Complaining Boethius

Before I started on the previous blog, I hadn’t remembered how strongly influenced I had been by Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy. I hadn’t re-read it for many years, so I got it out to read again. I wish I could find the journal I kept while I was reading it for the first time – it is there in the bowels of the house somewhere. What was I thinking then? How did I manage to slog through the wordiness of the allegory, with Philosophy as a woman holding a dialogue with poor complaining Boethius. I hadn’t remembered that Philosophy had banished the Muses of poetry who stood beside Boethius as he wrote his petulant poetry. Did I give up writing poetry because of this? I can’t remember, but maybe as I am re-reading it, I can recapture specifically what influenced me.