lest we remember
Drummer Hodge by Thomas Hardy
I
They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
Uncoffined: just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest
That breaks the veldt around;
and foreign constellations west
each night aboe his mound.
II
Young Hodge the Drummer never knew -
fresh from his Wessex home -
the meaning of the broad Karoo,
the bush, the dusty loam,
and why uprose to nightly view
Strange stars amid the gloam.
III
Yet portion of that unknown plain
will Hodge forever be;
his homely Northern brest and brain
Grow to some southern tree
and strange-eyed constellations reign
his stars eternally
its got such music. ahah. i expect i will have much different perspectives on this later on. was written during the war.
the vedlt is the open rural spaces of south africa.
the loam is some sort of soil good for gardening
Karoo is a place, like Wessex in England.
kopje-crest is a sort of small hill.
knowing these terms make it easier to understand the poem. hahah. nice poem.
just watched The History Boys.
funny.
im not happy, but im not unhappy about it.
-Posner.
i have an interesting story.
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrain philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathermatics, the philosophy of the mind, the philosophy of language and is generally regarded as one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers.
his parents were both very musical and all their children were artistically and intellectually educated. Older brother Paul Wittgenstein became a world famous concert pianist, even after losing an arm in World War 1, and Ludwig himself had absolute pitch. (i hate families like these). he was also unusually adept at whistling lengthy and detailed musical passages and also of course was talented in many other things. But as usual, his family had a history of intense self-criticism with depression and suicidal tendencies.
three out of his four brothers commited suicide. he studied at school with Hitler, and like Hitler, hated school and had vocabulary no better than Hitler. also, extermely unsociable. Ludwig was interested in physics and wanted to study with Ludwig Boltzman, but Boltzman committed suicide in 1906. he benefacted Trakl, an artist (of course he was rich) and went to meet him years later, but Trakl committed suicide a few days before he arrived.
HAHA.
its funnier when you read the whole biography.
its just a whole commiting suicide story. hahahahahha
tyyypicall.
does knowing so much/ thinking so much/ thinking you know so much make you so depressed?
i can see how it may be.
one small slip and you can slide down and never come back up.
which is why we should all be careful before we slip into the brink of death and despair, o my lady.