/lit/ - Literature

>>20335381
myanonamouse

A Poisoned Tree
>I was angry with my friend;
>I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
>I was angry with my foe:
>I told it not, my wrath did grow.

>And I waterd it in fears,
>Night & morning with my tears:
>And I sunned it with smiles,
>And with soft deceitful wiles.

>And it grew both day and night.
>Till it bore an apple bright.
>And my foe beheld it shine,
>And he knew that it was mine.

>And into my garden stole,
>When the night had veild the pole;
>In the morning glad I see;
>My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
What did Blake mean by this?

Kripke perhaps

Conspicuous absence of a particular school of Chinese philosophy.

>>16452187
Also not a Muslim, but these were my favourites when i read it.
Surah 2:15-21
>God is mocking them, and allowing them more slack to wander blindly in their insolence. They have bought error in exchange for guidance, so their trade reaps no profit, and they are not rightly guided. They are like people who [labour to] kindle a fire: when it lights up everything around them, God takes away all their light, leaving them in utter darkness, unable to see-
deaf, dumb, and blind: they will never return. Or [like people who, under] a cloudburst from the sky, with its darkness, thunder, and lightning, put their fingers into their ears to keep out the thunderclaps for fear of death- God surrounds the disbelievers. The lightning almost snatches away their sight: whenever it crashes on People, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, so that you may be mindful [of Him]

Surah 13:12-15
>It is He who shows you the lightning, inspiring fear and hope; He builds up the clouds heavy with rain; the thunder sounds His praises, as do the angels in awe of Him; He sends thunderbolts to strike whoever He will. Yet still they dispute about God- He has mighty plans. The only true prayer is to Him: those they pray to besides Him give them no answer any more than water reaches the mouth of someone who simply stretches out his hands for it- it cannot do so: the prayers of the disbelievers are all in vain. All that are in heaven and earth submit to God alone, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the mornings and in the evenings.

Surah 18:109
>Say [Prophet], ‘If the whole ocean were ink for writing the words of my Lord, it would run dry before those words were exhausted’- even if We were to add another ocean to it.

Surah 81:1-29
>When the sun is shrouded in darkness, when the stars are dimmed, when the mountains are set in motion, when pregnant camels are abandoned, when wild beasts are herded together, when the seas boil over, when souls are sorted into classes, when the baby girl buried alive is asked for what sin she was killed, when the records of deeds are spread open, when the sky is stripped away, when Hell is made to blaze and Paradise brought near: then every soul will know what it has brought about. I swear by the planets that recede, move, and hide, by the night that descends, by the dawn that softly breathes: this is the speech of a noble messenger, who possesses great strength and is held in honour by the Lord of the Throne––he is obeyed there and worthy of trust. Your companion is not mad: he did see him on the clear horizon. He does not withhold what is revealed to him from beyond. This is not the word of an outcast devil. So where are you [people] going? This is a message for all people; for those who wish to take the straight path. But you will only wish to do so by the will of God, the Lord of all people.

>>16335089
hey, maybe haikus can be good after all...

>>16157232
>as nothing to do with their number and everything to do with factors such as ethnic, religious, ideological, linguistic, geographic, historical, cultural, and, placed last because it is the least durable, *practical* commonality.
I'm not sure what you mean by practical commonality, but i would not consider much of the above agnostic of population size. The larger the population, the more diverse and divergent all of these are likely to be and become. I'm also not sure if that is meant to be an ordering, but if it is i disagree with the placements.
>a dedicated political class, termed by those of the right as the "deep state."
The deep state is just the state bureaucracy. They have little to say about what is done, but how it is done. It's true they have a bit more influence than that insofar as civil servants often suggest and draft policies for representatives, but they aren't the decision makers.
>there exists a press and academia who, materially speaking, are not all that different from the aristocrats of old who floated on the labor of slaves to lofty heights sufficient to contemplate important ideas.
They are wage-labourers themselves, they vary significantly materially from old aristocrats. They also aren't the sole political decision makers. I don't think this is a useful comparison.
>Why, then, is the American republic in worse shape institutionally
I'm not American and i don't suppose to be able to diagnose the cause of every ill befalling the country. But, from the outside it looks like the institutions of the republic are as strong as ever; the courts still operate successfully, the state can still effectively collect taxes, the army is still effective and loyal, i know of no major problems with any specific governmental agency. There's a lot of hot air, but the nation seems to have puttered along the same as ever in the last few years. And how much of the catastrophe merely apparent?
If anything, the problems seem extra-institutional.

Oh, Comedy? Try Aristophanes' Lysistrata or The Frogs