Jeff VanderMeer book City of Saints and Madmen
"The Transformation of Martin Lake", epigram, p. 130
City of Saints and Madmen (2001–2004)
“Meadows trim, with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide;
Towers and balements it sees
Bosomed high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps some beauty lies,
The cynosure of neighboring eyes.”
Source: L'Allegro (1631), Line 75
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Do you have more details about the quote "Meadows trim, with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide;
Towers and balements it sees
Bosomed high in tufte…" by John Milton?
John Milton190
English epic poet 1608–1674Related quotes
Francesco Petrarca Il Canzoniere
Questa vita terrena è quasi un prato,
che 'l serpente tra' fiori et l'erba giace;
et s'alcuna sua vista agli occhi piace,
è per lassar piú l'animo invescato.
Canzone 99, st. 2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Standing, with reluctant feet,
Where the brook and river meet,
Womanhood and childhood fleet!”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet
Maidenhood http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/longfellow/12212, st. 3 (1842).
“Oh for a seat in some poetic nook,
Just hid with trees and sparkling with a brook!”
Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) English critic, essayist, poet and writer
Politics and Poetics
Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
Source: The Ordeal of Change (1963), Ch. 11: "Brotherhood"
Context: It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor. There may even be a certain antagonism between love of humanity and love of neighbor; a low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea of the brotherhood of men. About a hundred years ago a Russian landowner by the name of Petrashevsky recorded a remarkable conclusion: "Finding nothing worthy of my attachment either among women or among men, I have vowed myself to the service of mankind." He became a follower of Fourier, and installed a phalanstery on his estate. The end of the experiment was sad, but what one might perhaps have expected: the peasants — Petrashevsky's neighbors-burned the phalanstery.
Some of the worst tyrannies of our day genuinely are "vowed" to the service of mankind, yet can function only by pitting neighbor against neighbor. The all-seeing eye of a totalitarian regime is usually the watchful eye of the next-door neighbor. In a Communist state love of neighbor may be classed as counter-revolutionary.
“Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
