Friday 24 April 2009

BEDA the Twenty-Fourth: Time that is Intolerant

Shalom!

So I'm aware that I must go at least one week without referencing John Green as some sort of demi-God, but the fact of the matter is that the man has bloody brilliant taste in poetry. Especially when you log on to Twitter at 5:00 in the morning as you're falling asleep, see he's live, rush over to BlogTv and the first thing you note is that his cathartic voice is gently wafting the words of W. H Auden towards your welcoming ears.

He brought to my [our] attention a deleted part of the poem 'In Memory of WB Yeats', which I hadn't heard before.

"Time that is intolerant
Of the brave and the innocent,
And indifferent in a week
To a beautiful physique,

Worships language and forgives
Everyone by whom it lives;
Pardons cowardice, conceit,
Lays its honours at their feet.

Time that with this strange excuse
Pardoned Kipling and his views,
And will pardon Paul Claudel,
Pardons him for writing well."


It amazes me that I've learnt more about myself as a person and about English and how brilliant writing can be from watching the vlogbrothers videos and the live shows, than I ever learnt at school.
Suck it, Clayesmore.

This is a short, pointless blog today, but one which I plan to expand on.


Watch this space.

xo
gb

2 comments:

  1. I remember a week or two ago, on blogtv, we were discussing why people desire fame, and what kind of fame, and what exactly is fame? And we came to the conclusion that most people don't want fame in the paparazzi celebrity sense, but want to be appreciated and remembered. To have mattered. And John said that thirty, forty years ago, when you look back on your life, think about who had the most influence on your life, who helped shape you into who you are, that the answer would most always be a teacher. NO JOHN. NO. IT IS YOU. 1000x you. So awesome :D

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  2. 30, 40 years from now*

    oh dear.

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