To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield

Back in my school days, when life was not all bits and bytes, one of the subjects I enjoyed was English literature.

I can’t remember when, (I’d say Standard 9 if I’d have to hazard a guess), our text included Ulysses - one of the best poems I’ve ever read.

That’s not to say that I’m a connoisseur at English poetry though!

As I venture into the world of blogging, I thought it might be apt to post the last few lines from this Alfred Lord Tennyson classic:

…. Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

I remember our teacher, Mrs. Anuradha Choudhury, and her attempts to make a bunch of class 9 hooligans understand the great verse of Tennyson, at my alma-mater, St. Xaviers Collegiate School, Calcutta.

Those were the days, indeed!

~Raj

PS: The full poem can be read here.