Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction 1
5. Part One. An Owl For Apollo: Wisdom And The Poets
6. 1. Descent Of The Owl: Philosophy Among The Poets 13
7. 2. Tennyson And Zeno: Three Infinities 39
8. 3. How Poets Die To Time: The Sublime Oracle 62
9. 4. Making Peace With Time: The Beautiful Oracle 84
10. 5. The Ruins Of Time: The Grotesque Oracle 97
11. Part Two. Homage To Wisdom: From Delphi To Zen
12. 6. Wisdom And The Logos: John’s Gospel To Four Quartets 119
13. 7. Gnostic Wisdom: Parable And Koan 127
14. 8. Paradox And Oracle: Crucible Versus Mirror 140
15. 9. Copy-Speech And Counter-Love: Wordsworth And Frost 155
16. 10. ‘A River Runs Through It’ And Joyce’S ‘The Dead’ 167
17. Part Three. Owls, Bulls, And Serpents: Wisdom Or Guile?
18. 11. The Wise Owl: George Eliot’s Arrested Wit 185
19. 12. The Serpent Of Irony: Wisdom Or Guile? 206
20. 13. Groucho Marx To Bernard Shaw: The Irish Bull 228
21. 14. Oracles Of Wit: Oscar Wilde And Northrop Frye 246
22. Part Four. Wisdom At Gettysburg: Rewriting The Oracles
23. 15. From Delphi To Gettysburg: Changing The Covenant 273
24. 16. Coleridge And Huxley: Experiment Or Decree? 298
25. 17. Evolving Oracles: Newman, Browning, And Shakespeare 315
26. 18. An Underground Oracle: ‘Look In Your Heart And Write’ 336
27. Works Cited 361
28. Index 375
29. Backmatter 389