The excitement in the Middle East has forked up that mouldering compost heap of half-forgotten quotes that is this old man's mind. First I thought back to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 or 1980. A feminist from the USA went over to Iran -- why, I don't know. Did she really think that mullahs and ayatollahs believed in "You've come a long way, baby!", and that she would help craft a new society?
Maybe she thought she would at least get enough publicity to lead to a career as a professional feminist; after all, fellow travelers in the Media were eagerly hoping for a modern day version of Emma Goldman in the heady days of the Bolshevik Revolution. If memory serves, the American feminist was told to get out of Iran.
Other famous revolutions started coming to mind. What was that quote from the poet Wordsworth about the intoxication of hope in the early days of the French Revolution, and something about being young? I tried BrainyQuotes dotcom. What a worthless website! I tried my own journal, started back in the 1980s -- nothing. It's so hard to search poetry online when you can't remember which poem the quote is in!
I spent an hour flailing around online, becoming angrier by the minute at how phony our vaunted "information age" really is. Of course a certain amount of frustration is necessary in order to get any real pleasure from finally finding it. It was in Wordsworth's The Prelude (Book Eleventh, France (concluded)). The dots of ellipses are my editing:
O pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
Upon our side, us who were strong in love!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very Heaven!...
When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights
When most intent on making of herself
A prime enchantress--to assist the work,
Which then was going forward in her name!
Not favoured spots alone, but the whole Earth,
The beauty wore of promise--that which sets...
The budding rose above the rose full blown.
What temper at the prospect did not wake
To happiness unthought of? The inert
Were roused, and lively natures rapt away!
...the meek and lofty
Did both find, helpers to their hearts' desire,
And stuff at hand, plastic as they could wish,--
Were called upon to exercise their skill,
Not in Utopia...or some secreted island,
But in the very world, which is the worldAhh dear, the irruption of hope -- all things are possible! It is a violent emotion, as lust is, especially in a young person. But the world has enough history to go on to be skeptical about this Enchantress. At any rate, the emotion only occurs a couple times in an individual's life. So I'll read more of that poem near the famous lines before the opportunity is lost.
Of all of us,--the place where, in the end,
We find our happiness, or not at all!
Comments
Where would any of us be without the idealistic hope of the young? Is being old and angry better?
I want to add my 2 cents about Iran. I have long been fascinated that this section of the world, whose land contains remains of some of the earliest known human settlements, has always maintained its tribal mentalities throughout its history. One of the characteristics of tribal societies is that they do not give a hoot about anyone or anything which does not serve their tribe. Yet, there was also ancient Greece, a fasscinating experiment in democracy also so early in time. Think of their accomplishments in philosophy, architecture, etc. Unfortunately, so much evidence has been lost with time, so it's anyone's guess. But this difference fascinates me.