Fifteen Minutes a Day
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November 1
(“The Tempest” performed at Queen Elizabeth’s court, Nov. 1, 1611.)
Monsters of the earth, weird creatures of the air, magic romance, and shipwreck are mingled by a master hand in his thrilling drama. The fanciful, enchanting “Tempest” is the last work of the great bard of Stratford.
Read: Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST Vol. 46, pp. 397-410 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Family · Slavery · Nature · Emotion
November 2
Dante recorded the awful scenes of a journey through the pits of the underworld, and wrote in such a vivid, realistic way that men tremble at the terrors depicted.
Read: Dante's DIVINE COMEDY Vol. 20, pp. 13-20 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Punishment · Sin · Emotion · Honor
November 3
Pliny sought the advice of the Emperor Trajan for dealing with the Christians who were alarmingly on the increase. He casually relates how he had tortured two Christians.
Read: Pliny's LETTERS Vol. 9, pp. 404-406 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Religion · Punishment · Family · Law
November 4
Polyeucte, an Armenian noble, wanted to become a Christian. If he were baptized, he would have to give up his high position, his wealth and his pagan wife. Was the heavenly crown worth this sacrifice?
Read: Corneille's POLYEUCTE Vol. 26, pp. 87-97 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Love · Emotion · Religion · Courage
November 5
A divorce always means trouble for some one. So with Sir Thomas More when he refused to agree with King Henry over the king’s separation. More was made to pay one of the highest prices ever paid for a difference of opinion.
Read: Roper's LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE Vol. 36, pp. 89-99 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Family · Religion · Virtue and Vice · Law
November 6
(Faraday sends “Experimental Researches” to Royal Society, Nov. 6, 1845.)
Two sticks, a table, and a pail were the commonplace implements used by Michael Faraday to demonstrate great scientific truths.
Read: Faraday's FORCE OF GRAVITATION Vol. 30, pp. 13-21 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Mechanics · Physics · Experience · Cause
November 7
Suddenly all the sinful city’s inhabitants were turned to stone. When a beautiful woman from Bagdad came to the dead city, night overtook her there. Sleeping in the palace, she was awakened by a man’s voice calling.
Read: THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS Vol. 16, pp. 100-107 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Family · Religion · Exploration · Punishment
November 8
(John Milton died Nov. 8, 1674.)
Milton’s indomitable courage kept him at his work even after he lost his sight. Blind, he dictated a sequel to his “Paradise Lost,” which he called “Paradise Regained.”
Read: Milton's PARADISE REGAINED Vol. 4, pp. 359-369 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Angel · God · Prophecy · Religion
November 9
The Psalms have been an inspiration to men in many ages. They have become so associated with the peaceful spirit of Christianity that we forget some of them were once war songs and songs of triumph.
Read: THE PSALMS Vol. 44, pp. 318-327 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Religion · God · Emotion · Justice
November 10
(Oliver Goldsmith born Nov. 10, 1728.)
Goldsmith traveled through Belgium, France, and Italy, winning his daily bread by playing at farmhouses. He wrote the most brilliant comedy, the best novel, and the finest poem of his age.
Read: Goldsmith's THE DESERTED VILLAGE Vol. 41, pp. 509-520 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Wealth · Happiness · Hospitality · Nature
November 11
(Armistice Day) ;
The youth of America—typified in the doughboy of the past war—was gloriously portrayed by Walt Whitman. He also sang of the vast plains and the beauty of America.
Read: WHITMAN'S POEMS Vol. 42, pp. 1402-1412 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: War and Peace · Life and Death · Labor · Love
November 12
(John Milton married second wife, Nov. 12, 1656.)
Milton’s version tells how the Serpent induced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Eve offered it to Adam. Then they became conscious for the first time that they were not clothed.
Read: Milton's PARADISE LOST Vol. 4, pp. 278-290 read · scan
November 13
(St. Augustine born Nov. 13, 354.)
Carthage was the playground of the ancient world. In that city of many sins, Augustine was a leader of the revels. His conversion to Christianity amazed those who knew him.
Read: CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE Vol. 7, pp. 31-38 read · scan
November 14
(Sir Charles Lyell born Nov. 14, 1797.)
We wonder if the man who worried about the “scientifical” prediction that “The sun’s heat will give out in ten million years more,” had read Lyell on the gradual changes in the earth’s surface.
Read: Lyell's UNIFORMITY OF CHANGE Vol. 38, pp. 398-405 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Geology · Change · Evolution · Cause
November 15
(Sale of corn and flour regulated in Milan, Nov. 15, 1629.)
Food profiteering was as active in.plague-stricken Milan 300 years ago as in modern times. Shops were stormed for food. Read how the Council strove heroically to fix fair rates.
Read: Manzoni's I PROMESSI SPOSI Vol. 21, pp. 450-460 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Wealth · Charity · Government · Love
November 16
When the glorious Western coast was only partly settled, Dana visited the Presidios. He saw frontier life at a time when Spanish splendor still gilded California.
Read: TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST Vol. 23, pp. 164-168 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Justice · Government · National Character · Punishment
November 17
(Scott writes dedication of “Ivanhoe,” Nov. 17, 1817.)
Are you curious about famous people, their lives, habits, personalities? Carlyle discusses the intimate life of his illustrious countryman, and reveals Scott, the man, and Scott, the genius who entertained Christendom with his stories.
Read: Carlyle's SIR WALTER SCOTT Vol. 25, pp. 410-420 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Poetry · Custom and Convention · Religion · Honor
November 18
(William Tell incident, legendary date, Nov. 18, 1307.)
The arrow shot from his bow with a twang and whizzed through the air. Tell covered his eyes, fearing to see where the arrow hit. Then the shout of triumph, a shout of the people and not of the tyrant—but the end was not yet.
Read: Schiller's WILHELM TELL Vol. 26, pp. 441-449 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Tyranny · Family · Courage · Emotion
November 19
(Queen Victoria appointed Tennyson poet laureate, Nov. 19, 1850.)
A barge with black sails bearing three black robed queens with crowns of gold carried away the dying King Arthur. Will they bring him back and fulfill Merlin’s prophecy?
Read: Tennyson's MORTE D'ARTHUR Vol. 42, pp. 986-992 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Chivalry · Duty · Life and Death · Truth
November 20
When the cold winds howled about the thatched huts of the German peasant, the mother drew her children to her side and told them stories. Collected and retold by the Grimm brothers, these stories have perennial charm.
Read: GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES Vol. 17, pp. 90-98 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Wisdom · Courage · Family · Monarchy
November 21
(Voltaire ill with smallpox, Nov., 1723.)
The beautiful daughters of the Circassians were in demand for the seraglios of the Turkish Sultan. Voltaire tells how these beauties were protected from smallpox centuries before modern vaccination.
Read: Voltaire's LETTERS Vol. 34, pp. 93-97 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Medicine · National Character · Custom and Convention · Experience
November 22
Deserted by her lover, Queen Dido applied to her heart the only balm that could ease her pain.
Read: Virgil's AENEID Vol. 13, pp. 167-177 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Emotion · Love · Life and Death · Revenge
November 23
(Pascal begins writing his “Thoughts,” Nov. 23, 1654.)
According to Pascal, a man is not even as significant as a speck of star dust in the universe. Pascal’s thoughts on the subject are startling to the modern reader, and they furnish rich food for the imagination.
Read: PASCAL'S THOUGHTS Vol. 48, pp. 26-36 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Infinity · Man · Philosophy · Knowledge
November 24
(“Origin of Species” published Nov. 24, 1859.)
The signal for the beginning of a great controversy, still raging, was the publication of Darwin’s “Origin of Species.” This was the first complete statement of the evolution theory, which had been privately advanced but never publicly taught. A new epoch in science dates from this great work.
Read: Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES Vol. 11, pp. 23-30 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Evolution · Animal · Cause · Habit
November 25
We are indebted to Thomas Dekker for one of the most humorous characters in all Elizabethan literature; namely, Simon Eyre, an old shoemaker whose affairs became hilariously involved with those of the gentry.
Read: Dekker's THE SHOEMAKER'S HOLIDAY Vol. 47, pp. 469-483 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Family · Love · War and Peace · Labor
November 26
Charles Lamb, favorite essayist, thought that no stage could do justice to Shakespeare’s tragedies. He advocated reading the plays, and with the imagination costuming the players and building the gorgeous scenery in a way equaled by no scene painter or costumer.
Read: Lamb ON THE TRAGEDIES OF SHAKESPEARE Vol. 27, pp. 299-310 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Poetry · Art · Emotion · Memory and Imagination
November 27
In wondrous Utopia pearls and precious stones were used as playthings for little children. Gold rings and bracelets were only worn by outcasts, while great golden chains shackled criminals and felons. When ambassadors from foreign lands came in fine raiment, the Utopians treated the plainest dressed as the greatest; the others seemed to them like children.
Read: Sir Thomas More's UTOPIA Vol. 36, pp. 191-204 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Pleasure and Pain · Wealth · Virtue and Vice · Honor
November 28
(William Blake born Nov. 28, 1757.)
“To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower—“ Such was the exaltation of the mysticism of William Blake, who reflected in his poetry the ecstasy of his visions. Simplicity is the keynote of his genius.
November 29
Did you ever stop to think just how you thought? What inner emotions, what outer influences make up the fathomless depths of mind and intellect? Hume explains how we draw our thoughts, then clumsily put them into tangible shape called ideas.
Read: Hume's OF THE ORIGIN OF IDEAS Vol. 37, pp. 299-303 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Idea · Memory and Imagination · Sense · Experience
November 30
(Jonathan Swift born Nov. 30, 1667.)
To harp on one’s illnesses, giving all the symptoms and circumstances, has been a blemish on conversation for ages. Two hundred years ago Swift complained of persons who continually talked about themselves.
Read: Swift's ESSAY ON CONVERSATION Vol. 27, pp. 91-98 read · scan
Great Ideas in these pages: Virtue and Vice · Language · Custom and Convention · Rhetoric
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