[etni] Re: Charge of the Light Brigade and Oz Letmura
- From: "sbshai" <sbshai@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 23:00:49 +0200
I stand corrected, David, with my apologies to Tennyson (and my eighth grade
English teacher, who introduced us to many poet laureates)!
It's interesting that I remember the history that inspired the poem, yet
managed to change the conjunction to suit OUR situation.
Anyway, it gives us something to which we can apply our higher order
thinking skills as we compare and contrast these two statements: "... to do
and die" vs. "to do or die".
I hope I'm not misquoting the adage when I say that, with respect to
choosing between the two alternatives, we're rather "caught between a rock
and a hard place"!
Chodesh tov and Shabbat Shalom,
Batya
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Graniewitz" <graniewitz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <sbshai@xxxxxxxxxxx>; <judyewc@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, 06 January, 2011 6:41 PM
Subject: Charge of the Light Brigade and Oz Letmura
>I just felt that I must point out that Batya (whose posts I
> always enjoy, I must say) mis-quoted Tennyson. The actual
> line is
>
> "Theirs not to make reply,
> Theirs not to reason why,
> Theirs but to do AND die"
>
> rather than do OR die. The point was that the soldiers of
> the Light Brigade realised that the order to charge the
> Russian guns was nonsensical and that the charge itself
> would be suicidal. However, they felt that they had no
> choice in the matter. Tennyson, the Poet Laureate, was
> praising the fact that they did not disobey orders. I have
> always understood this in the light of the year of
> revolutions, 1848, that came a few years before the Crimean
> War broke out. The fact that the Light Brigade had obeyed an
> order despite the fact that in the words of the
> poem "someone had blundered" would serve as an example for
> the whole of Britain in that the social order in a class-
> ridden society could be maintained.
>
> I know that this is an oft-misquoted line but the difference
> is significant.
>
> I now leave it for you, dear readers, to find the parallels
> with HOTS and "Oz letmura".
>
> Shabbat Shalom
> David Graniewitz
>
> Jerusalem
>
-----------------------------------------------
** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org
** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
-----------------------------------------------
Other related posts:
