Dear Arni
Poetry is of no "use" at all. I think we all have to begin from that
assumption, or we're fooling ourselves. That doesn't mean however that it
doesn't matter.
Best
Alison
>At last the list livened up again, but at what cost? Much as I'm fascinated
>by the heated, eloquent posts of late (there's even the old touch of
>national pride in reverse, i.e. your foreign policy is worse than / as bad
>as ours!), I harbour a very basic doubt which may be concentrated into a
>simple question: Are there any examples anywhere at all, perhaps even neatly
>tucked away in some hidden pockets of history, where a poet / writer /
>artist / musician / dancer / singer / actor has changed the mind of a war
>lord bent on death and destruction? The build up to war is always the same,
>there's a veritable tradition to it, which makes you wonder about the
>usefulness of knowing history and/or loving poetry. The recent scurrying of
>one Mr. Blair from one country to another recalls, very uncomfortably, the
>build up to WWI as well as WWII, when such riff-raff as statesmen and
>political leaders scurried across Europe like so many ants in anticipation
>of winter. And for so many thousands of years, the notion of PEACE has been
>the core essence of all those warring religions, to most of which I have a
>natural aversion. What's the use of history? What's the use of powetree?
>
>Love and peace
>
>Arni
>
>
>--
>Árni Ibsen
>Stekkjarkinn 19,
>220 Hafnarfjördur,
>Iceland
>
>tel.: +354-555-3991
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>http://www.centrum.is/~aibsen/
>
>
>
>
>
Alison Croggon
Home page
http://users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
Masthead
http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
|