11 February 2009
17:2015207A hubristic poetry lesson from history for today's bankers, politicians and other greedmongers, courtesy of Shelley.
This, and the works of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess and William Golding should be set texts for all. Read and digest:
OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
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Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
11 February 2009
18:1615210reminds me of dover at the moment.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
11 February 2009
19:0215223reminded me of a patience strong calendar.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
11 February 2009
19:0315224Ah jeez a bit of culture at last, and very welcome too. Not sure if I get the reference to Dover unless we see this decription as apt...
" a colossol wreck boundless and bare!"
but perhaps we are not quite there yet.
Ive read quite a few Orwells over the years...last year for the second time I read "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" in which the hero or anti-hero depending on your point of view eschews all worldy goods to live with the base necessities only. A kind of applied communism. Is Andrew saying we should get prepared to live with the very basics only..?
We might have to.
