Wednesday, June 17, 2020

"Heraclitus," by William Conroy

Two-stanza poem about the philosopher (c. 535-475 B.C.) who believed the universe was made of fire and changed constantly. He's also given credit for the admonition, "You can't step in the same river twice" [because the river constantly changes form]. Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a poem called "That Nature Is a Heraclitan Fire," managing both to agree with Heraclitus and to assert the Judeo-Christian God's supremacy. Heraclitus lived in area called "Caria," so the speaker of the poem calls him "my Carian guest." The area was in what is now Turkey, and it was controlled by Persians at the time. This poem is very pro-bird.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ARAfSswCGk

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