Hailey
The Riddle of the World
My Korean friend introduced me a Korean version of Alexander Pope's poem. I was very much impressed by the poem and was curious about the original version. The friend gave me the English version and immediately I was at a loss.
The Riddle of the World
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind and body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Whether he thinks too little, or too much;
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself, abus’d or disabus’d;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl’d;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.
— Alexander Pope
Now I'm trying very hard to understand each verse.
I have a few questions.
1. What does the first verse mean? I mean, "Know then thyself, presume not God to scan"; I know "thyself" is Old English for "yourself".
2. What do you take "darkly wise" to mean?
3. In "In doubt his mind and body to prefer", ...prefer what?
Any opinion is welcome.
15 lut 2011 08:27
Poprawki · 9
The Riddle of the World
My Korean friend introduced me to a Korean version of Alexander Pope's poem. I was very much impressed by the poem and was curious about the original version. The friend gave me the English version, but I was lost when I tried to read it. <strike>and immediately I was at a loss</strike>.The Riddle of the World
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind and body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Whether he thinks too little, or too much;
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself, abus’d or disabus’d;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl’d;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.
— Alexander Pope
Now I'm trying very hard to understand each verse.
This is so difficult even for English speakers to understand. Not only is it classical English, but it is poetic and the language was difficult even in Elizabethan times. What I notice, and what affects my understanding of this is that it is contrast in almost every line. The poem talks about man, and how he thinks of himself highly, but in reality is not as great as he thinks.
I have a few questions.
1. What does the first verse mean? I mean, "Know then thyself, presume not God to scan"; I know "thyself" is Old English for "yourself".
Know yourself, but understand that you can never really understand God. Man's proper place is to study himself - he's not ready to understand God.
2. What do you take "darkly wise" to mean?
Another very difficult phrase. As I'm following this, we are talking about man, and man's folly. In that context, being darkly wise would mean that he thinks himself to be wise, but actually lacks in deeper understanding. It would be contrasting what he thinks of himself with reality.
3. In "In doubt his mind and body to prefer", ...prefer what?
The word order is different from what you expect. "he" is the subject, and in doubt, he prefers his own mind and body. As I understand when I read it, "he" is mankind. In times of uncertainty, it is much easier for mankind to depend on himself, and his own mental and physical abilities than to depend on God.
Any opinion is welcome.
An opinion is what I gave. This is very difficult reading.
16 lutego 2011
Oh, it really is. Thanks!
18 lutego 2011
After a bit of research, it seems
In doubt his mind -OR- body to prefer;
Is the correct version, so now it's a bit easier to see the meaning.
18 lutego 2011
Thanks a lot Richardus, now everything is clear! :)
16 lutego 2011
1. What does the first verse mean? I mean, "Know
then thyself, presume not God to scan"; I know
"thyself" is Old English for "yourself''
Thyself is not old English, it is early modern English. It means, 'you must know yourself, but don't suppose there is a God to analyse (when you analyse yourself)'
2. What do you take "darkly wise" to mean?
This verse explains a lot:
''Placed on this isthmus of a middle state''
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that connects two bigger masses of land, e.g. Central America could be considered an isthmus connecting North and South America. The man is then on an isthmus, between two options.
He is wise sometimes, and sometimes he is completely ignorant, sometimes he is a great person, and sometimes a brute.
Many of the verses talk about this struggle. For example, that of your next question:
3. In "In doubt his mind and body to
prefer", ...prefer what?
He doubts whether to give preference to his mind or to his body. He doesn't know if he must obbey his mind, his rational part, or his body, his impulses.
'Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err' He is born just to die, and he reasons just to make mistakes
15 lutego 2011
Chcesz robić postępy szybciej?
Dołącz do społeczności uczących się i wypróbuj darmowe ćwiczenia!
Hailey
Znajomość języków
angielski, japoński, koreański
Język do nauczenia się
angielski, japoński
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