Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
Alexander Pope
Orion's Cold Fire
All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
Alexander Pope
I favor Odysseus’ view:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
‘T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the Western stars, until I die.
-Homer, The Odyssey”
I applaud the adventurer and explorer. Tennyson plays that up. But I remember that Odysseus finally weeps when Penelope is convinced that he is truly her husband returned after twenty years and not some god in disguise. She uses the secret of his use of an olive trunk to fasten their marriage bed to the foundation of the house to test his identity and thereby show him that she had kept his home and family intact and loyal for all those years of war and loneliness. And I remember that Odysseus pretended to be mad when Agamemnon came looking for… Read more »