St Johnsbury Academy - Lamp Yearbook (St Johnsbury, VT)

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THE ACADEMY STUDENT 11 Today .lames Thompson tinds life a City of the Dreadful Nightng T. S. Eliot suggests that the modern world is a Waste l.and. The poetry of Housman is steeped in philosophic pessimism. Ay, look: high heaven and earth ail from the prime foundationg All thoughts to rive the heart are here, and all are vaing Horror and scorn and hate and fear and indignationg Uh, why did I awake? When shall l sleep again? A step out of this complete despair is found in the idea of certain Greek philosophers that pleasure is the final object of life. Such a philosophy has probably been voiced in every tongue and in every age but nowhere more vividly than by the eleventh century poet Omar lihayyam in his famous Rubaiyat. Oh, take the cash and let the credit go. Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum! Uh, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the dust descend, Dust i11to dust, and under dust to lie, Sans wine, sans song, sans singer, and sans end. In our own day, Edna St. vincent Millay sings in similar mood: .4 I burn my candle at both endsg lt will not last the night But ah, my foes, and oh. my friends, lt gives a lovely light. Probably one of the best loved poems in the English language is Thomas Grayls Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. The reason for its popularity is not far to seekg it is very soothing for those who have failed. l'erhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial tireg Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed. Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bearg lfull many a flower is born to blush unseen, ,-Xnd waste its sweetness on the desert air. Some village llampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrant of his fields withstood: Some mute, inglorious lVlilton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood. This attitude, that no matter what may be the outcome of life or how complete the failure. it is not the fault of the individual but of circumstance, differs sharply from that of another group of poets. who say that even if life is hard and cruel one must bear it bravely to the end, enduring calmly, even grimly, whatever it brings. This is the message of Emily Bronte's The Old Stoic .

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10 THE ACADEMY STUDENT part into the hand-to-hand fighting which has been typical of wars for een-- turies. If wars shall continue to occur. it seems that the work of the scientific method in saving lives which would otherwise have been lost and in devising protections against war weapons will be of greater importance than what science has done to facilitate war. The material products of scientific research thus appear to be the cause of injury to mankind, rather than science itself. Men use them without under- standing the scientific method which produced them. For example, in the lum- ber business, scientific methods are frequently used to make the cutting of trees more efficient and quicker. But the same method is not applied to the problem of vanishing forests, which is the basic cause of spring floods. If the men who clear the forests would discover by experiment where to leave enough trees to prevent floods, a cause of great distress and expense would be elimin- ated. lt is also true that this method can be used to advantage in solving other problems. VVhen the scientific method is used in abstract as well as in concrete problems, then will science cease to injure mankind in any wayg that is, if science has injured mankind. it is not because science has gone too far, but because it has not yet gone far enough. ---Duncan Corliss SALUTATORY ESSAY PHILOSOPHY AND THE POETS f'l'oetry is a sort of musical shorthand capable of expressing in a few words vast areas of experience, as well as the realm of the imagination beyond experience. This is one definition of poetry. VVhile all thinking people at times feel the enigma of life and long for an explanation. poets feel life's problems more sensitively than others and at times have clearer glimpses of truth. Because poets seek expression in language they leave a record of their inner experiences, experiences which range from despair to ecstasy. In the poetry of all ages and in all the poetry of any age one finds expression of both these attitudes. Many early poets and dozens of modern ones have felt that life is hope- less, that materialism and disillusion have created discord. Swinburne wrote in the nineteenth century- Here life has death for neighbor And far from eye or ear Wan waves and wet winds labor VVeak ships and spirits steerg They drive adrift and whither They wot not who make thitherg But no such winds blow hither, And no such things grow here.

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12 THE ACADEMY STUDENT Yes, as llly swift days near their goal, 'Tis all that l implore: lll life and death a chainless soul lNith courage to endure. Prayer by Louis Untermeyer is also concerned with the general struggle of life, yet this poet asks not for victory, but rather the ability to learn from defeat, to refuse to grow comfortably self-satisfied, and to share the ugliness as well as the loveliness of life. God, though this life is but a wraith, Although we know not what we use, Although we grope with little faith, Give me the heart to light -f and lose. Ever insurgent let me be, Make me more daring than devout, From sleek contentment keep me free, And fill me with a buoyant doubt. Open my ears to music, let Me thrill with Springls first flutes and drums- But never let me dare forget The bitter ballads of the slums. The most perplexing problem to thinkers since the beginning of time is the so-called problem of evil. How can a belief in a good and omnipotent God be reconciled with the injustice and suffering we see about us? Alexander Pope, living in the eighteenth century age of reason, attempts a scientific answer. lie says that if we could only grasp the whole scheme of the universe, we should be able, like God, to view suffering in the proper perspective and calmly observe that we are all parts of one stupendous NN'hole, whose body Nature is, and God the soul. All Nature is but Art unknown to theeg All chance, direction, which thou canst not see, All discord, harmony not understoodg All partial evil. universal good. :Xnd spite of Pride, in erring Reasons spite, Une truth is clear, Whatever is, is right. Since man is capable of reasoning, Pope maintains that reason can and will govern life. Perhaps an even more optimistic attitude is taken by Robert Browning in Rabbi Ben Ezra. Yet gifts should prove their use: I own the Past profuse Of power each side, perfection every twin: Eyes, ears took in their dole, Brain treasured up the whole, Should not the heart beat once How good to live and learn?