built middle-aged male with no hair (possibly it’s all been burned off), wearing a black suit and a white shirt.

Patient two is smaller and younger than patient one (Lesere guesses mid-thirties), and totally fine from the neck up—no burns at all. There's a clear line where the burns stop. This patient (also male) has long hair dyed black, no beard, a similar suit to patient one, and a very nice long black leather coat which Lesere feels bad about destroying.

Well, that is one of the many downsides to getting that badly injured: your clothes can't come off normally, they've got to be cut off.

Neither patient one nor patient two appears to be in any pain, which is weird. No screaming, crying, moaning... it's like they're sleeping peacefully. Well... I suppose if you've got to be horribly burned, dropping into some kind of healing coma wouldn't be a bad reaction, as reactions to that sort of thing go.

Ooh, and patient two is covered in tattooed eyes!

Now, what would make a person want to have tiny eyes tattooed on every joint in their body—knees, elbows, knuckles—and over their heart?

These clearly aren't normal tattoos, either. According to our statement-giver, every last one of them is untouched by burns. In fact they seem to have protected the areas around them a little bit too, in rings about a centimeter wide. Hmm. I wonder if that protection's more than skin deep? Since the heat in episode eight came from inside, I'd definitely expect some damage to have been done to the joints, unless....

Also, patient two reminds me of Kiritsugu. Or Wizard Dresden.

...Jared Keay?

Let me see, that was episode four. That story took place in the winter of 2012, and this story takes place in the winter of 2011, which means (if I'm right) that when Jared Keay stole Dominic Swain's very hot metal trash can... yes.

Dominic was worried that Jared would burn himself on the thing, and Jared "shrugged and said he'd had worse."

Well, this would certainly be worse!

That would also make our covered-in-eyes burn patient the guy who painted the picture of the eye I was so taken with in the study at Pinhole Books.

Is it just me, or are eyes kind of a recurring theme in this show? First there was Graham Folger in episode three, filling notebook after notebook with "keep watching," then there was that eye painting in episode four ("Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call"), then the bullet hole opening "like an eye" in Wilfred Owen's forehead in episode seven, that camera in episode nine (which I'm including mainly because I still don't understand why Robert Montauk was taking pictures he apparently didn't ever expect to be able to develop), and now there's this guy with eye tattoos all over him.

...Heheheh. "Jared Keay has an eye on his ankle...."

[cough] Anyway.

Dr. Kaylee Grice and the EMTs seem to have recovered their ability to speak loudly, which is a shame, and they're talking about what's up with patients one and two, which is wonderful because I really wanted to know.

Seems they were found in a building site near St. Mary's Churchyard, unconscious, by the fire brigade. Someone reported a fire, see... but when the brigade got there, there wasn't any fire. Some scorch marks on the ground, and a metal bar that had apparently been heat-warped (and two people covered in burns), but no actual fire. So they called an ambulance, because what else were they going to do?

Patient one was apparently an alien. Who carries nothing in their pockets? Even I've always got at least one knife.

Patient two was nearly as bad as patient one. Nearly. But not quite. Our long-haired, wizardy-looking friend was carrying 1) a Zippo lighter with (surprise, surprise) an eye on it, and 2) a old passport that identified him as Jared Keay. And apparently Jared Keay's been around!

Funny that the coat was in such good shape. From Lesere's description, it was practically brand new. Man, that's an unfortunate thing to lose.

Apparently he got another one, though.

The EMTs get another call and head out. The nurse and the doctor finish cleaning and bandaging all those full-body burns, then transfer the two to a ward with bed space and move on with the business of the night.

An hour or so later, Lesere Seraki's going to get more gauze, and passes through that ward.

The older burn victim is talking.

Or... chanting, more like. But really, really quietly, and not entirely in English. She says the first word sounded like "a sock" or "a sog," the next word like "veepalatch," and finally, in English, "the lightless flame." I think she might be skipping some words between "veepalatch" and the English, which makes sense—can't expect her to remember the whole thing. Though these statement-givers are usually really good at remembering details! Not to mention writing them well; but that's sort of essential, given that this is a podcast and if they were awful I wouldn't be listening.

"A sog," though... that makes me think of Sumerian mythology. Yeah, I didn't study that too much (I focused more on Greek, Roman, and Norse stuff), but it's ringing a faint bell. Lugal-e? I think there was a villain named Asag.

Yeah, they were some kind of rock troll or something? But with more supernatural powers than we think of stone people as having these days. Lessee, they used the sky for a club, howled like a storm, dried up the water of the mountains, tore trees out of the earth, set fire to the reed-beds, bathed the sky in blood—that kind of thing.

They also had kids, which were all made of different types of stone. Hematite kids, lapis lazuli kids, alabaster kids... all that. Even coal kids. In the end, Ninurta basically annihilates Asag and turns them into a heap of rocks, which gets used to build the underworld and also make some dams, I think, and then he assigns different fates to all the kids based on what they did or didn't do during his fight with Asag. Conveniently, this also lines up with the properties of the rocks. I remember it being a kind of just-so story, explaining why there's stone under the earth and why we use different types of rock for different things.

Don't know why anybody would be chanting about a rock troll, though, so....

Oh, and this chanting starts to make Lesere Seraki feel like Ivo Lensik in episode eight. "I started to feel warm, like there was a fever quickly creeping out towards my skin," she says.

...Whoa, hold up.

She says this isn't the first time she's had this reaction.

Tell me about the other times, Lesere!

And how the heck does taking a moment to center yourself make a supernatural burn-you-up-from-the-inside-out thing stop? There's something going on with this nurse.

She doesn't know what to do about the chanting, though, so she just checks patient one's bandages (they're fine) and carries on with her shift. But when she returns to the main Accident and Emergency reception, there's no one there.

She was just there less than five minutes ago.

Where could everyone possibly have gone? And why? She says there were more than thirty people there, then she steps out to get some gauze and they vanish?

There's no one at the reception desk, even! That can't possibly be right.

So she starts checking rooms, and the only people left are the ones who're too sick to move or hooked up to IVs, and they're all asleep. Which, at three in the morning, is probably what every daytimer wants to be—but they don't wake up when she makes some plausibly deniable attempts to wake them up (loud noises outside their rooms), which makes me think their sleep isn't entirely natural.

Then she hears a sort of growl, and notices that the floor is shaking. She can't figure out where it's coming from, and is getting more and more freaked out by the second.

I don't suppose finding the source calms her down any, because it's one of two vending machines—all the drinks inside it are boiling so violently they're exploding. In half a minute they're all completely wrecked, and the growling sound stops.

She decides to leave.

I think that's a sane decision, under the circumstances. I mean, apparently everyone else has!

But when she gets to the door, she notices that the plastic at each end of the metal handles is a bit... melty. She tests the temperature with the back of her hand (a good thing for checking temperature with), and sure enough—that door is just radiating intense heat.

Well, she's obviously not getting out that way.

On her way to another exit, though, she hears patient one still chanting.

She's so keyed up at this point that she heads in with the incoherent goal of making him stop. No clear idea of how she's going to do it, mind you. She has the vague thought that she'll stick her hand over his mouth.

That... doesn't seem like a great plan to me. I mean, we know things around here have a tendency to be unexpectedly hot right now, don't we?

At least she should check his face like she did the door.

Before she can burn all the skin off her palm, however, somebody grabs her wrist. Somebody with a body temperature notably higher than average. Jared Keay shakes his head at Lesere Seraki, and she screams at him.

Boy, she is all keyed up.

He drops her wrist straightaway and says sorry, it's just touching patient one would have been a bad idea.

He's obviously in horrible pain, but doing his best to hide it, pretend nothing's wrong, and keep functioning. I empathize with that extremely. I think I might like Jared Keay, and not just because he shares my taste in coats.

In any case, the two of them stare at each other awkwardly for a while.

Jared, it seems, is waiting for Lesere to ask him what's going on. I'd quite like her to ask what's going on.

Lesere, however, says "something told me that if there was a coherent explanation for everything that had happened since the ambulance arrived, then I would be no better off for knowing it."

Oh, for Pete's sake!

Who doesn't want information? Simply knowing is useful! Just having the information makes you better off! Sure, you may not want others to know you know, but knowing itself is never a bad thing. As a certain statue says, "Knowledge is the greatest gift." Even if there's nothing you can do about a thing, at least you know!

[sigh]

Well, anyway. There's silence for a while, then Jared asks about his stuff. Apparently he had more than just a lighter and a passport!

He's most interested in a small book bound in red leather and a brass pendant he'd been wearing. Ooh, would that pendant be what protected him from the neck up? And somebody took it. Somebody who didn't finish the burn job after the theft. That's... huh. Well, it's a bit of a weird way to go about a robbery.

Oh.

Lesere Seraki is exceedingly creeped out by Jared Keay.

Apparently she thinks that somebody with second-degree burns over eighty percent of his body shouldn't be standing up and walking around, especially given how much painkiller he's got in him (yeah, he should be awfully woozy).

So there's silence again while Jared processes the fact that his book and his necklace have been stolen and Lesere carries on being spooked.

Then Jared nods at her and limps away.

She follows him, wanting to know what he's doing. What he's doing, apparently, is putting in the code for the supply closet, which frankly he shouldn't know. Oh, and he's stealing a scalpel. ...Oh, and he's going to murder patient one. Well, that's... unexpected.

As a nurse, Lesere Seraki figures she'd better stop him. But stuff around him starts to boil, and so (given this new information), she comes to a different conclusion, and steps aside.

...To which Jared Keay says something that makes no sense.

"Yes. For you... better beholding than the lightless flame."

Ooookey-dokey. Well. Lessee. Patient one was ranting about "the lightless flame," and Jared Keay is clearly obsessed with eyes, so that seems to line up. Hmm. Maybe he's trying to pick a thing to do to Lesere, and he's decided to go with the eye one instead of the burning one. Ugh, but if he can control the burny thing, why's he burned? And using a scalpel instead of whatever's making things around him boil?

Well, whatever.

Jared Keay unwraps the scalpel, mutters a few words, and stabs patient one (who's still chanting) in the neck.

...Ohhh. And this initiates a full-on, flameless, apparently heatless cremation. Okey-dokey. Yup. I take it back—clearly Jared's got a handle on this thing. Even the scalpel gets ashed, which is really handy in terms of disposal of a murder weapon.

He sweeps the ashes into the bedpan and asks Lesere to dispose of them.

As a nurse, she knows where the medical waste bins are. Handy. And as she's walking the corridor, she spots Dr. Grice at the other end. She runs to go check, and sure enough—everybody's back, being just as noisy as she'd expect them to be. She actually cries, she's so relieved.

Jared stays in the hospital for another four days, then his mom comes and gets him, which is a good trick given her death in 2008, but hey, we know what Mary Keay's like.

Oh, and apparently Lesere changed her mind about wanting to know.

Yeah, try talking to him about what happened now, Lesere Seraki, now that everything's back to normal and there are people everywhere. It's too late! You had your chance and you blew it! Argh!

...And now she's just trying not to think about it.

Whee.

All right, I'll admit there are things I try not to think about—but they're things I know, and even though I don't like thinking about them, particularly, I wouldn't unknow them if I could. It's good to know things! You don't have to think about them all the time, but it's good to be able to if you need to! People like this... yeah, I don't understand people like this at all.

Oh, and she says she gets the feeling of being watched when she's alone on the wards. Not threatened, not protected, not judged either positively or negatively: just watched.

So I was right! Jared Keay was deciding which thing to hit her with. Well, well.

Jonathan Sims says Sasha was able to get access to the hospital records for that time, and they back up Lesere Seraki's story. He also says "Asag is the name of a demon in Sumerian mythology associated with disease and corruption," which sounds to me like he's got Asag mixed up with the Asakku, which is quite easy to do since they share the same name, but Asag was one being and the Asakku were many, so....

And then he says something about Asag being "able to boil fish alive in their rivers," which I don't remember from the Lugal-e at all.

The closest thing to that would be, I think, when the hurricane that went before the hero Ninurta "flooded out the fish there in the subterranean waters" and "reduced the animals of the open country to firewood, roasting them like locusts." But that was the hero's doing, not Asag's. Hmm. Ninurta also "caused bilious poison to run over the rebel lands," making sick the people who had turned from him to acknowledge Asag as their ruler.

But, again, that's the hero making people sick, not Asag, so....

I really don't know where Mr. Sims is getting his information here. Though it does make way more sense that patient one would’ve been talking about the Asakku, not Asag! (Yeah, it’s the same name in Sumerian, but different in Akkadian... whatever, it’s language, what’re you gonna do.)

Anyway, he goes on to say that Martin thinks "veepalatch" might be a mishearing of a Polish word which I'm going to use Google to look up: "wypalać."

This seems more reliable than the stuff Jonathan was coming up with earlier. Honestly, my opinion of this Martin is higher than my opinion of our narrator: Martin hasn't shown any signs of being anything but competent and reliable, while Jonathan Sims is, well... he's skeptical and trusting in strange places, let's put it that way.

Mr. Sims says he can't find anything conclusive on "the lightless flame."

He says it crops up in a lot of different contexts throughout various esoteric literatures.

Okay, I call shenanigans. We've been listening to him record this whole time, there've been no clicks, it's not like he took a break to do research and then came back! And we know it's other people who do the pre-reading research, not him.

Come to that, when did he look up "wypalać"?

Well, all right—that one he could look into easily enough on a smartphone. And maybe the podcast editors cut out the pause for Googling because it'd be annoying for listeners. But there's just no way he went through "various esoteric literatures" on his phone! That's just... no. Nope, my suspension of disbelief doesn't go that far.

Ugh. Well, I suppose it might. But I'd prefer to think that all this knowing-stuff-it-shouldn't-be-possible-for-him-to-know nonsense isn't just the result of the podcasting format.

...Which, now that I've put it that way, reminds me of Jared Keay and his knowing the code to the supply closet.

Huh.

Anyway, according to John Tyndall in Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion, if you mix hydrogen with pure oxygen you get pure aqueous vapor. Ignite that, and you get a lightless flame, much hotter than an ordinary flame. Laboratory: A Weekly Record of Scientific Research, Volume 1 says much the same thing: "Though it is clear that the luminosity of certain flames increases with their temperature, we must not forget that hydrogen burns in oxygen with an intensely hot, but almost lightless flame. The hydrogen flame in air has a temperature of 3376° Fahrenheit, but in oxygen it rises to 7364°."

Then, of course, there's The Complete Old English Poems, where there's a Biblical poem about the fallen angels: "They warmed to power and fell into fire / A candling darkness, a lightless flame / A terrible truth dawned on them too late / They traded God's glory for hell's grim fate."

But mostly I'm turning up stuff like this patent thingy—

"The Petitioners are the proprietors of Welsbach's patent, taken out in 1885 for incandescent gas-lighting. Welsbach; instead of using the flame of gas in the ordinary way so that the particles of carbon in the gas produced the light, mixed the gas with air as in a Bunsen burner, and so got a lightless flame with considerable heat; he hung over that a mantle, which became white hot and incandescent, and produced a greater light with the same quantity of gas than could be produced in the old way of incandescent carbon in the gas."

—and other sciency stuff, which I suppose tells you something about my Google search habits.

Never mind that. What I'm saying is: I don't think a smartphone would let Jonathan Sims do the kind of research he's claiming to have done here. It'd take hours in a special library or something.

Mr. Sims says it hasn't escaped his notice that this is the second time Jared Keay has turned up in his tape recordings. He'd like to get a statement from him (and so would I!) but apparently Jared died "late last year," whenever that is. Brain tumor. He holds out hope that Jared might've already given a statement, and it's just hidden in the mess somewhere. I certainly hope so. That ought to be good, assuming it wasn't given before he figured things out.

Lesere Seraki's still alive.

...And she still gets the watched feeling every once in a while, but otherwise everything's normal with her.

Ooh, but Sasha didn't just get access to the hospital admissions and discharge records! She also got access to their CCTV footage! Dang, these "assistants" are awesome. How are they so good at their jobs? These people are amazing.

At 3:11:22, everybody in the Accident and Emergency waiting room (28 people, by Mr. Sims's count) just got up and left. Like it was a fire drill or something (except it wasn't). Then Lesere goes in and out a few times, once stares at something under the camera (which Mr. Sims figures is the vending machine—shame, it would've been cool to have that on camera, assuming the camera was good enough to pick up more than pixelly blurs), and then at 3:27:12 everybody just files back in.

It's video without sound, so verifying that's out.

Oh, well now.

Sasha noticed that at 3:22:52, the feed cuts out and—for less than a second—there's a close-up on a human eye. Yeah, okay, "recurring theme" indeed, you're just rubbing it in our faces now.

This is really cool! I definitely feel like things are starting to come together.

So there's some kind of magical power called beholding, and another one called the lightless flame, and you can use the lightless flame spell to burn people without messing up their clothes (or beds) and boil things and turn doors too hot to touch, and the beholding spell to... make people feel watched? Learn the codes to hospital supply closets?

...Research stuff you obviously couldn't have researched normally?

Hmm.

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 9/16/19 Review

Well, this episode was certainly bad. There was a whole bunch of stupid soap opera stuff in the middle that honestly made this show feel like a cold shit. I normally say that Raw was decent or fine or boring, but I can safely say that this was a real bad one. But it wasn’t without it’s diamonds in the rough. So, if you’re willing to swim through the crap that is the rest of my review, then here it is. If you’re not, then Corey Graves would call you a beta cuck. 

Seth Rollins Promo: Rollins came on out and recapped Clash of Champions. He said that it was neither his nor Strowman’s fault for losing the Raw Tag Team Championships. Then he put Strowman over hard by describing how much it took to keep him down. He then talked about how the Fiend attacked him, and officially accepted his challenge for Hell in a Cell. Wyatt then came on the Titantron, in his usual creepy Firefly Funhouse. Rollins told him that he was messed up and needed help, when Ramblin Rabbit told Rollins that he didn’t know what he was dealing with, and told him to run, before Wyatt punched him. Wyatt then told Rollins that the Fiend does not forget anyone, and maybe he will appear again tonight. As Wyatt signed off, and said “see you in hell.” The music continued to play. 

Grade: B+. I thought this was just shy of great. I loved the inclusion of Ramblin Rabbit, whose storyline I’m honestly more invested in than the Kevin Owens/ Shane McMahon feud. Wyatt was perfectly creepy and threatening, and Rollins looked genuinely concerned about someone attacking him from behind. Rollins is treating Wyatt like a threat, and it was awesome. The more he is treated like a monster, the more he will be perceived as one. If they keep this up, this will be a great feud. Highlight of the night. 

Also, before the next segment, they ran down the card for later on, but the graphics were upside down the entire time. Renee Young pointed it out, which was funny. 

Braun Strowman interview: Strowman said that the only reason he was here was that he was pissed, and would beat up whoever was in in the ring next. 

Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode promo: I guess this was some sort of a summit, because the Revival showed up right away as well. Roode put himself and Ziggler over for winning the tag team championships so soon after becoming a team. However, as they were talking, Braun Strowman came out. The Revival attacked him in the aisle, but he tossed them around with ease. Stromwan then cleared the ring. Roode was actually able to get out of the way unscathed. 

Grade: C. I wasn’t a huge fan of this, because I don’t see what it did. I still don’t know where Strowman will go from here, and he beat down three of the four tag team champions. In terms of action it was fine and kinda exciting, but I don’t really know where this is going. I’m not going to rate it lower because this could be the start of the story, but right now I don’t know what is happening. 

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross backstage: They kinda made fun of both Mandy Rose and Sasha Banks. They then put over their tag team titles, and said that they are very important, sorta as a counter to Banks crapping all over them a few weeks ago. That was it. 

Cedric Alexander & The Viking Raiders vs. The OC: AJ Styles started things out with Alexander, and the two layed into each other in the corner right then the match started. Alexander tagged in Erik, who kneed Styles in the face, before Styles tagged out to Karl Anderson. The Viking Raiders then teamed up on him a bit, but Luke Gallows quickly tagged in to duel with Erik. Erik was then beaten down by the OC after Styles threw him into the barricade. Ivar got the hot tag after the commercial break and beat down the whole OC. Alexander then nailed a springboard clothesline to Anderson for a near fall. However, Styles then tagged in, nailed him with the Phenomenal forearm to win the match.

After the match, the OC continued the attack. Ivar destroyed Anderson, Gallows and Erik with a senton off the top. Styles then went for something on Alexander off the top, but Alexander met him there. Alexander went for a rana, but Styles caught him and nailed the Styles Clash off the second rope. 

Grade: C+. Fine match with fine action. But this didn’t really forward much of a storyline other than the Viking Raiders vs. The Good Brothers, which will have to happen eventually. Styles pinned Alexander again, so that feud is done, and we will need a new challenger for Styles. But this match didn’t really do a bunch for me and was too short to really get going. It ended as it was picking up, so not awesome. 

24/7 shenanigans: Truth and Carmella visited the Women’s basketball hall of fame. Truth joked a bunch, it was funny. Then Kane showed up, because they are in Tennessee. They joked about it, but turns out Kane wasn’t in character. He just called himself Glenn Jacobs, and offered Truth a tour around. This is not over!

Baron Corbin vs. Chad Gable in the finals of the 2019 King of the Ring: this was done up all pretty with official announcing and such, but it was still on in the first hour. As things started up, Gable tried to go for some technical exchanges, which Corbin was having none of. Gable eventually forced his way to the mat, and tried to power up Corbin for some suplexes, but he couldn’t get him up and took control away. The two fought to the outside, and Gable charged at Corbin, only to eat a huge back body drop into the timekeeper’s area. When we came back to the ring, Gable barely beat a countout. Corbin continued to absolutely destroyed Gable with strikes, including a huge big boot to stifle a comeback. At one point, Gable locked in an armbar over the ropes, but Gable just picked him up and powerbombed him back into the ring. Gable did a great job of selling the fact that he was desperate, and at one point was able to pick the ankle, only for Corbin to post himself. Gable then followed up with a missile dropkick, and several running flip kicks, until Corbin popped him up into a slam for a near fall. Corbin then took the fight to the outside, where Gable dodged a shoulder tackle that sent Corbin into the steel steps. Gable then rolled Corbin into the ring and started to target the leg a bit, only for Corbin to stop him dead in his tracks with a deep six for a near fall. Corbin then went for his around the post clothesline, but Gable dodged it and nailed the Chaos Theory, only for Corbin to kick out. They then scrambled a bit, with Gable baely able to pick the ankle. There was a tense submission sequece, with table even locking up the leg, only for Corbin to still force the break. They then battled a bit in the corner, and Gable went for a running flip kick again, only for Corbin to twirl him around his body and hit the End of Days for the win.

After the match, Corbin posed near the throne. They didn’t even give him time to put on the props. 

Grade: B. It almost made it to a B+, but I couldn’t get it there. There wasn’t enough back and forth early on in the match for it to get there, but the finish was really really good. Gable had just enough comebacks to keep things interesting. Corbin beat him down at every turn, so those moments when he nearly won were really good. The Chaos Theory looked awesome, and the ankle lock actually got me a bit. And of course that tilt a whirl finish looked super cool, so I can’t complain. Corbin did a good job in this tournament, so all hail King Corbin. 

Maria Kanellis Gender Reveal party: The Street Profits were hosting this for some reason. Maria said it was a boy, and then that it was Ricochet’s. Ricochet did some sitcom BS to not actually confirm that the kid isn’t his. Mike Kanellis slapped him and challenged him to a match. Then Titus O’Neil and the Street Profits made a bunch of sex jokes. This was stupid but kinda funny.

Mike Kanellis vs. Ricochet: Ricochet was a bit apprehensive about fighting Kanellis, but Kanellis insisted. Ricochet then beat him down with all of his signature offense and won with Recoil. 

Grade: D+. What was this? Why Was this? Who decided they should do this? And for a nothing filler match? They could’ve taken the time from the party and added it to the match to give them some time for a nice match. I’m giving this a pretty low grade, but no F or anything because I did think it was kinda funny, although ultimately pointless. Ricochet is a dad, and I’m sure Kacy Catanzaro is thrilled. 

Firefly Funhouse: Bray Wyatt put up pictures of all the people that he destroyed as the Fiend, and then left the Funhouse. Ominous. 

Maria Kanellis being mean to Mike: After the commercial, Maria came out and yelled at Mike a whole bunch in an attempt to motivate him. She said that Ricochet wasn’t the father, but it was Rusev. So this was Rusev’s big return. Mike tried to stop him from beating his ass, and just congratulated him and tried to run away. Rusev ran him down and kicked his ass. Also, Corey Graves called Kanellis a beta cuck. 

Mike Kanellis vs. Rusev: Rusev hit the Machka kick, and tapped Kanellis out to the Acolayde. During this time, Michael Cole was being a dick to Renee Young about her mentioning the match was underway, and she said she was mansplaining. 

Grade: F. Yeah, this was only funny because the commentators had to talk about this as it was happening. Rusev is married, which is something that they actually mentioned on commentary, and this is the worst story for him to come back to. Why did Mike need to lose twice? Ugh, I hope to God he goes back down to NXT, because while this was funny all around him, all the stuff with him in it was just sad. Even Michael Cole called him a loser. This is bad

24/7 Shenanigans cont: Truth and Jacobs visited a football stadium. They talked a bit, and Truth was being dumb and weird. A cop then popped up, but turns out he was a ref. Truth tried to run away, and ran right into the goal post. Glenn Jacobs pinned him and won the championship. Pretty funny, but this was a crazy ass second hour. 

Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro: Before the match started, Cesaero crapped on Mysterio’s kid, and they brawled a bit. Cesaro was absolutely beating down Mysterio for a while after showing some great offense, and we cut to commercial in the middle of it. Cesaro continued to destroy Rey, and at one time caught Mysterio out of a 619 and dropped Mysterio on his knee for a near fall. Mysterio then hit the 619, and tried for a flying rana to close things out, but Cesaro caught him, only for Mysterio to hit a sunset flip powerbomb for the win. 

Grade: B-. Above average B- match, but there wasn’t a lot of back and forth for me. The action was still good enough to be a positive, but I was mostly just happy to have a good match after all that crap. 

Firefly Funhouse again: Bray put up Rollins’ picture, and things were creepy. 

AOP Video Package: It’s sure as hell been a while since they’ve been shown on TV. They demanded competition, called the WWE Tag Division soft, and threatened to take the opportunities that were owed to them. They need a mouthpiece.

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks: Bayley and Bliss started things out, and Bliss quickly took control by giving Bayley and Banks a somersault sneton to the outisde, seeming to irritate her leg. Cross soon tagged in and got beat up. As she was about to tag Bliss, Bayly dragged Bliss off the apron and started to viciously assault her leg. Bliss looked to be very hurt, but then they cut to commercial. As we came back from commercial, Cross was desperately fighting a two on battle, and looking pretty good as she did. She was absolutely wild in her offense, and was actually able to beat down the champions by herself for a bit. Bayley fought back against her foe, but Cross refused to let up. Cross even hit a hangman’s swinging neckbreaker on Bayley, but Banks broke it up. Banks then tagged herself in and locked in the Bank Statement for the win. 

After the match, Banks was going to beat down Cross with a chair, but Becky Lynch ran down to make the save. Her and Banks fought with the chairs, until Bayley ran in to help Banks. Charlotte then showed up, and Bayley ran at her, only to eat a big boot and some chair shots. Back in the ring, Lynch gave Banks some chair shots, and Charlotte and Lynch stood tall together, but warily.

Grade: C. This was an odd match, with Bliss being carted out in the middle for an injury that may or may not be legit. But Cross looked pretty good fighting alone, but it was pretty much just a random match to give Lynch someone to save. Also, if the Boss n’ Hug connection don’t get a match for the Tag Team Titles, then I will riot. They beat the champions, they get a shot. 

Sasha Banks Backstage:  She just said that she challenges Lynch to a rematch at Hell in Cell. They didn’t confirm the stip, but it’ll probably be a Hell in a Cell. 

24/7 Shenanigans: Glenn Jacobs got out of a limo, and Truth hopped off the top of the limo and pinned him. Then they talked about how Monday Night Raw was Jacobs’ home, and they walked in together. 

Becky Lynch backstage: Lynch said that Banks wanted a fight, but she wasn’t willing to step her game up. So Lynch escalated things, and challenged her to a Hell in a Cell match. Super into this, very excited. 

Lacy Evans vs. Dana Brooke: Evans attacked before the bell, which made Brooke super mad so they beat into each other. Evans quickly fought back into the match and hit some of her signature offense. Evans quickly hit the Woman’s Right, but she didn’t make the pin. Instead, she locked in the sharpshooter, and called out Natalya as she did. Brooke tapped out.

Grade: C+. Squash squash squash. Loved to see Brooke though!

Robert Roode vs. Seth Rollins: The two started out with some chain wrestling, before picking things up. Rollins destroyed Roode with a series of fast paced strikes and kicks, but Roode took him down with a vicious knee to the gut. At one point, Rollins was going to go for a suicide dive, but Ziggler hopped up on the apron to stop him. However, that didn’t half Rollins’ momentum, until Roode gave Rollins a forearm to the outside, and then Ziggler hit him with one of his own to give Roode control. Roode continued to maintain control, until Rollins countered a spinebuster into a Falcon Arrow for a near fall. In the finish, Rollins slipped out of a superplex to deliver a buckle bomb, superkick to the stomach, and then a stomp, only for Ziggler to break it up and give Rollins the win by DQ. 

Rollins and Ziggler brawled after the match, when the OC all ran down to help in the beatdown. He ate a magic killer, a Styles Clash and a Superkick. Then they continued to stomp on him, but Kane came out and beat everyone down. He gave Gallows and Anderson and Styles chokeslams. But after he cleared the ring, the lights slowly went out, the Fiend showed up once again and took Kane down with the mandible claw. Then he cradled a basically unconscious Rollins. The show ended with a demonic and long rendition of the Firefly Fun House song.

Grade: B. The match was good, not really spectacular. But the post match beatdown was fun, and Bray Wyatt showing up to beat down Kane was great. This is what should’ve happened last week with Austin and Taker. Cradling Rolllins was super creepy, and then a rendition of the Firefly Fun House Song to close it out. A hell of a way to close out Raw. 

Overall Grade: C

Pros: opening promo; KOTR final; main event

Cons: Random Strowman attack; all the baby stuff; women’s tag; 

[placetobenation]

Talk about your busy week in the WWE! Start off with a signature PPV in Hell in a Cell, the final Monday Night RAW before the WWE Draft, night two of the Wednesday Night Wars for NXT and draft night on Friday Night Smackdown. Plus, throw in a Friday afternoon presser from Las Vegas for a huge two-match announcement for The Crown Jewel. There’s a lot to get through, so let’s get to it!

Overall, a solid week around the WWE. But here’s something that I see is getting lost. Emotion and details. Yes, the WWE is built on sports entertainment so sometimes the pure emotional side of pro wrestling gets lost for what the WWE might see as the greater good. For instance, the main event at Hell in a Cell basically gets thrown away with a DQ/stoppage that should’ve never happened between Seth Rollins and The Fiend. And yet, instead of addressing it on RAW, it’s buried and not even mentioned until the final third hour.

Fast forward to the Las Vegas presser. Watching it LIVE, it was a snoozer. Sure, announcing Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velaszquez for The Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia is a big deal. Yet, it fell flat with no real fans in the crowd and just the participants, led by Michael Cole and Triple H, talking from a podium. Missed opportunity to be creative there.

LESNAR. VELASQUEZ. Will history repeat itself when @BrockLesnar defends his #WWEChampionship against @cainmma at #WWECrownJewel? #SmackDown @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/v2MTi3IsFw

— WWE (@WWE) October 12, 2019

It’s probably partially the reason why AEW is beating NXT on Wednesday nights (1.1 million viewers to nearly 800,000 this week on TNT and USA Network respectively). The in-ring matches on NXT are fabulous, probably better than AEW. Yet, we need the emotional tie-in and the storyline to go with it. Why is WALTER facing Kushida in the main event? Awesome match, but for the mainstream fans to grab hold, they need to be told why. And that’s not on Mauro Ranallo and crew. They are fabulous calling the match. It’s a macro-view that needs to be embraced and hopefully will moving forward.

Think out of the box! Use Bayley as the example. Her heel turn has been fabulous. Well told and executed! And judging from Smackdown’s ratings, down to 2.9 million viewers from last week’s 4.2 million viewers in its premiere on FOX. Neither the network nor the WWE can be thrilled with that number considering it was a highly promoted draft episode. But then again, it was the #1 show of the night on broadcast television in the 18-49 demo.

Hell in a Cell PPV

RESULTS:

Natalya defeated Lacey Evans (Kickoff Show)

Raw Women’s Title Hell in a Cell Match: Champion Becky Lynch defeated Sasha Banks (submission)

Tornado Tag Team Match: Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan defeated Luke Harper & Erick Rowan

Randy Orton defeated Ali @ 12:10

WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match: The Kabuki Warriors defeated Champions Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross

The Viking Raiders & Braun Strowman defeated The OC (DQ)

Chad Gable defeated King Corbin

Smackdown Women’s Title Match: Charlotte defeated Champion Bayley (submission)

WWE Universal Title Hell in a Cell Match: The Fiend defeated Champion Seth Rollins (referee stoppage)

What we loved: Bravo Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks! That’s the way you kick off a PPV inside a Hell in a Cell. Storytelling, physicality and use of weapons were all well done! Neither women is hurt by this one.

The Kabuki Warriors get over! The rebuilding of Asuka continues as she gets a title to add to her portfolio. There’s enough here to build up a feud right through Survivor Series!

What we hated: What in the blue hell was up with that ending in the main event! Talk about killing the buzz to everyone involved! You bury the fans with a ref stoppage/DQ ending that left the folks in the arena chanting for refunds and “AEW.” Not something the WWE wants to hear after an awesome week leading into the PPV. You bury Seth Rollins by rendering his finishers useless. You bury The Fiend by not having him win. What was the point of the match if you (the WWE) didn’t want him to win or lose? YIKES!

No Kevin Owens. No Kofi Kingston. No New Day. It just seemed like the WWE put this together as the day went along with only three matches announced before the weekend.

Monday Night RAW

RESULTS

Last Woman Standing Match: Natalya defeated Lacey Evans

Non-Title Match: The Viking Raiders defeated RAW Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode

Aleister Black defeated The Singhs

The OC defeated Lucha House Party

Non-Title Match: Champions The Kabuki Warriors defeated Becky Lynch & Charlotte

Ricochet defeated Apollo Crews

What we loved:

Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman – we had to wait three hours for the payoff with some fisticuffs in the ring, but it sure got the attention of everyone, making both guys look strong.

More Kabuki Warriors! The green mist returns on back-to-back nights to do in the Champions. The Champions Showcase raised the level of everyone and included a run-in by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to keep that feud engaged. Well done!

The OC didn’t lose!

What we hated:

Completely ignoring the Hell in a Cell PPV main event between The Fiend and Seth Rollins. I get it that Wyatt wasn’t cleared medically reportedly, but to not even mention it until the third hour of the show is ridiculous. The absurd ending made it imperative it gets addressed early in the show with some sort of explanation.

I’m all for giving folks a chance to be on TV, but the Singhs, Lucha House Party and Apollo Crews vs. Ricochet on a RAW after a PPV? They made up half of the matches on the card! Gotta be more creative than that although I’ll give Ricochet and Crews props for at least making it a little fun.

NXT

RESULTS:

Cruiserweight Title Match: Lio Rush defeated Champion Drew Gulak

Rhea Ripley defeated Aliyah (submission)

Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake defeated Tyler Breeze and Fandango

Cameron Grimes defeated Boa

Non-Title Match: Champion Roderick Strong defeated Isaiah Scott (submission)

Bianca Belair defeated Dakota Kai

Non-Title Match: Champion WALTER defeated KUSHIDA

What we loved:

Main event delivers! WALTER and the Imperium is mad over. I’m sure eventually down the line, they’ll mix it up with The Undisputed ERA. But not yet. Give it time.

Solid matches with no B.S. – it’s not just the tag line. The matches deliver without the fluff. The question will be is the perception vs. AEW and if people hang around to keep the ratings up.

The build for Tomasso Ciampa. I’m glad they are rushing him back to the ring. Mixing it up with Adam Cole and then a backstage mix-up with Angel Garza to set up a match next Wednesday is the way to do it.

What we hated:

Nothing. No intense dislike for this week. A very solid show. Now, could we have done without the naked belt picture of Roderick Strong? Sure, but it was mildly funny. Plus, that’s the entertaining part of the Velveteen Dream, who gets to take on Strong again for the North American Title in two weeks.

Meh:

Congratulations @itsLioRush … #ANDNEW NXT Cruiserweight Champion.@WWENXT Pound for pound, No one better. pic.twitter.com/hO4xTUbyCR

— Triple H (@TripleH) October 10, 2019

While it was a very good match, Lio Rush gets redemption as NXT Cruiserweight Champion. Now, his run with Bobby Lashley on RAW was annoying, it’s nice to see him get a second chance. But for me, he doesn’t much move the needle yet. Here’s hoping that changes with this latest opportunity.

Looking ahead and looking forward to Damian Priest vs. Pete Dunne!

Smackdown

RESULTS:

Part 1 of the two-night WWE Draft: Drafted to Raw * Becky Lynch * The O.C. (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows) * Drew McIntyre * Randy Orton * Ricochet * Bobby Lashley * Alexa Bliss * Kevin Owens * Natalya * The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) * Nikki Cross * The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)

Drafted to Smackdown * Roman Reigns * Bray Wyatt * Sasha Banks * Braun Strowman * Lacey Evans * The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) * Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, & Kalisto) * Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker)

Roman Reigns defeats Seth Rollins via DQ when The Fiend interferes to win first pick in the draft

King Corbin defeats Shorty Gable

The New Day defeats The OC (Kofi Kingston pins AJ Styles)

Title Match: Bayley regains the Smackdown Women’s Championship defeating Charlotte Flair

What we loved: More Shorty Gable! Sure, three times King Corbin vs. Gable might be too much, but the Shorty sparkplug is entertaining as hell! Give me more!

Kofi Kingston gets the pin over AJ Styles. After a 10 second Title loss on the debut of Friday Night Smackdown on FOX last week, Kofi gets a little juice back with the clean win.

"Screw ALL OF YOU!"

@itsBayleyWWE isn't your girl anymore, @WWEUniverse. #SmackDown #AndNew pic.twitter.com/grDRwIOOg1

— WWE (@WWE) October 12, 2019

Bayley’s new look and a title win! DID NOT SEE THAT COMING! Heel rule #4. You have to get a new outfit and new look. The former hugger did that in spades along with chopping down her inflatable fanbase. Add in a regained championship and the night Is complete! Outstanding move! We LOVE the new Bayley!

What we hated: The process of the draft. Having Stephanie McMahon just announce the picks with no reaction from any of the superstars left a lot to be desired. Takes the emotion out of it. While we liked tying in Troy Aikman and the NFL on FOX Thursday & Sunday crew was a nice touch, the “war room” reactions got tiring after the second look-in. Plus, Michael Cole should’ve reinforced that Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair, Seth Rollins amongst others couldn’t get drafted until Monday night. I’m sure there were plenty of people who were wondering why the Lucha House Party got drafted before three of the WWE Champions. It’s all in the details people!

Thanks for letting us share my thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear you comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots and Red Sox fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you…. NEW ENGLAND!

[emmagreen1220-blog]

New Post has been published on Literary Techniques

New Post has been published on https://literarytechniques.org/allusion-in-poetry/

Allusion in Poetry

Allusion is so often used by modern authors that it has become rather difficult to read their works in the absence of annotations. However, as you will see in the 10 examples below, it has been a favorite literary device of poets for many centuries past—especially of the ones who wanted to add some depth to their poems. Judging by the length of our clarifications—they most certainly did!

10 Examples of Allusion in Poetry

Example #1: Actium · Egypt’s Queen

Through cloudless skies, in silvery sheen, Full beams the moon on Actium‘s coast: And on these waves, for Egypt’s queen, The ancient world was won and lost.

And now upon the scene I look, The azure grave of many a Roman; Where stern Ambition once forsook His wavering crown to follow woman.

– Lord George Gordon Byron, “Stanzas Written in Passing the Ambracian Gulf” 1-8 (1809)

Egypt’s queen is, of course, Cleopatra—but that’s only one of the few interrelated allusions these two stanzas are thickened with, the identification of which is a prerequisite to understanding the whole poem. “The ancient world was won and lost” for her, because it was her beauty that incited one of Rome’s three heads of state, Marc Antony, to side with Cleopatra and wage a war against his fellow-ruler, Octavian, to whose sister he was married. Actium was the site where Octavian won the decisive victory over Antony and Cleopatra; legend holds it that this happened only after Mark Antony steered his ship away from the battle—thus, causing confusion among his soldiers—with an intention to console the distraught and fleeing Cleopatra. And even “stern Ambition” is an allusion here, in this case to Shakespeare’s famous line “Ambition should be made of sterner stuff,” uttered by none other than Marc Antony in his funeral oration in the third act of Shakespeare’s 1599 tragedy, Julius Caesar (III.2.93)!

Example #2: Belial

Or my scrofulous French novel On gray paper with blunt type! Simply glance at it, you grovel Hand and foot in Belial‘s gripe.

– Robert Browning, “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister” VIII.1-4 (1842)

Belial is a Hebrew compound word which etymologically means “no thriving,” or, simpler, “without value,” “worthless.” Mentioned 27 times in the Bible, at a later date, this common noun came to designate a personification of wickedness and evil, the archetypal demon, Satan—as evidenced by this verse from The New Testament: “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). Milton uses it in this latter sense, describing the demon Belial as “than whom a Spirit more lewd / Fell not from Heaven” (Paradise Lost I.490-491), as does Browning’s Spanish monk in the excerpt above, fearing that a mere glance at a decadent French novel would put him under the spell of the Devil.

Example #3: Dulce et Decorum Est

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

– Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” 25-28 (1920)

These are the closing lines of Wilfried Owen’s famous anti-war poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est” written shortly before he was killed in the final week of the First World ar. Owen’s poem describes the horrors of a gas attack, and ends with an ironic twist on an oft-quoted verse by ancient Roman poet Horace; this can be roughly translated from Latin as “How sweet and honourable it is to die for one’s country” (Odes III.2.13). Alluding once again to Horace, Ezra Pound made the irony even more explicit in Hugh Selwyn Mauberley: “Died some, pro patria, non ‘dulce’ non ‘et decor’” (I.4.10), i.e. they died, for their country, neither beautifully nor with honours.

Example #4: Dust to Dust

Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.

– Henry Wadsforth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life” 5-8 (1839)

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” a phrase taken from the Book of Common Prayer and frequently spoken at funeral services, originates, unsurprisingly, from the Bible, where it appears in various different forms in Genesis, Job, and Isaiah. The most famous one—”for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19)—is alluded to almost verbatim in the second stanza of Longfellow’s optimistic “Psalm of Life.” According to the poet, though the sentence may be true for the body, it is not for the soul; so, “let us, then, be up and doing” he invitingly summons us in the final stanza, “with a heart for any fate.”

Example #5: If Thy Right Eye Offend Thee

If it chance your eye offend you, Pluck it out, lad, and be sound: ‘Twill hurt, but here are salves to friend you, And many a balsam grows on ground.

And if your hand or foot offend you, Cut it off, lad, and be whole; But play the man, stand up and end you, When your sickness is your soul.

– A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad XLV (1896)

Staying with the Bible: the first two verses of this brief but highly personal and painful Housman’s poem refer to Matthew 5:29. Specifically, to the King James Version: “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” However, Housman was a homosexual, which, according to the Bible, is a sickness of the soul; as far as he can see, the only solution in his case—lest he wants to cast into hell—would be a suicide.

Example #6: Hippocrene

O for a beaker full of the warm South Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene, With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, And purple-stained mouth; That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim.

– John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” II.5-10 (1819)

Supposedly created when Pegasus—another symbol of poetic creativity—dug his hooves into the ground, Hippocrene was the spring of inspiration, flowing on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, which, appropriately, was believed to be the home of the Muses, the inspirational goddesses. In the verses above (and those which precede them), Keats skillfully compares Hippocrene’s powers with the powers of Southern wines—apparently, both can help one forget his problems and “leave the world unseen.”

Example #7: Midas Touch

So twenty years, with their hopes and fears and smiles and tears and such, Went by and left me long bereft of hope of the Midas touch.

– Robert Service, “The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike” 14-15 (1909)

After entertaining the lost satyr Silenus for ten days and bringing him back to his foster son, Dionysius, on the eleventh day, Midas was granted by the grateful wine-god one wish. He asked that everything he might touch should turn into gold. The gift soon developed into a curse when Midas realized that even his food and drink turned to gold at his touch; however, the phrase “Midas touch”—or, alternatively, “golden touch”—has mainly positive connotations, and is used to describe someone’s ability to turn everything into a success.

Example #8: Pierian Spring

A little learning is a dang’rous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism 218-219 (1711)

Just like Hippocrene above, the Pierian spring of Macedonia was sacred to the Muses, and, thus, was considered a source of knowledge and memory. Many ancient writers mention it, but the above two verses by Pope are the ones which made it famous. They imply that far worse than knowing nothing is knowing something: the former is easily discernible, but the latter is not, making it a pretty “dangerous thing.” If you want to learn why, google for Dunning-Kruger effect, which, in layman terms, is sometimes justly described as “the confident idiot” syndrome.

Example #9: Priscian · Pegasus

Some free from rhyme or reason, rule or check, Break Priscian’s head and Pegasus’s neck.

– Alexander Pope, The Dunciad III.155-156 (1728)

Alexander Pope’s poetry is so allusive and dense with classical references that we had to include him twice in our list. Here, he uses two striking metaphors in the second verse of the couplet above to reiterate the things said in the first one. Priscianus Caesariensis—or Priscian, for short—was a Latin grammarian and the author of the standard textbook of Latin during the Middle Ages; Pegasus, on the other hand, is a winged horse who often symbolizes the power of inspiration and poetry. Thus, breaking Priscian’s head means breaking the rules of grammar; and breaking Pegasus’s neck would lead to terminating your flight on the wings of inspiration and plummeting earthward instead.

Example #10: Scarlet Sin

When I am dead, I hope it may be said: ‘His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.’

– Hilaire Belloc, “On His Books” (1925)

The phrase “scarlet sin” comes from a Bible verse describing the immeasurable scope of divine forgiveness: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). By implication, a “scarlet sin” is the worst kind of sin, one that, just like the colour scarlet, is easily perceptible even at a first glance. The ones who want to get even more specific, deem only adultery and prostitution as scarlet sins, probably because of the description of The Great Harlot in The Book of Revelation (17:3-4): she sits upon a “scarlet-coloured beast” and is “arrayed in purple and scarlet.” Now, we don’t know exactly which sins Belloc has in mind in this premature epitaph, but he obviously cares about them being known to others less than he does about his books being read after his death. (Worry not, Hilaire: they are!)