Here's a choice. But very much N O T my own! Having said that, it makes for a harder 'live'.
I'm reading 'Room With a View' and Lucy sings:
"Look not thou on beauty’s charming, Sit thou still when kings are arming, Taste not when the wine-cup glistens, Speak not when the people listens, Stop thine ear against the singer, From the red gold keep thy finger; Vacant heart and hand and eye, Easy live and quiet die."
- Sir Walter Scott from The Bride of Lammermoor.
It reminds me of Dylan Thomas : Do not Go Gentle ...
I've never read 'Room With a View' although I've seen the film several times or more. I always recall the wistful tones with which Lucy sang "Easy live and quiet die." Quite the opposite, I thought, to DT's "Rage, rage against the dying of the light.".
Absolutely the opposite Geeb. Thomas is saying 'don't give up!' and Lucy (where she was at the time - muddled and fooling herself she didn't love George) is wanting to deny all feelings and risks and take on the 'quiet' life ironically propounded by Scott. At least, I believe him to be being ironical - stating what he doesn't believe. I also like the way the two clergy in the story, Mr Beebe and Mr Eager, represent the two views.
I've never read 'Room With a View' although I've seen the film several times or more. I always recall the wistful tones with which Lucy sang "Easy live and quiet die." Quite the opposite, I thought, to DT's "Rage, rage against the dying of the light.".
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely the opposite Geeb. Thomas is saying 'don't give up!' and Lucy (where she was at the time - muddled and fooling herself she didn't love George) is wanting to deny all feelings and risks and take on the 'quiet' life ironically propounded by Scott. At least, I believe him to be being ironical - stating what he doesn't believe. I also like the way the two clergy in the story, Mr Beebe and Mr Eager, represent the two views.
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