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Drawing of the Incandescent Light Bulb (page 2 of 2): Thomas Edison, 27 January 1880 (Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, US National Archives)
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Drawing of the Incandescent Light Bulb (page 1 of 2): Thomas Edison, 27 January 1880 (Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, US National Archives)
Chrome table lamp: S. van Ravesteyn, 1925-1927 (NAI Collection / Het Nieuwe Institut)
![SQUIBB PHARMACEUTICALS GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 12/01/1934 p. 127]( "SQUIBB PHARMACEUTICALS GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 12/01/1934 p. 127")
E.R. Squibb and Sons advertisement for Squibb Pharmaceuticals: Good Housekeeping, 12 January 1934 (Gallery of Graphic Design)
![EDISON MAZDA LAMPS BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS 04/01/1931 INSIDE FRONT]( "EDISON MAZDA LAMPS BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS 04/01/1931 INSIDE FRONT")
General Electric advertisement for Edison Mazda Lamps: Better Homes and Gardens, 4 January 1931 (Gallery of Graphic Design)
Drawing of the Incandescent Light Bulb (page 2 of 2): Thomas Edison, 27 January 1880 (Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, US National Archives)
Without it, what savage unsocial nights
Our ancestors must have spent! All those deadly
Winter nocturnes in caves and unillumined icy
Fastnesses: they must have laid around and
Grumbled at one another in the dark like the blind,
Fumbling each other's features for the wrinkle of a smile.
What tedious repartee must have passed! Perhaps
This accounts for the dullness of much archaic
Poetry, whose somber cast is notorious and must
Have derived from the traditions of those
Long unlanterned nights. Jokes came in with candles.
How did they see to pick up a pin, if they
Had any? How did they get dinner down? Think of
The mélange of chance carving that must have
Ensanguined dining after dusk! Lights out,
Not even love's what it's cracked up to be.
The senses absolutely give and take
Reciprocally. One wants to know whether that's
An elbow, a knee, or the night table
Before one returns the favor of a friendly nudge.
Wasn't it by the midnight taper all writers once digested
Their meditations? By that same lightwe ought
To approach them, if we ever expect to catch
The tiger-moth of inspiration that dances
In the word incandescent.
Our ancestors must have spent! All those deadly
Winter nocturnes in caves and unillumined icy
Fastnesses: they must have laid around and
Grumbled at one another in the dark like the blind,
Fumbling each other's features for the wrinkle of a smile.
What tedious repartee must have passed! Perhaps
This accounts for the dullness of much archaic
Poetry, whose somber cast is notorious and must
Have derived from the traditions of those
Long unlanterned nights. Jokes came in with candles.
How did they see to pick up a pin, if they
Had any? How did they get dinner down? Think of
The mélange of chance carving that must have
Ensanguined dining after dusk! Lights out,
Not even love's what it's cracked up to be.
The senses absolutely give and take
Reciprocally. One wants to know whether that's
An elbow, a knee, or the night table
Before one returns the favor of a friendly nudge.
Wasn't it by the midnight taper all writers once digested
Their meditations? By that same lightwe ought
To approach them, if we ever expect to catch
The tiger-moth of inspiration that dances
In the word incandescent.
Drawing of the Incandescent Light Bulb (page 1 of 2): Thomas Edison, 27 January 1880 (Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, US National Archives)
Chrome table lamp: S. van Ravesteyn, 1925-1927 (NAI Collection / Het Nieuwe Institut)
E.R. Squibb and Sons advertisement for Squibb Pharmaceuticals: Good Housekeeping, 12 January 1934 (Gallery of Graphic Design)
General Electric advertisement for Edison Mazda Lamps: Better Homes and Gardens, 4 January 1931 (Gallery of Graphic Design)