Quote:
Originally Posted by srmom
At the boys camp that my kids have gone to during their entire youth, this poem was read over the loud speaker every night at bed time. Hopefully, a little rubbed off over the years!
The conclusion page of their website:
http://www.lajunta.com/clj/conclusion.htm |
I really like that (and wish we lived closer to that camp.) And glad you liked the poem, jojapeach.
Okay, I'm getting carried away, but what with
Burns Night having been this past Sunday, what should pop up on my iPod at lunch but one of my other favorite poems/songs on this topic of class/character: "Is There for Honest Poverty," better known as "A Man's A Man For A' That." (Aye, I'm enough of a Scots-geek that I have Rabbie Burns songs on my iPod.) This was sung at the State Opening of the Scottish Parliament, with Her Grace Elizabeth, Queen of Scots (aka Her Majesty the Queen), The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and His Royal Highness The Duke of Rothesay (aka The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales) all in attendance. (Click
here to see a nice video of it -- look for Sean Connery.) The cameras didn't show if the royals joined the Parliament in singing the final verse, but I'd like to think that they did.
To try and tie this all a
wee bit to Greekdom, Burns (like Kipling, for that matter) was a Freemason, and masonic values clearly influenced the philosophy that underlies the poem.
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a cuif for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's aboon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
(If you need a translation from Scots into English, you can find it
here. One term I'll point out -- by "coward slave," Burns meant those who allowed themselves to be treated as inferiors rather than equals of the higher classes.)
Okay, no more poems from me today.
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