Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of Mankind is Man. [9] Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side, With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest, In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
Know thyself" (Greek: Γνῶθι σεαυτόν, gnōthi seauton) [a] is a philosophical maxim which was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi. The best-known of the Delphic maxims, it has been quoted and analyzed by numerous authors throughout history, and has been applied in many ways.
The first maxim, "Know thyself", has been called "by far the most significant of the three maxims, both in ancient and modern times". [14] In its earliest appearances in ancient literature, it was interpreted to mean that one should understand one's limitations and know one's place in the social scale. [15]
sonnet 87 reads very much like a break-up poem, which would suggest a romantic theme to it, and because of the sonnet's addressee, the suggestion turns into a homosexual romance. At the very least, Shakespeare thinks that he owes it to the youth to break up with him, due to what Pequigney calls "the narcissistic wound".
This claim is related to first of the Delphic maxims inscribed on the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Gnothi Seauton (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), "know thyself!". The second maxim is Meden agan (μηδὲν ἄγαν): "nothing in excess". Socrates was perhaps only about 30 years old at the time, his fame as a philosopher was yet ...
He also tries to appeal to his friend's emotions by saying, "For having traffic with thyself alone, / Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive" (lines 9-10). The speaker is saying that is wrong and deceives the friend's own self if he decides to remain single and childless.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Parallels have been noted in Petrarch and in Theodore Beza's Poematica, but these are not as implicitly sexual as Shakespeare's poem. Line 5 is glossed by Edward Dowden as "If for love of me thou receivest her whom I love"; George Wyndham , though, has it "If, instead of my love, you take the woman whom I love."