That’s the magic of being a non-native speaker. You see what those for whom the language is their mother-tongue don’t. It’s the same with cultures too. :)
Vashik, I do hope all is well with you. 🙏 As I haven't seen a chat posted for Canto XV as yet, I'll share my favorite lines here (which I hope is okay). I found these words so appropriate, so apt for the times were living in.
"For when your longings center on things such that sharing them apportions less to each, then envy stirs the bellows of your sighs.
But if the love within the Highest Sphere should turn your longings heavenward, the fear inhabiting your breast would disappear;
for there, the more there are who would say 'ours,' so much the greater is the good possessed by each—so much more love burns in that cloister."
Oh my goodness.
I never thought about how the (very English) phrase 'much of a muchness' would be so confusing to someone learning English as an additional language.
The correct response, being, of course 'indeed' or perhaps 'quite.'
That’s the magic of being a non-native speaker. You see what those for whom the language is their mother-tongue don’t. It’s the same with cultures too. :)
Vashik, I do hope all is well with you. 🙏 As I haven't seen a chat posted for Canto XV as yet, I'll share my favorite lines here (which I hope is okay). I found these words so appropriate, so apt for the times were living in.
"For when your longings center on things such that sharing them apportions less to each, then envy stirs the bellows of your sighs.
But if the love within the Highest Sphere should turn your longings heavenward, the fear inhabiting your breast would disappear;
for there, the more there are who would say 'ours,' so much the greater is the good possessed by each—so much more love burns in that cloister."
Purgatorio Canto XV : 49-57