Happiness?ÂÂ
MILTON! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower 5
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
O raise us up, return to us again,
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power!
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: 10
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life’s common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
–Wordsworth
UPDATE: I was unaware that Milton wrote in Englosh! We could have been drinking buddies!
Comment by thor on 4/2 @ 9:50 am #
I would love a Parliament
As a main prop from heaven sent;
But ah! who’s he that would be wedded
To th’ fairest body that’s beheaded
-John Suckling
Comment by thor on 4/2 @ 9:58 am #
Ourselves with noise of reason we do please
In vain; humanity’s our worst disease.
Thrice happy beasts are, who, because they be
Of reason void, are so of foppery.
-John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
Comment by TaiChiWawa on 4/2 @ 10:13 am #
Oh! Son of Nantucket
Who thine own progenitive appurtenance
Being so plenteous, thou could’st . . .
Comment by Rob Crawford on 4/2 @ 10:29 am #
Here I sit, broken hearted…
Comment by Techie on 4/2 @ 10:32 am #
John Donne,
Tom Donne,
Undone.
Comment by SarahW on 4/2 @ 10:49 am #
I have of late,â€â€but wherefore I know not,â€â€lost all my mirth.
Maybe it’s this “Dancing with the Stars” business.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/2 @ 11:21 am #
Doom and Gloom is just like gold. How so? Every season has a reason to bring out doom and gloom. Just like its always a great time to buy gold.
Comment by mojo on 4/2 @ 11:36 am #
Huh?
Comment by Kevin B on 4/2 @ 12:34 pm #
Comment by Kevin B on 4/2 @ 12:36 pm #
Kipling was above all the laureate not of Empire, but of civilization, especially civilization under siege. Henry James once sniffed that there was only one strain absent in Kipling: that of “the civilized man.†It’s a frequent refrain. But in a deeper sense, Kipling was about almost nothing elseâ€â€not the civilization of elegant drawing rooms, but something more primeval and without which those drawing rooms would soon be smashed and occupied by weeds. Kipling, Evelyn Waugh wrote toward the end of his life, “believed civilization to be something laboriously achieved which was only precariously defended. He wanted to see the defenses fully manned and he hated the liberals because he thought them gullible and feeble, believing in the easy perfectibility of man and ready to abandon the work of centuries for sentimental qualms.â€Â
Was the man right? Or was he right?
(And bloody blockquote don’t work)
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/2 @ 12:58 pm #
He was very, very right.
We live in Kipling’s World. I believe Col. Jessup once had something to say on that.
Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall – you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/2 @ 1:05 pm #
And I just wanted to say, Dan that i anticipated that last update.
Heh.
http://coldfury.com/?p=9238
Comment by McGehee on 4/2 @ 1:54 pm #
I didn’t know the greatest Englosh poet was Skankspeare!
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/2 @ 2:13 pm #
Skankspeare?
Does he have a sister?
Comment by mojo on 4/2 @ 2:30 pm #
He did’st speare ye skank, methinks…
Comment by ThomasD on 4/2 @ 3:31 pm #
Malt does more than Milton can
to justify God’s way to man.
A.E. Houseman