04-04-2010, 06:40 PM
Poem: Say not the struggle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLUpP9UIlmI
Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been, things remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back through creeks and inlets making
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.
Synopsis of the poem by:
Ian McCarthy
In this poem Clough is saying that although we may not notice any improvement in our condition or in the struggle for a better world, perhaps, change is happening - it's just that we can't see it yet.
The first image is of a battlefield during a battle that we seem to be losing, or at least not winning, but perhaps we cannot see through the smoke that our comrades are winning and only we have made no progress. 'If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars' = maybe our hopes were illusions but our fears may be just as unreal.
The second image is of the sea, of which we notice only 'tired waves' that make no progress, but elsewhere the tide is coming in, unstoppable, relentless.
The final image is of the sun at dawn, which seems to rise so slowly as we look at it through eastern windows, but behind us the land is already bright, the day has already come!
So the message is: don't worry, change happens, and yes, we can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLUpP9UIlmI
Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been, things remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back through creeks and inlets making
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.
Synopsis of the poem by:
Ian McCarthy
In this poem Clough is saying that although we may not notice any improvement in our condition or in the struggle for a better world, perhaps, change is happening - it's just that we can't see it yet.
The first image is of a battlefield during a battle that we seem to be losing, or at least not winning, but perhaps we cannot see through the smoke that our comrades are winning and only we have made no progress. 'If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars' = maybe our hopes were illusions but our fears may be just as unreal.
The second image is of the sea, of which we notice only 'tired waves' that make no progress, but elsewhere the tide is coming in, unstoppable, relentless.
The final image is of the sun at dawn, which seems to rise so slowly as we look at it through eastern windows, but behind us the land is already bright, the day has already come!
So the message is: don't worry, change happens, and yes, we can!