In a Glass, Darkly
‘THERE is no doubt, te my mind, that second sight exists. Granting this, however, it is not clear why, more often
than not, the shape of the future comes wrapped up in poetic figures, metaphors and dark ways of saying things. In 3ZB’s Prophecy, why did the monseigneur who foresaw the death of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria gee most of it in terms of coats of arms, a hand writing on paper and other images which are much more the stuff of literature than of day to day communications? When the Winchester schoolboy, in another episode, foretold three deaths including his own, why were they not given in plain statements instead of "When the first may fly is seen on the (river) Itchen," on the stroke of the hour of ten, and a "sennight" after a certain event? Is it simply that this way of knowing and feeling events is more real, gives them more value; that while the bald or abstract statement may suit the impersonal chronicle, personal events involve us in the basic poetry of life and death for which no language but this will do?
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540219.2.21.5
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 761, 19 February 1954, Page 10
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192In a Glass, Darkly New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 761, 19 February 1954, Page 10
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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