Orson Scott Card has weighed in with his review of Deathly Hallows over at his official website. This comes under his category of "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything."
I was happy to see how much he loves it, though not surprised. There are no new, deep insights into the work itself, but it's a review worth reading because he makes interesting speculations on where Rowling's career might go from here (speculations I think only another popular and published writer can make) and also takes on the literary elitists at places like the New York Times, whom he thinks (and I agree) have really missed the boat on Rowling's literary achievement here.
One observation he made, which just hadn't hit me in a long time, is that this was Rowling's first piece of published fiction. Amazing to consider, isn't it?
He thinks she will go back and write more stories from the wizarding world eventually...though no time soon. I'm not surprised he thinks so, given how many times he has gone back and re-visited Ender's world, and in how many ways he's explored that...even exploring the "shadow" world and the "shadow" character of the exact same story when he wrote "Ender's Shadow." More on that in another post, as I find myself wanting to explore "Harry's Shadow" a bit...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Favorite Lines in CoS
"I want more bacon." - Dudley, 2
"You've forgotten the magic word. ... I meant 'please'!" - Harry, 2
"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there." - Harry, 6
"You can't have met many decent wizards." - Harry, 14
"Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew..." - Dobby, 15
"Friends who don't evern write to Harry Potter?" - Dobby, 18
"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick, but we feel they''re skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow." - Fred, 26
"THAT RUDDY OWL!" - Vernon, 27
"Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a saber-toothed tiger." - Rowling, 32
"Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face..." - Arthur, 38
"Did you really? Did it go all right? I - I mean, that - that was very wrong, boys - very wrong indeed..." - Arthur, 39
"This is the best house I've ever been in." - Harry, 41
"Fascinating! Ingenious, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic." - Arthur, 42
"Really? Were there escapators?" - Arthur, 47
"But you're Muggles! We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!" - Arthur, 57
"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy." - Arthur, 62
"Can you believe our luck? Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get the one that hits back." - Ron, 76
"This wasn't the first time Snape had given Harry the impression of being able to read minds." - Rowling, 79
"Snape looked as though Christmas had been cancelled." - Rowling, 81
"Harry, Harry, Harry." - Lockhart, 90
"But when I was twelve, I was just as much of a nobody as you are now. In fact, I'd say I was even more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven't they? All that business with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! I know, I know - it's not quite as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award five times in a row, as I have - but it's a start, Harry, it's a start." - Lockhart, 91
"Let me just say that handing out signed pictures at this stage of your career isn't sensible - looks a tad bigheaded, Harry, to be frank. There may well come a time when, like me, you'll need to keep a stack handy wherever you go, but I don't think you'e quite there yet." - Lockhart, 98
"The last thing he needed was for Lockhart to hear the phrase 'Harry Potter fan club.'" - Rowling, 99
"Me." - Lockhart, 99
"I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples - though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!" - Lockhart, 100
"I've got a question, Oliver. Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?" - George, 108
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." - Hermione, 112
"Can you hold him still, Harry?" - Colin, 113
"Harry, gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?" - Hagrid, 116
"Said she was jus' lookin' round the grounds, but I reckon she was hopin' she might run inter someone else at my house. If yeh ask me, she wouldn't say no ter a signed - " - Hagrid, 118
"Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore." - Nearly Headless Nick, 124
"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died? Sounds dead depressing to me." - Ron, 130
"You've murdered my cat!" - Filch, 140
"Really, Severus. I see no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick." - McGonagall, 144
"Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world." - Ron, 145
"My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!" - Myrtle, 156
"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" - Ron, 159
"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules." - Ron, 166
"This is all your fault. 'Get the Snitch or die trying,' what a stupid thing to tell him - " George, 170
"You read too much, Hermione." - Ron, 184
"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done,
You're killing off students, you think it's good fun - " - Peeves, 203
"Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head!" - Myrtle, 230
"If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it too." - Ron, 231
"And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he'd had when he was very small, and had half-forgotten." - Rowling, 233-4
"Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison." - Rowling, 236-7
"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord." - singing dwarf, 238
"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" - Ron, 250
"The moment they start trying to move into each other's pots, we'll know they're fully mature." - Sprout, 251
"Play to your strengths, Harry." - Percy, 252
"Percy's in shock. That Ravenclaw girl - Penelope Clearwater - she's a prefect. I don't think he thought the monster would dare attack a prefect." - George, 258
"At this rate, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school." - Lucius, 262
"You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." - Dumbledore, 263-4
"If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em right! That's all I'm sayin'." - Hagrid, 264
"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye, friend of Hagrid." - Aragog, 279
"Ron gave a loud snort. Evidently, hatching Aragog in a cupboard wasn't his idea of being innocent." - Rowling, 281
"Professor McGonagall was still staring at him, and for a moment, Harry thought she was going to explode, but when she spoke, it was in a strangely croaky voice. 'Of course,' she said, and Harry, amazed, saw a tear glistening in her beady eye." - Rowling, 288
"Just the man. The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last." - Snape, 294
"Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question." - Rowling, 299
"Voldemort is my past, present and future, Harry Potter..." Tom, 313
"You're dead, Harry Potter. Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying." - Tom, 321
"Hello. Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?" - Lockhart, 324
"Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" - Lockhart, 325
"Oh, well... I'd just been thinking... if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet." - Myrtle, 326
"What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?" - Arthur, 329
"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules. Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words." - Dumbledore, 330-1
"First of all, Harry, I want to thank you. You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you." - Dumbledore, 332
"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" - Harry, 333
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Dumbledore, 333
"Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat, Harry." - Dumbledore, 334
"We'll be needing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?" - Dumbledore, 334
"Master has given a sock. Master gave it to Dobby." - Dobby, 338
"You shall not harm Harry Potter!" - Dobby, 338
"Just promise me never to try and save my life again." - Harry, 339
"'Wouldn't dream of it,' said Fred, who was looking like his birthday had come early." - Rowling, 341
"Proud? Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..." - Harry, 341
"You've forgotten the magic word. ... I meant 'please'!" - Harry, 2
"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there." - Harry, 6
"You can't have met many decent wizards." - Harry, 14
"Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew..." - Dobby, 15
"Friends who don't evern write to Harry Potter?" - Dobby, 18
"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick, but we feel they''re skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow." - Fred, 26
"THAT RUDDY OWL!" - Vernon, 27
"Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a saber-toothed tiger." - Rowling, 32
"Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face..." - Arthur, 38
"Did you really? Did it go all right? I - I mean, that - that was very wrong, boys - very wrong indeed..." - Arthur, 39
"This is the best house I've ever been in." - Harry, 41
"Fascinating! Ingenious, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic." - Arthur, 42
"Really? Were there escapators?" - Arthur, 47
"But you're Muggles! We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!" - Arthur, 57
"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy." - Arthur, 62
"Can you believe our luck? Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get the one that hits back." - Ron, 76
"This wasn't the first time Snape had given Harry the impression of being able to read minds." - Rowling, 79
"Snape looked as though Christmas had been cancelled." - Rowling, 81
"Harry, Harry, Harry." - Lockhart, 90
"But when I was twelve, I was just as much of a nobody as you are now. In fact, I'd say I was even more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven't they? All that business with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! I know, I know - it's not quite as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award five times in a row, as I have - but it's a start, Harry, it's a start." - Lockhart, 91
"Let me just say that handing out signed pictures at this stage of your career isn't sensible - looks a tad bigheaded, Harry, to be frank. There may well come a time when, like me, you'll need to keep a stack handy wherever you go, but I don't think you'e quite there yet." - Lockhart, 98
"The last thing he needed was for Lockhart to hear the phrase 'Harry Potter fan club.'" - Rowling, 99
"Me." - Lockhart, 99
"I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples - though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!" - Lockhart, 100
"I've got a question, Oliver. Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?" - George, 108
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." - Hermione, 112
"Can you hold him still, Harry?" - Colin, 113
"Harry, gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?" - Hagrid, 116
"Said she was jus' lookin' round the grounds, but I reckon she was hopin' she might run inter someone else at my house. If yeh ask me, she wouldn't say no ter a signed - " - Hagrid, 118
"Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore." - Nearly Headless Nick, 124
"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died? Sounds dead depressing to me." - Ron, 130
"You've murdered my cat!" - Filch, 140
"Really, Severus. I see no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick." - McGonagall, 144
"Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world." - Ron, 145
"My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!" - Myrtle, 156
"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" - Ron, 159
"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules." - Ron, 166
"This is all your fault. 'Get the Snitch or die trying,' what a stupid thing to tell him - " George, 170
"You read too much, Hermione." - Ron, 184
"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done,
You're killing off students, you think it's good fun - " - Peeves, 203
"Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head!" - Myrtle, 230
"If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it too." - Ron, 231
"And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he'd had when he was very small, and had half-forgotten." - Rowling, 233-4
"Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison." - Rowling, 236-7
"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord." - singing dwarf, 238
"How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?" - Ron, 250
"The moment they start trying to move into each other's pots, we'll know they're fully mature." - Sprout, 251
"Play to your strengths, Harry." - Percy, 252
"Percy's in shock. That Ravenclaw girl - Penelope Clearwater - she's a prefect. I don't think he thought the monster would dare attack a prefect." - George, 258
"At this rate, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school." - Lucius, 262
"You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." - Dumbledore, 263-4
"If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em right! That's all I'm sayin'." - Hagrid, 264
"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye, friend of Hagrid." - Aragog, 279
"Ron gave a loud snort. Evidently, hatching Aragog in a cupboard wasn't his idea of being innocent." - Rowling, 281
"Professor McGonagall was still staring at him, and for a moment, Harry thought she was going to explode, but when she spoke, it was in a strangely croaky voice. 'Of course,' she said, and Harry, amazed, saw a tear glistening in her beady eye." - Rowling, 288
"Just the man. The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last." - Snape, 294
"Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question." - Rowling, 299
"Voldemort is my past, present and future, Harry Potter..." Tom, 313
"You're dead, Harry Potter. Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying." - Tom, 321
"Hello. Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?" - Lockhart, 324
"Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" - Lockhart, 325
"Oh, well... I'd just been thinking... if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet." - Myrtle, 326
"What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?" - Arthur, 329
"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules. Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words." - Dumbledore, 330-1
"First of all, Harry, I want to thank you. You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you." - Dumbledore, 332
"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" - Harry, 333
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Dumbledore, 333
"Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat, Harry." - Dumbledore, 334
"We'll be needing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?" - Dumbledore, 334
"Master has given a sock. Master gave it to Dobby." - Dobby, 338
"You shall not harm Harry Potter!" - Dobby, 338
"Just promise me never to try and save my life again." - Harry, 339
"'Wouldn't dream of it,' said Fred, who was looking like his birthday had come early." - Rowling, 341
"Proud? Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..." - Harry, 341
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Lovely, Loony Luna
I'm not usually big on "fan art" (or even much "fan fiction" though sometimes it can be fun) but I popped over to www.phoenixsong.net the other day, a site dedicated to both. I was curious to know if anyone yet was creating and posting things post-DH (I know it sometimes takes a while for such sites to begin to allow posting, partly because they want to avoid spoilers).
There's a really fine artist posting work there. And Erin, knowing how much you love Luna's character, I thought you'd like to see this lovely illustration titled "Loony's Ballet." I think it does a lovely, vibrant job of capturing the moment where Luna danced alone at the Weasley wedding.
http://www.phoenixsong.net/fanart/image.php?psid=156&pid=13&iid=1724
Enjoy!
There's a really fine artist posting work there. And Erin, knowing how much you love Luna's character, I thought you'd like to see this lovely illustration titled "Loony's Ballet." I think it does a lovely, vibrant job of capturing the moment where Luna danced alone at the Weasley wedding.
http://www.phoenixsong.net/fanart/image.php?psid=156&pid=13&iid=1724
Enjoy!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Snape, Lily and the Courtly Love Tradition
OK, I've been thinking a lot about the courtly love tradition and the Snape/Lily back story. We're given tantalizing glimpses of their friendship, and what it meant to both of them...especially to Snape. But we're also left to fill in a lot of gaps, and to have to really think about what kind of devotion would move a man like Snape to utterly change the shape of his whole life.
I had hoped that Snape loved Lily. I had thought it would make sense if we learned he had. I had even hoped that it would play a major part in his motivation to grudgingly protect Harry all those years, and to turn toward the side of the light. Certainly his love for Lily ended up being the crucial piece of information we'd been missing about his journey. But even after reading DH twice, it's still a little hard to wrap my mind around his utter devotion. Given Snape's kind of creepy personal qualities, it would be too easy to just pass this off as a strange, unhealthy obsession...and while I think elements of that are there, there's got to be more. Otherwise this would not have been a love that could have motivated Snape to "stay true" for so long, at such a high and painful cost.
So I was really glad when I stumbled onto a discussion over at the HogPro website the other day. A few folks over there were batting some ideas about Snape and Lily's relationship back and forth, and someone made the observation that it could be looked at most helpfully from the courtly love tradition. They also made a wonderful observation that Beatrice (as in Dante's Beatrice) is referenced somewhere as having emerald eyes. I'll have to hunt down the reference later; I found that parallel striking though!
I first learned about the courtly love tradition in a 12th grade World Literature class in high school. We were able to choose books off a supplemental reading list, and one of the books I chose (and bought, and still have on my shelves) was Francis Petrarch's Songs and Sonnets from Laura's Lifetime. These poems were my introduction to the whole notion of courtly love: the love of someone for an unattainable someone else, a someone else who often attains the status of "spiritual guide" for the one who loves. In the courtly love tradition, as I understand it, the unattainable woman (usually married to someone else, or vowed to be chaste) leads the one who loves to a higher, better life. By contemplating the woman's beauty, he is led to real beauty, etc. It's this last I find utterly fascinating, especially in light of that silver doe patronus of Snape's.
Petrarch loved a woman named Laura who died in the Black Plague. After she died, he wrote a series of love poems which he proceeded to revise on Fridays (as an act of penance). Apparently even Petrarch wrestled with whether or not his love for this woman was in fact healthy and good. In the introduction to the poems, translator Nicholas Kilmer talks about another book of meditations that Petrarch wrote while he was first working on the poems. Apparently in this book he made St. Augustine a character (probably standing in the place of the church, and perhaps Petrarch's conscience?). Kilmer writes: "...the character of St. Augustine, commenting on Petrarch's obsessive attachment for her, points out the self-delusion and the self-indulgence that underlie the fiction of Courtly Love; the pitfalls of greed and desire for fame; and an attendant blinding, self-congratulatory, enervating depression that seems poetic and is in fact a symptom of the morbidness of the soul. Augustine emphasizes that the mortal nature of Laura makes her an unsuitable focus for the fascination of a soul that is immortal, and is designed for permanence, for the contemplation of far higher things."
I feel Snape snaking his way through so much of that sentence...Snape and the romantic movement and Byronic heroes...so much to think about here! And I think Augustine's warnings (or Petrarch's own warnings to himself, disguised in Augustine's voice) are sound. BUT I also think about the fact that often it's earthly love, incarnated love, that gives us our first real glimpse of the "higher things" and that can lead us toward them. Lily was Snape's first real friend, the first person he was ever in a position to help and to be magnanimous toward, perhaps the first person he ever really felt love for. And that's a powerful hold on his heart.
Kilmer goes on in the next paragraph: "Petrarch admits Laura's mortality, arguing that it is her pure and immortal soul that his eyes have led his soul to follow." Listen to that line!! And think of it in context of Snape and Lily! ... He goes on... "She is his spiritual guide, and above reproach. It is not she who deserves reproach, Augustine answers, but rather Petrarch, his past life, and his own carnal nature which is still laboring under damaging fixations. It remains only for Petrarch to accept, as best he can, the revelation that his desire has led him close to the death of his soul."
I am fascinated by this parallel. Petrarch, brilliant renaissance man, and Snape, brilliant wizard, seem to have a lot in common. I find myself rearranging sentences as I read them... "It remains only for Snape to accept, as best he can, the revelation that his desire to be a death eater has led him close to the death of his soul..." Makes sense, doesn't it?
If you can forgive what might turn into a bit of a research obsession :-) I hope to spend some more time in coming weeks (as I HAVE time, ha!) looking at these connections. I've been re-reading some of the sonnets themselves, which are absolutely beautiful, and am struck to the core about how some of them resonate when you read them as those in Snape's voice. Next post I will post a few of the snippets that have especially moved me.
I had hoped that Snape loved Lily. I had thought it would make sense if we learned he had. I had even hoped that it would play a major part in his motivation to grudgingly protect Harry all those years, and to turn toward the side of the light. Certainly his love for Lily ended up being the crucial piece of information we'd been missing about his journey. But even after reading DH twice, it's still a little hard to wrap my mind around his utter devotion. Given Snape's kind of creepy personal qualities, it would be too easy to just pass this off as a strange, unhealthy obsession...and while I think elements of that are there, there's got to be more. Otherwise this would not have been a love that could have motivated Snape to "stay true" for so long, at such a high and painful cost.
So I was really glad when I stumbled onto a discussion over at the HogPro website the other day. A few folks over there were batting some ideas about Snape and Lily's relationship back and forth, and someone made the observation that it could be looked at most helpfully from the courtly love tradition. They also made a wonderful observation that Beatrice (as in Dante's Beatrice) is referenced somewhere as having emerald eyes. I'll have to hunt down the reference later; I found that parallel striking though!
I first learned about the courtly love tradition in a 12th grade World Literature class in high school. We were able to choose books off a supplemental reading list, and one of the books I chose (and bought, and still have on my shelves) was Francis Petrarch's Songs and Sonnets from Laura's Lifetime. These poems were my introduction to the whole notion of courtly love: the love of someone for an unattainable someone else, a someone else who often attains the status of "spiritual guide" for the one who loves. In the courtly love tradition, as I understand it, the unattainable woman (usually married to someone else, or vowed to be chaste) leads the one who loves to a higher, better life. By contemplating the woman's beauty, he is led to real beauty, etc. It's this last I find utterly fascinating, especially in light of that silver doe patronus of Snape's.
Petrarch loved a woman named Laura who died in the Black Plague. After she died, he wrote a series of love poems which he proceeded to revise on Fridays (as an act of penance). Apparently even Petrarch wrestled with whether or not his love for this woman was in fact healthy and good. In the introduction to the poems, translator Nicholas Kilmer talks about another book of meditations that Petrarch wrote while he was first working on the poems. Apparently in this book he made St. Augustine a character (probably standing in the place of the church, and perhaps Petrarch's conscience?). Kilmer writes: "...the character of St. Augustine, commenting on Petrarch's obsessive attachment for her, points out the self-delusion and the self-indulgence that underlie the fiction of Courtly Love; the pitfalls of greed and desire for fame; and an attendant blinding, self-congratulatory, enervating depression that seems poetic and is in fact a symptom of the morbidness of the soul. Augustine emphasizes that the mortal nature of Laura makes her an unsuitable focus for the fascination of a soul that is immortal, and is designed for permanence, for the contemplation of far higher things."
I feel Snape snaking his way through so much of that sentence...Snape and the romantic movement and Byronic heroes...so much to think about here! And I think Augustine's warnings (or Petrarch's own warnings to himself, disguised in Augustine's voice) are sound. BUT I also think about the fact that often it's earthly love, incarnated love, that gives us our first real glimpse of the "higher things" and that can lead us toward them. Lily was Snape's first real friend, the first person he was ever in a position to help and to be magnanimous toward, perhaps the first person he ever really felt love for. And that's a powerful hold on his heart.
Kilmer goes on in the next paragraph: "Petrarch admits Laura's mortality, arguing that it is her pure and immortal soul that his eyes have led his soul to follow." Listen to that line!! And think of it in context of Snape and Lily! ... He goes on... "She is his spiritual guide, and above reproach. It is not she who deserves reproach, Augustine answers, but rather Petrarch, his past life, and his own carnal nature which is still laboring under damaging fixations. It remains only for Petrarch to accept, as best he can, the revelation that his desire has led him close to the death of his soul."
I am fascinated by this parallel. Petrarch, brilliant renaissance man, and Snape, brilliant wizard, seem to have a lot in common. I find myself rearranging sentences as I read them... "It remains only for Snape to accept, as best he can, the revelation that his desire to be a death eater has led him close to the death of his soul..." Makes sense, doesn't it?
If you can forgive what might turn into a bit of a research obsession :-) I hope to spend some more time in coming weeks (as I HAVE time, ha!) looking at these connections. I've been re-reading some of the sonnets themselves, which are absolutely beautiful, and am struck to the core about how some of them resonate when you read them as those in Snape's voice. Next post I will post a few of the snippets that have especially moved me.
Chiming In On Favorite PS Quotes
I think Erin hit all the best ones...certainly I love them all! (And it's a wonderful book, isn't it?) But I just had to add a couple more:
"Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday, Harry written on it in green icing." Rowling, p. 48
"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." Harry, p. 49 (right after Hagrid roars out "Do you mean to tell me...that this boy...knows nothin' abou' -- about ANYTHING?")
"Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green, to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea." Rowling, p. 51
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." Ron, p. 105
"...I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough." Hermione, pp. 105-106
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it..." Ron, p. 106
There are lots of other quotes I love, but I just had to pick a few more from those early scenes -- the hut and the Hogwarts Express.
I also love all the small dialogue echoes you get in Deathly Hallows, echoes from Philosopher's Stone. I'm sure there are lots more than I caught the first couple times through. Two that come to mind right now are the one where Ron is wishing for Crookshanks to open the Whomping Willow (in DH) and Hermione shrieks "Crookshanks! Are you a wizard or not?" Or something to that affect, which is almost an exact echo of what Ron yells at Hermione six years before when they were caught in the Devil's Snare plant after they got past Fluffy and in through the trap door. Remember Hermione is looking for wood to light a fire to try to kill the plant, and Ron bellows "HAVE YOU GONE MAD?...ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?" When you think about this, in addition to the "always the tone of surprise" remarks they exchange within DH, one gets the feeling that Ron and Hermione have always marked what the other says with great importance -- they never really forget a word of what they've said to each other! And they enjoy a kind of playful, biting banter back and forth. Bodes well for their marriage, I'd say!
The other dialogue echo is laden with all sorts of interesting overtones. When Harry is looking at Snape's memories in DH, and he sees his father James as an eleven year old on the Hogwarts Express, he hears James say "Slytherin...I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" to Sirius. It's almost an EXACT echo (at least in tone) of what Draco Malfoy says to Harry the first time they meet at Madame Malkin's robe shop in Diagon Alley in PS. Only Malfoy says (and we can imagine he says it somewhat sneeringly) "...imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" p. 77
It's interesting, by the way, that Draco picks on Hufflepuff here and not Gryffindor. Aside from that, it's also interesting that JKR seems to want to make us make the uncomfortable connection between James (his arrogance, his self-confidence) and Draco. My guess is she does this for at least two reasons. One is to show us that certain traits are not only the failings of Slytherins...they can be shared across houses. Even by beloved Gryffindors. Secondly, I think it is really crucially important that Harry feels empathy...not just sympathy, but empathy...with Snape in those early memories. It's empathy and pity that enables Harry to think about himself in the same breath with Snape and Voldemort, "all the abandoned boys," as he walks toward the forest. James is actually referred to as looking well-cared for and adored (I think that's the phrase) in contrast to the neglected looking Snape. And let's face it, Harry can relate far more to Snape than to his own Dad.
Makes you wonder if Harry didn't have some serious abandonment issues to deal with at a later time...although perhaps everything he goes through in his seven Hogwarts years must have been pretty healing and cathartic. I'm relieved and glad to see from the DH epilogue hat he named his first son James. (Wonder if the middle name was Sirius? That's my guess...)
Any other echoes in the dialogue or narrative (or for that matter, images) that connect DH and PS? I'm sure there are lots more....
"Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday, Harry written on it in green icing." Rowling, p. 48
"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." Harry, p. 49 (right after Hagrid roars out "Do you mean to tell me...that this boy...knows nothin' abou' -- about ANYTHING?")
"Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green, to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea." Rowling, p. 51
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." Ron, p. 105
"...I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough." Hermione, pp. 105-106
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it..." Ron, p. 106
There are lots of other quotes I love, but I just had to pick a few more from those early scenes -- the hut and the Hogwarts Express.
I also love all the small dialogue echoes you get in Deathly Hallows, echoes from Philosopher's Stone. I'm sure there are lots more than I caught the first couple times through. Two that come to mind right now are the one where Ron is wishing for Crookshanks to open the Whomping Willow (in DH) and Hermione shrieks "Crookshanks! Are you a wizard or not?" Or something to that affect, which is almost an exact echo of what Ron yells at Hermione six years before when they were caught in the Devil's Snare plant after they got past Fluffy and in through the trap door. Remember Hermione is looking for wood to light a fire to try to kill the plant, and Ron bellows "HAVE YOU GONE MAD?...ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?" When you think about this, in addition to the "always the tone of surprise" remarks they exchange within DH, one gets the feeling that Ron and Hermione have always marked what the other says with great importance -- they never really forget a word of what they've said to each other! And they enjoy a kind of playful, biting banter back and forth. Bodes well for their marriage, I'd say!
The other dialogue echo is laden with all sorts of interesting overtones. When Harry is looking at Snape's memories in DH, and he sees his father James as an eleven year old on the Hogwarts Express, he hears James say "Slytherin...I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" to Sirius. It's almost an EXACT echo (at least in tone) of what Draco Malfoy says to Harry the first time they meet at Madame Malkin's robe shop in Diagon Alley in PS. Only Malfoy says (and we can imagine he says it somewhat sneeringly) "...imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" p. 77
It's interesting, by the way, that Draco picks on Hufflepuff here and not Gryffindor. Aside from that, it's also interesting that JKR seems to want to make us make the uncomfortable connection between James (his arrogance, his self-confidence) and Draco. My guess is she does this for at least two reasons. One is to show us that certain traits are not only the failings of Slytherins...they can be shared across houses. Even by beloved Gryffindors. Secondly, I think it is really crucially important that Harry feels empathy...not just sympathy, but empathy...with Snape in those early memories. It's empathy and pity that enables Harry to think about himself in the same breath with Snape and Voldemort, "all the abandoned boys," as he walks toward the forest. James is actually referred to as looking well-cared for and adored (I think that's the phrase) in contrast to the neglected looking Snape. And let's face it, Harry can relate far more to Snape than to his own Dad.
Makes you wonder if Harry didn't have some serious abandonment issues to deal with at a later time...although perhaps everything he goes through in his seven Hogwarts years must have been pretty healing and cathartic. I'm relieved and glad to see from the DH epilogue hat he named his first son James. (Wonder if the middle name was Sirius? That's my guess...)
Any other echoes in the dialogue or narrative (or for that matter, images) that connect DH and PS? I'm sure there are lots more....
Favorite Lines in PS
Thought it might be fun to go through the other books and find my favorite quotes from them. Here's Philsopher's Stone...
"He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination." - Rowling, 5
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." - Dumbledore, 11
"I would trust Hagrid with my life." - Dumbledore, 14
"Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground." - Dumbledore, 15
"After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips' as he worked, and jumped at small noises." - Rowling, 40
"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" - Dudley, 43
"Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." - Hagrid, 47
"Do you mean ter tell me that this boy - this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?" - Hagrid, 49
"Harry - yer a wizard." - Hagrid, 50
"NEVER - INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN- FRONT - OF - ME!" - Hagrid, 59
"Don't mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." - Hagrid, 60
"Come on, back on this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut." - Hagrid, 76
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar. ... Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great." - Ollivander, 85
"I'm not Fred, I'm George. Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George? ... Only joking, I am Fred." - Fred, 92
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy? You should have said something, we had no idea." - Fred or George, 96
"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day of school." - Molly, 97
"'Go on, have a pasty,' said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with." - Rowling, 102
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks." - Harry, 109
"Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" - Dumbledore, 123
"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!" - Dumbledore, 128
"At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight." - Rowling, 133
"His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels." - Rowling, 136
"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." - Snape, 137
"You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd made you look good if he got it wrong, did you?" - Snape, 139
"Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked." - Rowling, 140
"Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground." - Rowling, 144
"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..." - McGonagall, 152
"Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering." - Rowling, 155
"Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers - I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves." - Oliver, 169
"Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest." - Flitwick, 171
"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them." - Rowling, 179
"How do you know about Fluffy?" - Hagrid, 192
"You haven't got a letter on yours. I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge." - George, 202
"Harry was looking at his family, for the first time in his life. The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness." - Rowling, 209
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." - Dumbledore, 214
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks. One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books." - Dumbledore, 214
"Oh, honestly, don't you two read?" - Hermione, 219
"I'm worthy twelve of you, Malfoy." - Neville, 223
"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" - Hagrid, 235
"It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out... hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed..." - Filch, 248
"Mars is bright tonight." - Ronan, 253
"Never try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon." - Hagrid, 254
"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic." - Hermione, 260
"Me! Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!" - Hermione, 287
"What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrel is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows." - Dumbledore, 296
"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." - Dumbledore, 297
"Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." - Dumbledore, 298
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin." - Dumbledore, 299
"Alas! Ear wax!" - Dumbledore, 301
"Harry couldn't speak, but Hagrid understood." - Rowling, 304
"Hopefully your heads are a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..." - Dumbledore, 304
"There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom." - Dumbledore, 306
"He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination." - Rowling, 5
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." - Dumbledore, 11
"I would trust Hagrid with my life." - Dumbledore, 14
"Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground." - Dumbledore, 15
"After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips' as he worked, and jumped at small noises." - Rowling, 40
"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" - Dudley, 43
"Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." - Hagrid, 47
"Do you mean ter tell me that this boy - this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?" - Hagrid, 49
"Harry - yer a wizard." - Hagrid, 50
"NEVER - INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN- FRONT - OF - ME!" - Hagrid, 59
"Don't mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." - Hagrid, 60
"Come on, back on this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut." - Hagrid, 76
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar. ... Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great." - Ollivander, 85
"I'm not Fred, I'm George. Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George? ... Only joking, I am Fred." - Fred, 92
"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy? You should have said something, we had no idea." - Fred or George, 96
"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day of school." - Molly, 97
"'Go on, have a pasty,' said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with." - Rowling, 102
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks." - Harry, 109
"Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" - Dumbledore, 123
"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!" - Dumbledore, 128
"At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight." - Rowling, 133
"His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels." - Rowling, 136
"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." - Snape, 137
"You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd made you look good if he got it wrong, did you?" - Snape, 139
"Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked." - Rowling, 140
"Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground." - Rowling, 144
"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..." - McGonagall, 152
"Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering." - Rowling, 155
"Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers - I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves." - Oliver, 169
"Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest." - Flitwick, 171
"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them." - Rowling, 179
"How do you know about Fluffy?" - Hagrid, 192
"You haven't got a letter on yours. I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge." - George, 202
"Harry was looking at his family, for the first time in his life. The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness." - Rowling, 209
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." - Dumbledore, 214
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks. One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books." - Dumbledore, 214
"Oh, honestly, don't you two read?" - Hermione, 219
"I'm worthy twelve of you, Malfoy." - Neville, 223
"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" - Hagrid, 235
"It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out... hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed..." - Filch, 248
"Mars is bright tonight." - Ronan, 253
"Never try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon." - Hagrid, 254
"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic." - Hermione, 260
"Me! Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!" - Hermione, 287
"What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrel is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows." - Dumbledore, 296
"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." - Dumbledore, 297
"Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." - Dumbledore, 298
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin." - Dumbledore, 299
"Alas! Ear wax!" - Dumbledore, 301
"Harry couldn't speak, but Hagrid understood." - Rowling, 304
"Hopefully your heads are a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..." - Dumbledore, 304
"There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom." - Dumbledore, 306
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Beware the Ire of Molly...
Here is a silly poem about Bill's silly hair. Incidentally, I wonder if the shaggy hair and the fang were a bit of sly foreshadowing about his werewolf encounter...
Silly Hair
"Your hair is getting silly, dear,"
Said Molly to her son,
"And now that I have got you here...
Well, something must be done."
Bill snatched the scraggly strands away
And flashed a patient smile.
He said, "No thanks, Mum. Not today.
I'll keep it long a while."
"I like it," Ginny stoutly said.
"Your earring's wicked too."
"We'll get ours next," chimed George and Fred.
"We can now, thanks to you."
"Oh, no, you don't," chastised their mum.
"One problem at a time!
And, honestly, a fang? How come?"
Bill shrugged, "It's not a crime."
The rest of them seemed to agree,
So Molly held her tongue,
Recalling how it was to be
So frivolous and young.
But as the evening sky turned black
Around the Weasley lair,
She plotted a surprise attack
Upon his silly hair.
Silly Hair
"Your hair is getting silly, dear,"
Said Molly to her son,
"And now that I have got you here...
Well, something must be done."
Bill snatched the scraggly strands away
And flashed a patient smile.
He said, "No thanks, Mum. Not today.
I'll keep it long a while."
"I like it," Ginny stoutly said.
"Your earring's wicked too."
"We'll get ours next," chimed George and Fred.
"We can now, thanks to you."
"Oh, no, you don't," chastised their mum.
"One problem at a time!
And, honestly, a fang? How come?"
Bill shrugged, "It's not a crime."
The rest of them seemed to agree,
So Molly held her tongue,
Recalling how it was to be
So frivolous and young.
But as the evening sky turned black
Around the Weasley lair,
She plotted a surprise attack
Upon his silly hair.
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