Introduction HEAR IT AGAIN 'For out of olde feldes, as men Where any nation starts awake Cometh al this newe corne yer by yere, Books are the memory. And it's plain And out of olde bokes, in good feyth, Decay of libraries is like Cometh al this newe science that men lere.' Alzheimer's in the nation's brain. Chaucer: The Parlement of Foules And in my own day in my own land Fourteen centuries have learned, I have trial the fiery whisper: 'We are here From charred remains, that what took place To destroy the Book When Alexandria's library burned To destroy the rooted stock of the Book and Brain-damaged the human race. The Book's perennial vintage, destroy it Not with a hammer or a sickle And not exactly according to Mao who also Whatever escaped Drained the skull of adult and adolescent Was hidden by bookish monks in their damp To build a shining new society cells With the empties...' Hunted by Alfred dug for by Charlemagne Got through the Dark Ages little enough but enough For this one's dreams and that one's acts, For Dante and Chaucer sitting up all night For all who've failed or aged beyond looking for light. The reach of teachers, here are found The inspiration and the facts. A Serbian Prof's insanity, Commanding guns, to split the heart, As we all know and have heard all our lives His and his people's, tore apart Just as we've heard that here. The Sarajevo library. Even the most misfitting child Tyrants know where to aim Who's chanced upon the library's worth, As Hitler poured his petrol and tossed Sits with the genius of the Earth matches And turns the key to the whole world. Stalin collected the bards... In other words the mobile and only Hear it again. libraries... of all those enslaved peoples from the Black Ted Hughes, July 1997 to the Bering Sea And made a bonfire Of the mainsprings of national identities to melt the folk into one puddle And the three seconds of the present moment By massacring those wordy fellows whose Published for the first time with thanks to memories were bigger than armies. Carol Hughes and the estate of Ted Hughes.
Introduction HEAR IT AGAIN 'For out of olde feldes, as men Cometh al this newe corne yer by yere, And out of olde bokes, in good feyth, Cometh al this newe science that men lere.' Chaucer: The Parlement of Foules Fourteen centuries have learned, From charred remains, that what took place When Alexandria's library burned Brain-damaged the human race. Whatever escaped Was hidden by bookish monks in their damp cells Hunted by Alfred dug for by Charlemagne Got through the Dark Ages little enough but enough For Dante and Chaucer sitting up all night looking for light. A Serbian Prof's insanity, Commanding guns, to split the heart, His and his people's, tore apart The Sarajevo library. Tyrants know where to aim As Hitler poured his petrol and tossed matches Stalin collected the bards... In other words the mobile and only libraries... of all those enslaved peoples from the Black to the Bering Sea And made a bonfire Of the mainsprings of national identities to melt the folk into one puddle And the three seconds of the present moment By massacring those wordy fellows whose memories were bigger than armies. Where any nation starts awake Books are the memory. And it's plain Decay of libraries is like Alzheimer's in the nation's brain. And in my own day in my own land I have the fiery whisper: 'We are here To destroy the Book To destroy the rooted stock of the Book and The Book's perennial vintage, destroy it Not with a hammer or a sickle And not exactly according to Mao who also Drained the skull of adult and adolescent To build a shining new society With the empties...' For this one's dreams and that one's acts, For all who've failed or aged beyond The reach of teachers, here are found The inspiration and the facts. As we all know and have heard all our lives Just as we've heard that here. Even the most misfitting child Who's chanced upon the library's worth, Sits with the genius of the Earth And turns the key to the whole world. Hear it again. Ted Hughes, July 1997 Published for the first time with thanks to Carol Hughes and the estate of Ted Hughes. trial
ELending_Review.docx