Chapter & Verse

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Thomas Engelsing would like to learn the source of the following lines: “And now hear this, my ruder truth, thou art composed of lust unchained and most vile flux.”

 

Royall Moore hopes that someone can provide a citation for the phrase “North northwest the path of culture” (i.e., Egypt to Mesopotamia to Greece, Rome, Europe, and the New World)—a line he heard on a radio broadcast by Robert Frost, who was reading from his poems.

 

Tobe Kemp seeks a provenance for his family’s longtime expression, “And I’m the dumpsy dido that can do it.”

 

Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via e-mail to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

You might also like

The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.

Author and Harvard Divinity School writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in the world around us.

Shakespeare and Stephen King Have a Lot in Common

Shakespeare scholar Caroline Bicks studies horror and fear in literature. 

Most popular

In her memoir All That's Unseen, Emilee Hackney explores religion, friendship, and home.

College staff whose jobs will be changed or eliminated were notified this week.

The organization said its amicus brief had not been reviewed internally.

Explore More From Current Issue

Graduates in caps and gowns celebrate joyfully, raising their hands in excitement.

Conan O’Brien headlines a star-studded cast

Singer performing on stage with a guitar, wearing a hat, and surrounded by band instruments.

Singer Elisa Smith’s whiskey-soaked voice and subversive feminism is part of the genre’s urban shift.

Massachusetts Hall at Harvard Red brick building with a large clock on top, surrounded by green trees.

With a grade inflation vote and in the courts, the University argued that it’s taking steps to change.