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(book)worm turns…

I’m a sucker for bookshops.

I’ll look at a book I’ve never heard of about a subject of which I have zero knowledge (lots of those…) and think “That might be interesting”

All of a sudden, you know something about street corner life in Baltimore (this years before “The Wire”) or the impact of the Lunar Men of the 18th century.

Not that I remember anything, of course…

When Shakespeare used that simple phrase, “The worm has turned,” he knew his audience would understand its meaning and origin. A widely used expression even today, it indicates a reversal of fortune, but few who use it know why.
“Worm” is a common term for ‘dragon.’ In fairy tale terms, the flying dragon spewing fire would ravage fields and villages. To be in the dragon’s path resulted in inescapable destruction. What a relief if it changed directions.
The phrase persists through time and changing cultures because it describes a more ancient and universal force: the annual cycle of the sun. As time cycles through the seasons, the Dragon circles through the Zodiac. After summer solstice, when long summer days dry the earth, the Dragon ravages the land bringing drought and pestilence. As the seasons change, the worm turns.

Source: Nancy Sherer

15 Nov This entry was published on 15 November, 2010 at 12:00 and is filed under Culture, Mainz. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.