June 9th, 2006
The Origin of Bokardo
by Joshua Porter | 
7 Comments
Lots of people ask me this, so here it is:
The origin of Bokardo is a poem written by Edwin Arlington Robinson, who shared the same hometown as me: Gardiner, Maine. Robinson won 3 Pulitzer Prizes in the early part of the 20th Century.
As with most literature, the story behind the work is more interesting than the work itself. In this case, the poem is supposedly about Edwin’s brother Herman visiting him in New York City, after falling away from his wife and drinking himself to death on the coast of Maine. The story is complicated by the possibility that Edwin may have been in love with Herman’s wife, whom he later asked to marry him (after Herman died), but who steadfastly refused. Three times. The poem written about that affair, Eros Turannos (Love, the Tyrant), is one of Robinson’s most beautiful poems.
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Bokardo is the blog of Joshua Porter, a web designer/developer, researcher, and writer. I live in Newburyport, MA, USA.
Designing for the Social Web
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Comments ( 7 Responses so far )
1. Jenny Spadafora on June 9th, 2006 (Comment) #
I had no idea you were also from Gardiner. I grew up on Lincoln Ave, just down the street from the EAR house. Small world…
2. Josh on June 9th, 2006 (Comment) #
Are you kidding me?
I grew up on Danforth Street…
3. Noah Brier on June 9th, 2006 (Comment) #
This is so strange, yesterday I was thinking I was going to write you an email and ask you this question. Thanks for clearing it up.
4. Jenny Spadafora on June 9th, 2006 (Comment) #
Borned and raised. Which means I was subjected to GAHS… a bit ahead of you, though, I was class of ‘89. My grandmother still lives on Lincoln Ave, across from the ballfield.
5. billhd on June 12th, 2006 (Comment) #
I always took Bokardo to be a kind of Robinsonian analogue to Plato’s (and Pirsig’s) Phaedrus - a figure representing a kind childlike, and sometimes even naive enthusiasm for (and faith in) the truth that many of us try to preserve as we grow cynical. An apt name for this blog indeed! Not for the naivetee, but rather for its wide-eyed longing for the good and the true.
6. Kevin Burton on June 13th, 2006 (Comment) #
In the Haight in San Francisco there’s a burrito place named something like ….. Bolitos or Bazaros or something.
But I have a mental block and I ALWAYS call it Bokardo……… doh!
Lets go eat at Bokardos!
7. Tim v.G. on August 3rd, 2006 (Comment) #
“Bocardo” is the acronym-type name of one of the classic categorical syllogisms.
“Name given by medieval logicians to a categorical syllogism whose standard form has the mood and figure designated as OAO-3.
Example: Some local jails are not maximum-security prisons, but since all local jails are correctional institutions, it follows that some correctional institutions are not maximum-security prisons.”
http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/b5.htm