[lit-ideas] Re: Dark Thoughts on Iraq


AA:
Good fences make good neighbors.


Current in America as early as 1850, "Good fences make good neighbors" can be traced to the Spanish, "Una pared entre dos vezinos guarda mas (haze durar) la amistad," which goes back at least to the Middle Ages. In this form, Vicesimus Knox translated it for his compendium of Elegant Extracts in 1797, and in 1832 Emerson recorded it in his journal-"A wall between both, best preserves friendship." That Frost encountered the idea in Emerson's published journals is probable, though it seems more likely that he found its precise expression elsewhere. http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/wall.htm

It always amuses me when people quote this proverb especially when they preface it with literary showmanship: "As Robert Frost wrote...." But they always seem completely oblivious to the fact that Frost was being sincerely sarcastic. So much so that I can't believe anyone would continue to use the proverb in an unironic way. But there you go.

Mike Geary
chanting a line of Amiri Baraka
"Up against the wall, motherfucker!"



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