Poems, and phancies written By the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, And Excellent Princess The Lady Marchioness of Newcastle [i.e. Margaret Cavendish]. The Second Impression, much Altered and Corrected |
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 | Poems, and phancies |  |
A Dialogue betwixt Learning and Ignorance.
Learn.Thou busie Forester, that seek'st about
The World, to find the Heart of Learning out;
Or Perseus like, foul Monsters thou dost Kill,
Rude Ignorance, which nothing dost but Ill.
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Proud Learning, thou that stands on Tip-toes high,
Yet canst not reach to know the Deity,
Nor where the Cause of any one thing lies,
But fill'st Man full of Care and Miseries.
Learning inflames the Thoughts to take great pains,
Doth nought but make an Alms-tub of the Brains.
Learn.
Learning doth seek about, new things to find,
In that Pursute doth Recreate the Mind;
It is a Perspective, Nature to Spy,
Can all her Curiosity descry.
Ignor.
Learning's a useless Pain, unless it have.
Some ways or means to keep us from the Grave;
For what is all the World if understood,
If we it do not Use, nor Taste its good?
Learning may come to know the Use of things,
Yet not receive the Good which from them Springs;
For Life is short, and Learning long; Ere we
May come to Use what's Learned, Dead we be.
Learn.
O Ignorance, thou Beast, which Lazy liest,
And only Eat'st and Sleepest, till thou Diest.
Ignor.
The Lesson, Nature taught, is, Most delight
To please the Senses and the Appetite.
I Ignorance am still the Heav'n of Bliss;
For in me lies the truest Happiness:
Give me but Ignorance, that harmless 'state,
That Paradise that's free from Envious hate;
Learning that Tree was, whereon Knowledge grew,
Tasting that Fruit, Man nought but Misery knew;
Had Man to Ignorance but had more Love,
He Happy would have been, as th'Gods above.
Learn.
O Ignorance, how Foolish doest thou Talk?
Is't Happiness in Ignorance to walk?
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Or Pleasure more in Blindness than in Sight?
| Poems, and phancies | |