tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post5256838556126197869..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: "Yet The Heart Would Counsel Ill"Stephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-9405916326426404042012-07-26T21:57:42.040-07:002012-07-26T21:57:42.040-07:00Mr. McEwan: thank you for visiting again, and for ...Mr. McEwan: thank you for visiting again, and for your thoughts. I agree that what we hear is, as you say, "simplistic and facile," and I am troubled by the presumption that lies beneath: that if certain things are "fixed," this sort of thing will never happen again. The idea that evil and brutality are irremediable elements of human nature never seems to arise. But perhaps I am too pessimistic.<br /><br />Thanks again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-22542854507599538462012-07-26T07:37:21.495-07:002012-07-26T07:37:21.495-07:00Certainly, no glibness from yourself, Mr. Pentz, b...Certainly, no glibness from yourself, Mr. Pentz, but rather, I think, from the politicians, experts, etc., and those who seek "explanations" and "understanding". What I suspect they really seek are simplistic and facile explanations to reassure that it is not our society's, or our fault, that these things happen. Far better to blame it on the "loner", the "madman", the "other". I'm minded of Eliot's line, "Human kind cannot bear very much reality." <br /> I think you have it very succinctly when you say, "profoundly shallow" - I sometimes feel we are drowning in the shallows these days.Andy McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-69598766959120753522012-07-25T17:28:45.211-07:002012-07-25T17:28:45.211-07:00alice c: thank you very much for that connection -...alice c: thank you very much for that connection -- I had forgotten about that poem. Yes: "A bee's din/A beetle-scheme" puts things in perspective.<br /><br />As always, thank you for your thoughts.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-34989260713183327892012-07-25T17:26:37.742-07:002012-07-25T17:26:37.742-07:00Merisi: thank you for stopping by again. As for t...Merisi: thank you for stopping by again. As for the poem, it reflects Housman's view of the world, which was somewhat pessimistic. Thus, it is not surprising for him to suggest that "the heart would counsel ill" -- which also, perhaps, reflects his own experience with his one great, but unrequited, love.<br /><br />I don't think that you have misunderstood the poem. But life has taught you otherwise. (Which makes you fortunate!)<br /><br />Thank you again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-6590560820815239512012-07-25T14:33:41.212-07:002012-07-25T14:33:41.212-07:00In this context, I was struck by the Geoffrey Scot...In this context, I was struck by the Geoffrey Scott poem you featured in December 2010 which I read for the first time today.<br /><br />"...A little wind puff<br />Can shake, can spill..."alice chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-91698193312136549422012-07-25T00:49:40.977-07:002012-07-25T00:49:40.977-07:00"Yet the heart would counsel ill."
That ..."Yet the heart would counsel ill."<br />That leaves me wondering. I believe the heart usually counsels right. Maybe I don't understand the poem.Merisihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16781937797213521146noreply@blogger.com