War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy6/9/2023 ![]() ![]() And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame? My dear, then I will serve. George Herbert, in the conclusion of his poetic tome, The Temple, wrote, “Love took my hand, and smiling did reply Who made the eyes but I? Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve. ![]() “or smiles from reason flow/To brute denied, and are of love the food/Love, not the lowest end of human life,” wrote Milton in Paradise Lost. Love, and the struggle for love, runs replete through the great poetry of the ages. Given that the birth of literature is tied to lyric verse, and that the great works of ancient literature-being chiefly lyric poetry-were sung, it is unsurprising that the greatest works of literature have love as their central focus. The Bible obsessively concerns itself with love the high point being the poetic works, namely the Psalms, and the wisdom literature, especially Sirach and the Song of Songs. ![]() The works of Homer run replete with the theme of love. The oldest work of extent literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, wrestles with love. Love has been tied with literature from the beginning. It is the theme of all great philosophy, from Plato to Augustine to Schelling. As Prince Andrei lay dying beside Natasha and his sister, Princess Marya, he reflects inward, “Love? What is love?” Love is the theme of all great literature, from Homer and Dante to Milton, Herbert, and Tennyson. ![]()
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