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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=415756" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>A Vision of a Wrangler, of a University, of Pedantry, and of Philosophy</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Deep St. Mary's bell had sounded, <br>And the twelve notes gently rounded <br>Endless chimneys that surrounded <br>My abode in Trinity. <br>(Letter G, Old Court, South Attics), <br>I shut up my mathematics, <br>That confounded hydrostatics -- <br>Sink it in the deepest sea!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In the grate the flickering embers <br>Served to show how dull November’s <br>Fogs had stamped my torpid members, <br>Like a plucked and skinny goose. <br>And as I prepared for bed, I <br>Asked myself with voice unsteady, <br>If of all the stuff I read, I <br>Ever made the slightest use. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Late to bed and early rising, <br>Ever luxury despising, <br>Ever training, never "sizing," <br>I have suffered with the rest. <br>Yellow cheek and forehead ruddy, <br>Memory confused and muddy, <br>These are the effects of study <br>Of a subject so unblest.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Look beyond, and see the wrangler, <br>Now become a College dangler, <br>Court some spiritual angler, <br>Nibbling at his golden bait. <br>Hear him silence restive Reason, <br>Her advice is out of season, <br>While her lord is plotting treason <br>Gainst himself, and Church or State.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">See him next with place and pension, <br>And the very best intention <br>Of upholding that Convention <br>Under which his fortunes rose. <br>Every scruple is rejected, <br>With his cherished schemes connected, <br>"Higher Powers may be neglected -- <br>His result no further goes."</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Much he lauds the education <br>Which has raised to lofty station, <br>Men, whose powers of calculation <br>Calculation’s self defied. <br>How the learned fool would wonder <br>Were he now to see his blunder, <br>When he put his reason under <br>The control of worldly Pride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thus I muttered, very seedy, <br>Husky was my throat, and reedy; <br>And no wonder, for indeed I <br>Now had caught a dreadful cold. <br>Thickest fog had settled slowly <br>Round the candle, burning lowly, <br>Round the fire, where melancholy <br>Traced retreating hills of gold.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Still those papers lay before me -- <br>Problems made express to bore me, <br>When a silent change came o’er me, <br>In my hard uneasy chair. <br>Fire and fog, and candle faded, <br>Spectral forms the room invaded, <br>Little creatures, that paraded <br>On the problems lying there.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Fathers there, of every college, <br>Led the glorious ranks of knowledge, <br>Men, whose virtues all acknowledge <br>Levied the proctorial fines; <br>There the modest Moderators, <br>Set apart as arbitrators <br>’Twixt contending calculators, <br>Scrutinised the trembling lines.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All the costly apparatus, <br>That is meant to elevate us <br>To the intellectual status <br>Necessary for degrees -- <br>College tutors -- private coaches -- <br>Line the Senate-house approaches. <br>If our Alma Mater dote, she’s <br>Taken care of well by these.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Much I doubted if the vision <br>Were the simple repetition <br>Of the statements of Commission, <br>Strangely jumbled, oddly placed. <br>When an awful form ascended, <br>And with cruel words defended <br>Those abuses that offended <br>My unsanctioned private taste. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Angular in form and feature, <br>Unlike any earthly creature, <br>She had properties to meet your <br>Eye whatever you might view. <br>Hair of pens and skin of paper; <br>Breath, not breath but chemic vapour; <br>Dress, -- such dress as College Draper <br>Fashions with precision due.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Eyes of glass, with optic axes <br>Twisting rays of light as flax is <br>Twisted, while the Parallax is <br>Made to show the real size. <br>Primary and secondary <br>Focal lines in planes contrary, <br>Sum up all that's known to vary <br>In those dull, unmeaning eyes.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Such the eyes, through which all Nature <br>Seems reduced to meaner stature. <br>If you had them you would hate your <br>Symbolising sense of sight. <br>Seeing planets in their courses <br>Thick beset with arrowy "forces," <br>While the common eye no more sees <br>Than their mild and quiet light.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">"Son," she said (what could be queerer <br>Than thus tête-à-tête to hear her <br>Talk, in tones approaching nearer <br>To a saw's than aught beside? <br>For the voice the spectre spoke in <br>Might be known by many a token <br>To proceed from metal, broken <br>When acoustic tricks were tried.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Little pleased to hear the Siren <br>"Own" me thus with voice of iron, <br>I had thoughts of just retiring <br>From a mother such a fright). <br>"No," she said, "the time is pressing, <br>So before I give my blessing, <br>I’ll excuse you from confessing <br>What you thought of me to-night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">"Powers!" she cried, with hoarse devotion, <br>"Give my son the clearest notion <br>How to compass sure promotion, <br>And take care of Number One. <br>Let his college course be pleasant, <br>Let him ever, as at present, <br>Seem to have read what he hasn't, <br>And to do what can’t be done.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of the Philosophic Spirit <br>Richly may my son inherit; <br>As for Poetry, inter it <br>With the myths of other days. <br>Cut the thing entirely, lest yon <br>College Don should put the question, <br>Why not stick to what you're best on? <br>Mathematics always pays."</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As the Hag was thus proceeding <br>To prescribe my course of reading, <br>And as I was faintly pleading, <br>Hardly knowing what to say, <br>Suddenly, my head inclining <br>I beheld a light form shining; <br>And the withered beldam, whining, <br>Saw the same and slunk away.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then the vision, growing brighter, <br>Seemed to make my garret lighter; <br>As when noisome fogs of night are <br>Scattered by the rising sun. <br>Nearer still it grew and nearer, <br>Till my straining eyes caught clearer <br>Glimpses of a being dearer, <br>Dearer still than Number One. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">In that well-remembered Vision <br>I was led to the decision <br>Still to hold in calm derision <br>Pedantry, however draped; <br>Since that artificial spectre <br>Proved a paltry sub-collector, <br>And had nothing to connect her <br>With the being whom she aped.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I could never finish telling <br>You of her that has her dwelling <br>Where those springs of truth are welling, <br>Whence all streams of beauty run. <br>She has taught me that creation <br>Bears the test of calculation, <br>But that Man forgets his station <br>If he stops when that is done.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Is our algebra the measure <br>Of that unexhausted treasure <br>That affords the purest pleasure, <br>Ever found when it is sought? <br>Let us rather, realising <br>The conclusions thence arising <br>Nature more than symbols prizing, <br>Learn to worship as we ought.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Worship? Yes, what worship better <br>Than when free'd from every fetter <br>That the uninforming letter <br>Rivets on the tortured mind, <br>Man, with silent admiration <br>Sees the glories of Creation, <br>And, in holy contemplation, <br>Leaves the learned crowd behind!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=James+Clerk+Maxwell">James Clerk Maxwell</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=415756" data-title="A Vision of a Wrangler, of a University, of Pedantry, and of Philosophy de James Clerk Maxwell" data-description="Deep St. Mary's bell had sounded, And the twelve notes gently rounded Endless chimneys that surrounded My abode in Trinity. (Letter G, Old Court, South Attics), I shut up my mathematics, That confounded hydrostatics -- Sink it in the deepes..."></div> </div> </div>
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