The Mouths of the Best Poets: A Few Notes On Mortality, Compassion and Wisdom
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“The mouths of the best poets,” Mark Heard sang, “speak but a few words, then lay down stone-cold in forgotten fields.” If even Shakespeare, Longfellow and Galway Kinell pass into the dark, how much more quickly will we, the mundane, be forgotten? To illustrate this point, I once asked a classroom full of students to raise their hands if they knew their fathers’ names. All hands went up. I then asked them to raise their hands if they knew their grandfathers’ names. Nearly the same number of hands went into the air. When I asked how many knew their great-grandfathers’ names, few hands were raised. When I finally asked how many knew their great-great-grandfathers’ names, not a single hand was raised.
The Mouths of the Best Poets: A Few Notes On Mortality, Compassion and Wisdom
The Mouths of the Best Poets: A Few Notes On…
The Mouths of the Best Poets: A Few Notes On Mortality, Compassion and Wisdom
“The mouths of the best poets,” Mark Heard sang, “speak but a few words, then lay down stone-cold in forgotten fields.” If even Shakespeare, Longfellow and Galway Kinell pass into the dark, how much more quickly will we, the mundane, be forgotten? To illustrate this point, I once asked a classroom full of students to raise their hands if they knew their fathers’ names. All hands went up. I then asked them to raise their hands if they knew their grandfathers’ names. Nearly the same number of hands went into the air. When I asked how many knew their great-grandfathers’ names, few hands were raised. When I finally asked how many knew their great-great-grandfathers’ names, not a single hand was raised.