Chapter & Verse

Sheila Berg would like a source for a quotation she heard at the time of John Kennedy Jr.'s death that spoke of sand and pebbles...

Sheila Berg would like a source for a quotation she heard at the time of John Kennedy Jr.'s death that spoke of sand and pebbles on the beach and Truro.

Ann Mantell seeks a Sylvia Townsend Warner story that ends, "If Nannie Blount had had her will of me, I should have watched this hell-fire sunset with different eyes. As it was, I saw it as being exactly like the pain in my throat."

"The magical mouse" (November-December). Dorothy Helfand identified the slightly misquoted opening lines of this poem by Kenneth Patchen, published in Orchards, Thrones, and Caravans (1952) and reprinted in The Collected Poems of Kenneth Patchen (1967).

"A fragrance...happy living things" (November-December). John C. Murray was the first of many readers to identify the two couplets that appear toward the conclusion of Edna St. Vincent Millay's early poem "Renascence."

"Tell me....Show me....Involve me...." (November-December). Julie Reiff reported that an Internet search turned up Cole's Quotables, which identified the proverb--without attribution--as Chinese, not Native American, in origin.

Most popular

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.  

Social Media Use and Adult Depression

A survey reveals suprising links between social media use and depression in adults.

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

Explore More From Current Issue

Three young women posed side by side against red background.

The 2026-2027 Ledecky and Summer Undergraduate Fellows

A woman with long, wavy hair wearing a white suit, seated in a bright, modern room.

The Harvard graduate’s roundtable talk show touches on hot button issues from religion to sex. 

A smiling elderly man in glasses sits comfortably in a striped armchair.

Plus, veteran higher education leader Thomas Ehrlich reflects on university curricula for his 70th reunion