“Freezing breath on a window pane, lying and waiting…”

As “Quid Plura?” stumbles toward (mirabile dictu) its tenth year, I’m amused by the unforeseen ways the blog continues to evolve—and heartened that people still stop by and comment, even during a slower or stranger year. Whether you’ve been visiting throughout 2016 or just happened to find yourself here on a whim, I hope you’ll find something worthwhile in this rundown of the year that was.

In 2015, I started a yearlong poem about moving to the Maryland woods. Through August 2016, I posted the first drafts of the monthly installments here. Start with the prologue and then continue through September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and August.

How can you have a more medieval Halloween? Carve your jack-o’-lanterns out of turnips.

This was the year, alas, of creepy clown sightings. Find out what they have in common with Carolingian folk scares.

Congrats to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia! This blog celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Blackfriars by taking in a performance of Henry VI, Part 2.

Many scholars claim to want a wide-ranging readership. I found a medieval literature professor who actually means it.

Articles about writers’ letters and journals are rarely as interesting as the sources themselves—but Amit Majmudar, poet laureate of Ohio, brought Lord Byron to life with one heck of a book review.

Dismayed by the din of a blustery year, I found time to review some books too:

I also celebrated the four-year anniversary, and not-half-bad sales, of a certain gargoyle-poem book of my own.

Thanks, as always, for your eyeballs, emails, comments, and links! In 2017, I’ll continue to write about medievalism, poetry, and the arts—and while I doubt I’ll post with anything other than perplexing randomness, I can safely promise that whatever turns up here you’ll never find anywhere else.

13 thoughts on ““Freezing breath on a window pane, lying and waiting…””

  1. Happy Christmas Jeff, glad you’re still here posting your erudite, amusing and generally excellent randomness, long may it continue!

    (Looking forward to the Beallsville Calendar in book form too…)

    Like

    Reply

  3. Lucy: Thank you! I hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas in Brittany. (And as soon as I have cover art I like, I’ll have a book to share.)

    Diane: Merry Christmas to you as well! I hope your new year is productive and prolific. (I plan to experiment in 2017 with an unfamiliar medium, he said cryptically, so stay tuned…)

    Like

    Reply

  4. Merry Christmas, Jeff! There is no other blog on the webz like unto this one. Keep up the great work.

    @Lucy: Christmas in Brittany sounds utterly enchanting.

    Like

    Reply

  5. Deuce: Thanks for stopping by! This is why I love maintaining an old-school blog: You and I know each other only because of a book review I once wrote here; I know Lucy only because of a mutual blog-friend; and I’ve been able to stay in touch with Diane M., whom I met at a writing conference years ago, only because she has a blog. So I’ll keep this thing going for as long as I can. The people who maintain blogs even though doing so is no longer cool are some of the quirkiest and most independent-minded people I know.

    Like

    Reply

  8. Thanks, Scott! Always glad to see what you’re writing (and reading) as well. The Astrologer is working its way toward the top of my towering to-read list…

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment