Category Archives: Poets

James Joyce: The Irish Modernist

Posted on November 22, 2011 by William Holland

Only someone with a classical education can understand what motivated James Joyce, for the modernist within him resisted any neat clarification.  Perhaps Samuel Becket alone was capable of residing in a world inhabited by Joyce.  How else to say it: … Continue reading →

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Fredrick Law Olmstead: Unity Between Landscape, Social Order & Personality Development

Posted on May 31, 2011 by William Holland

The recognized indissoluble unity between geography and personality development is well attested to throughout the West.  The arrival of positivism in the late 17th century created a methodology (the scientific method) that sought to impose on reality the constraints of … Continue reading →

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Coleridge on Faith

Posted on May 20, 2011 by William Holland

The life of Faith is the substantiating principle of all true wisdom, the satisfactory solution of all the contradictions of human nature, of the whole riddle of the world.  This alone belongs to and speaks intelligibly to all alike, the … Continue reading →

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Civilization

Posted on May 16, 2011 by William Holland

John Armstrong is a resident philosopher at Melbourne Business School in Australia, he has written an ambitious book (‘In Search Of Civilization’) that sets out to restore the confidence once reposed in the term ‘Civilization’.  If ever Matthew Arnold had a … Continue reading →

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What Motivated Plato, Aristotle

Posted on July 10, 2010 by William Holland

Its a complete shame that the vast majority of people in the teaching profession suffer personal and intellectual arrested development in that mentors were primarily shaped and informed from a Germanic vision of education.  This meant study of a particular … Continue reading →

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Rawanda, Catholic Prayer, Healing Memories: Immaculee Ilibagiza

Posted on July 9, 2010 by William Holland

Not to long ago a great friend called me to see if I’d go and hear a lecture from a writer who published an account of being held by Hutu opposition in Rawanda during the genocidal slaughter.  I simply was … Continue reading →

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The Domestic Challenge Facing The West

Posted on June 24, 2010 by William Holland

Just what exactly is a culture war? It’s about competing forms of authority, and how they inform and shape human freedom. Today that war is waged within the once sacred, confined domain of the family, sexual ethics, law, technology, even … Continue reading →

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The Dominion Of The Dead: Communion & Its Effects On Architecture

Posted on June 23, 2010 by William Holland

How do the living maintain relations with the dead?  What is at stake when we engage in either personal or social communion?  Do only poets recognize the continuing influence of the dead? Human institutions are founded on places sacred to … Continue reading →

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Lawrence Kaplan

Posted on June 23, 2010 by William Holland

“The sleep of reason breeds monsters.”                                                                     … Continue reading →

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Toni Morrison Commencement Address: On Adulthood & The Limitations Of Desire

Posted on June 16, 2010 by William Holland

“I am sure you have been told that this is the best time of your life.  It may be.  But if it’s true that this is the best time of your life, then you have my condolences.  Because you’ll want … Continue reading →

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