Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 584.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 07:25:27 +0000
From: Alan D Corre <corre@uwm.edu>
Subject: Re: 16.577 lone scholar
I think the best comment on the "Lone Scholar," especially in the
Humanities, is by the English poet Robert Southey (1774-1843):
My days among the Dead are passed;
Around me I behold,
Wher'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old:
My never-failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.
With them I take delight in weal
And seek relief in woe;
And while I understand and feel
How much to them I owe,
My cheeks have often been bedewed
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.
My thoughts are with the Dead; with them
I live in long-past years,
Their virtues love, their faults condemn,
Partake their hopes and fears,
And from their lessons seek and find
Instruction with an humble mind.
My hopes are with the Dead; anon
My place with them will be,
And I with them shall travel on
Through all Futurity;
Yet leaving here a name, I trust,
That will not perish in the dust.
Lord Byron did not much care for Southey, whose name he acidly rhymes with
"mouthey." Yet Southey's name has not perished, largely on account of his
anti-war poem "After Blenheim":
'With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a childing mother then
And new-born baby died:
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory...
'And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win.'
'But what good came of it at last?'
Quoth little Peterkin:--
'Why, that I cannot tell,' said he,
'But 'twas a famous victory.'
Alan D. Corre
Emeritus Professor of Hebrew Studies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://www.uwm.edu/~corre/
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