But as to risings, I can tell you why. It is on contradiction that they grow. It seemed the best thing to be… — William Empson
But as to risings, I can tell you why.
It is on contradiction that they grow.
It seemed the best thing to be up and go.
Up was the heartening and the strong reply
The heart of standing is we cannot fly.
p. 70Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0
More from this book
All those large dreams by which men long live well
Are magic-lanterned on the smoke of hell.
p. 52
Stars how much further from me fill my night.
Strange that she too should be inaccessible,
Who shares my sun. He curtains her from sight,
And but in darkness is she visible.
Your rights reach down where all owners meet, in Hell's
Pointed exclusive conclave, at earth’s centre
(Your spun farm's root still on that axis dwells);
And up, through galaxies, a growing sector.
p. 37

