Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Follysophy 101: blackboard, day one

Thomas Gray, On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, st. 10:

To each his suff'rings: all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan,
The tender for another's pain,
Th'unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate,
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies?
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.

Matthew Arnold, The Last Word, st. 4:

Charge once more, then, and be dumb!
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body against the wall.

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