Mark A. Signorelli

Going Home Again? Not Likely.

Aeneas' Flight from Troy by Federico Barocci March 18, 2013

If I am correct, it seems there is a certain kind of arch-typical narrative that has become quite popular here at FPR, and in some sense, emblematic of its defense of place and home.  It is the “Going Home” story,…

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The Springs of the Scamander

the parting of hector and andromache September 17, 2012

One of the most memorable passages in the Iliad occurs in Book 22, during the climactic scene when Achilles is chasing Hector around the walls of Troy.  As Achilles closes in on his great foe, intent to finally have his…

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Upcoming Poetry Readings

September 10, 2012

For those readers who might be interested, I’ve recently published my first collection of poems, Distant Lands and Near, available here.  Also, those who are aficionados of traditional poetry might be interested in two upcoming events I will be participating in, as…

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A Letter from Old Nick to Candidate Santorum

mephistopheles2 April 3, 2012

Sir,
I write this letter to protest the public and wholly unwarranted attack on my character you have made during the course of your campaign, and which has only recently come to my attention. It seems that you have accused…

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A Burke for Our Times

edmund-burke1 March 29, 2012

Edmund Burke was the greatest master of the English language, not even excepting Shakespeare.  It is no doubt a startling claim, but one that I think is highly defensible.  The man could simply make the language do whatever it was…

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A Burke for Our Times

joshua-reynolds-depiction-of-samuel-johnsons-literary-party-1781 March 18, 2012

In a wonderful article published here at FPR a few weeks ago, Jason Peters argued that a proper education ought to provoke a kind of spiritual or intellectual crisis among its students.  If I could choose one author who best…

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A Burke for Our Times

Edmund Burke March 12, 2012

Several weeks ago, at the web journal Humane Pursuits, James Banks published an article entitled “Community as We Know It, Not as We Wish It,” which was largely a response to an article I had published earlier here at FPR. Mr.…

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Democracy and Coercion

Porch January 17, 2012

Like other readers here at FPR, and across the web, I have been following the Great Salyer/Carter Debate of 2012 with much interest. I thought Mr. Salyer’s original article was outstanding, and in reply, Mr. Carter voiced a number of…

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A Tale of Two Symbolic Systems

1002516_sphere_3d_3 December 12, 2011

I am angry with my friend; he has betrayed a secret of mine perhaps, or maybe instead he has formed an intimacy with persons he knows to be my enemies.  I start to view his behavior as treacherous, his character…

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Vico on Probable Knowledge

knowledge October 20, 2011

I would submit that the new conception of rationality we need is really the old one, the humanist one.

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Thoughts on the British Riots

riots September 16, 2011

They do not smash shop windows to get their hands on plasma televisions, because their parents’ wealth makes such toys readily available to them, but they really have no greater desire in life than to have a plasma television

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My Nephew Jonathan

baby June 7, 2011

What I wish for Jonathan is a culture rooted in that wonder and humility which fecundates all authentic wisdom; a culture directed by the grand human imperative of conjoining our efforts to the effort of our Creator; a culture which will enable him, and not hinder him, from realizing all of the potential which nature planted in him at his birth.

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Poetry and the Common Language

poetry May 9, 2011

This piece was originally posted at the University Bookman. Check out their site for other similar articles!
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If there is one principle which is nearly axiomatic among our contemporaries who regard themselves as poets and critics of poetry, it…

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The Moral Implications of Dictionaries

60435_internet_definition April 26, 2011

 
I suppose we all grow unduly annoyed at times with certain cultural foibles which are really quite trivial in comparison with the dire and momentous crises which are rapidly converging upon us.  For myself, I freely confess to experiencing…

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A City upon a Hill

american exceptionalism March 28, 2011

Conservatives are awfully fond of referring to America as a “city upon a hill;” it would be a wonderful thing if they actually made some attempt to understand what that image is supposed to signify.  When it is used by…

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The Song of Taillefer

battle of hastings March 10, 2011

Somerset, NJ. …Legend has it that on the field of Hastings, as the forces of the Conqueror ascended a hill to engage the exhausted army of Harold II, a certain minstrel named Taillefer went before the ranks, tossing his sword

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