A Quoi Bon?

carrieann · [Sun May 08, 2005 6:13 pm]

Succinctly put. Could imagine giving this verse to friends, printed on a keyring, fridge magnet or wall plaque. So true.

Roy · [Sun May 08, 2005 6:25 pm]

Hard to put the point more succinctly than that, Anony.

Now - define wisdom Smile

_________________
Roy

www.royeveritt.com

carrieann · [Sun May 08, 2005 6:27 pm]

Judging by the poem I've just reviewed. Wisdom in one word - ROY!

MummyPenguin · [Sun May 08, 2005 6:54 pm]

The point is that wisdom is not the only thing of value in the world. The learning has a value in itself. And while we can try and learn to be wise, we can only be so when we value our wisdom above all those other things.
And here endeth the lesson from Pompous Penguin.

I'll now revert to type and say, good poem. Smile

Anonymouse · [Sun May 08, 2005 7:06 pm]

Well, Mummy Penguin, I suppose the intrinsic value of learning itself could be the discipline involved. And there are, of course, things you learn that are helpful for survival. But what I meant was that learning Latin, for example, did'nt make me a wiser person or happier within my soul: it just meant I went round boring people with recitations from the Gallic Wars! I have probably been a bit sweeping in the Haiku, but, heh! that's poetic licence!

Anony Laughing

_________________
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on
And our little life is rounded with a sleep!"
WS

Logicus tracticus · [Sun May 08, 2005 7:30 pm]

I C Yes so Do U . Smile

_________________
read once for meter, twice for rhythm
thrice for rhyme, then again for
leisure or measure of pleasure;
you: parasites of no consequence:
Larkin

Roy · [Sun May 08, 2005 8:07 pm]

Just remembering that old Australian film - 'The Getting of Wisdom' (?) which was kind of about carnal knowledge, but also about understanding each other. The significance of that will come back to me, sometime, but maybe it's understanding that distinguishes wisdom from 'mere' knowledge.
_________________
Roy

www.royeveritt.com

CarrieOut · [Sun May 08, 2005 8:40 pm]

Ah, finally a brilliantly defined argument on why I should not have been made to study GCSE Spanish. It certainly didn't make me wiser - perhaps angrier, and the teacher's hair whiter, but not wiser.

On a more serious note, though, whilst wisdom itself may not be the only reason for learning (eg. learning to adapt for survival, picking up common knowledge to socialise) you could argue that all useful paths of learning leave you wiser in the end, whether this is a primary or secondary effect.

Of course, this expands it far beyond the classroom and into the whole fabric of human existance. Your haiku's brilliance lies not only in its succinct nature but the fact that it can be taken from so many different angles. Take the fact that when we learn from the past, we are often the wiser for it, can make better future decisions etc. Then your message could be turned around to say that if we learned and were lead to wisdom by it, there was a point to it.

I'm wandering off here, so I'll drag myself back and say, good poem - has already inspired lots of debate, and what's been posted is probably a mere fraction of the trails of thought you've sparked off in people's minds.

Carrie Smile

_________________
'But in my arms til break of day
Let the living creature lie
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful'

W.H. Auden; 'Lullaby'

CarrieOut · [Sun May 08, 2005 8:45 pm]

Mmagic · [Sun May 08, 2005 9:35 pm]

Michel De Montaigne I presume?

Sometimes the joy is in the journey, not the getting there.

Thought provoking Haiku, though. Thanks for sharing, Anony.

Andrew

Anonymouse · [Sun May 08, 2005 11:39 pm]

I have been very interested in everyone's comments.
Yes, Roy, I think wisdom comes in the understanding of what you learn, and what it contributes to your well-being. (I think you would probably have more carnal knowledge than the Mouse!)

I agree with you, Carrie, that GCSE Spanish probably only enables you to aquire un vaso de cerveza in Barcelona!

But of course, Monsieur Le Singe Magicale!! Eet eez Michel de Montaigne, ze very same! And yes, I think the gathering of wisdom happens along the journey. It is, after all, what we do with everything we learn that matters in the end.

Anony
_________________
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on
And our little life is rounded with a sleep!"
WS

Jenny Darling · [Mon May 09, 2005 12:40 am] **Wisdom**

The only wisdom I possess is Norman!

But seriously, ami de longstanding, Nonny, un tres good haiku.
_________________
Jenny Darling - mwah!

KieranJay · [Mon May 09, 2005 1:55 am]

If what I don't know
Will lead me to foolishness
There must be a point

I think it's easy to prove that the reverse is true, ignorance is far more expensive than education. Interesting Haiku Nony, philosophy is about asking the right questions as they say.

Kieran

Clarissa · [Mon May 09, 2005 7:02 am]

Knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing at all in my book.
I know many a knowledgeable academic who lacks wisdom and many a so-called uneducated person who has more true wisdom than the educated.
No, not Latin and not Spanish will ever give a person wisdom. That can only be acquired through experience and life - and learning from that experience...imo
Clarissa

carrieann · [Mon May 09, 2005 9:03 am]

Just to echo Clarissa's words. I took the poem to be referring to wisdom of life also.

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A Quoi Bon? Outline: Haiku tribute to Montaigne If the things you learned Did not lead you to wisdom Then what was the point?