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Article: Love is the measure.
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- February 13, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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From the particular to the universal
First, two poems - one from the beginning of (more or less) modern English, the other contemporary.
Western wind, when will thou blow, The small rain down can rain? Christ, if my love were in my arms And I in my bed again!
This was written by the always prolific Anonymous, probably during the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The next:
Wide, wide, in the rose's side Sleeps a child without sin, And any man who loves in this world Stands here on guard over him.
This was written by the American poet Kenneth Patchen in 1957. What fascinates me about both poems is that although they are separated by ...