Helplessness of the human infant in 'De rerum natura'
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Difference between revisions)
| Revision as of 20:50, 3 February 2014 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 20:53, 3 February 2014 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
| Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
| - | Imitated by [[William Wordsworth]] in To , "[[Upon the Birth of her First-Born Child]], March 1833 1 — 12: | + | Imitated by [[William Wordsworth]] in To , "[[Upon the Birth of her First-Born Child]], March 1833 |
| - | "Like a shipwrecked Sailor tost / By rough waves on a perilous | + | :"Like a shipwrecked Sailor tost |
| - | coast, / Lies the Babe, in helplessness, / And in tenderest nakedness, / Flung by | + | :By rough waves on a perilous coast, |
| - | labouring Nature forth / Upon the mercies of the earth. / Can its eyes beseech? no | + | :Lies the Babe, in helplessness |
| - | more / Than the hands arc free to implore: / Voice but serves for one brief cry; / | + | :And in tenderest nakedness |
| - | Plaint was it? or prophesy / Of sorrow that will surely come? / Omen of man's | + | :Flung by labouring Nature forth |
| - | grievous doom!" | + | :Upon the mercies of the earth. |
| + | :Can its eyes beseech? no more | ||
| + | :Than the hands arc free to implore: | ||
| + | :Voice but serves for one brief cry; | ||
| + | :Plaint was it? or prophesy | ||
| + | :Of sorrow that will surely come? | ||
| + | :Omen of man's grievous doom!" | ||
| :Lucr.'s comment on the appropriateness of the newborn baby's crying has been interpreted as pessimistic, but, although it cannot be dismissed as nothing more than a joke (both the crying of newborn babies and the unhappiness of most human beings are facts), account should be taken not only of the polemical nature of the whole passage, but also of an element of playfulness seen also in the remark, which immediately follows the comment about what awaits the baby, that the young of animals do not need rattles or a nurse's prattle to keep them contented. Lucr. was certainly no pessimist, believing as he did that, thanks to Epicurus, we can achieve a happiness comparable to that of the gods. [http://archive.org/stream/LucretiusOnTheNatureOfThingsdeRerumNatura/Lucretius_On_the_Nature_of_Things_djvu.txt] | :Lucr.'s comment on the appropriateness of the newborn baby's crying has been interpreted as pessimistic, but, although it cannot be dismissed as nothing more than a joke (both the crying of newborn babies and the unhappiness of most human beings are facts), account should be taken not only of the polemical nature of the whole passage, but also of an element of playfulness seen also in the remark, which immediately follows the comment about what awaits the baby, that the young of animals do not need rattles or a nurse's prattle to keep them contented. Lucr. was certainly no pessimist, believing as he did that, thanks to Epicurus, we can achieve a happiness comparable to that of the gods. [http://archive.org/stream/LucretiusOnTheNatureOfThingsdeRerumNatura/Lucretius_On_the_Nature_of_Things_djvu.txt] | ||
Revision as of 20:53, 3 February 2014
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Helplessness of the human baby in 'De rerum natura':
- The child is like a sailor cast up by the sea,
- lying naked on the shore, unable to speak,
- helpless, when first it comes to the light of day,
- shed from the womb through all the pains of labor,
- De Rerum Natura[1] tr. partly from Sisson and Rouse
Imitated by William Wordsworth in To , "Upon the Birth of her First-Born Child, March 1833
- "Like a shipwrecked Sailor tost
- By rough waves on a perilous coast,
- Lies the Babe, in helplessness
- And in tenderest nakedness
- Flung by labouring Nature forth
- Upon the mercies of the earth.
- Can its eyes beseech? no more
- Than the hands arc free to implore:
- Voice but serves for one brief cry;
- Plaint was it? or prophesy
- Of sorrow that will surely come?
- Omen of man's grievous doom!"
- Lucr.'s comment on the appropriateness of the newborn baby's crying has been interpreted as pessimistic, but, although it cannot be dismissed as nothing more than a joke (both the crying of newborn babies and the unhappiness of most human beings are facts), account should be taken not only of the polemical nature of the whole passage, but also of an element of playfulness seen also in the remark, which immediately follows the comment about what awaits the baby, that the young of animals do not need rattles or a nurse's prattle to keep them contented. Lucr. was certainly no pessimist, believing as he did that, thanks to Epicurus, we can achieve a happiness comparable to that of the gods. [2]
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Helplessness of the human infant in 'De rerum natura'" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
