Monday, May 03, 2010

When Sun Is Set, the Little Stars Will Shine

Scorn Not the Least
by Robert Southwell


Where wards are weak and foes encount'ring strong,
Where mightier do assault than do defend,
The feebler part puts up enforcèd wrong,
And silent sees that speech could not amend.
Yet higher powers must think, though they repine,
When sun is set, the little stars will shine.

While pike doth range the seely tench doth fly,
And crouch in privy creeks with smaller fish ;
Yet pikes are caught when little fish go by,
These fleet afloat while those do fill the dish.
There is a time even for the worm to creep,
And suck the dew while all her foes do sleep.

The merlin cannot ever soar on high,
Nor greedy greyhound still pursue the chase ;
The tender lark will find a time to fly,
And fearful hare to run a quiet race :
He that high growth on cedars did bestow,
Gave also lowly mushrumps leave to grow.

In Aman's pomp poor Mardocheus wept,
Yet God did turn his fate upon his foe ;
The lazar pined while Dives' feast was kept,
Yet he to heaven, to Hell did Dives go.
We trample grass, and prize the flowers of May,
Yet grass is green when flowers do fade away.
M ↓   Markdown
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Anonymous
0 points
9 years ago

Ah, good, this gives me time to get another copy of Villette. I finished it in a late-night spurt that took me to 3am, and then gave it to a friend who was passing through before a transatlantic flight. There certainly is a lot to say about it, starting with the fascinating unreliability of the narrator herself.

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branemrys
0 points
9 years ago

There are indeed some interesting things about the way the narrator is handled here, along with this omnipresent theme of surveillance.

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Anonymous
0 points
9 years ago

+JMJ+

I'm still in the first half of Villette myself. It has been an interesting read so far, and I just may get a Reading Diary entry out of it, too!

Enbrethiliel

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branemrys
0 points
9 years ago

I'll keep any eye out for it!

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Enbrethiliel
0 points
9 years ago

+JMJ+

By the way, that link about Iceland's faeries is the best thing I've read all week! (Eat your heart out, Charlotte Bronte!) I must confess, though, that the best part was the indignant commenter who took out her frustration at an ostensibly secular government's decision in favour of the supernatural by insulting every other commenter who shared a personal eerie encounter. LOL!

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branemrys
0 points
9 years ago

It is a bit funny how quickly that escalated.