Mime-Version: |
1.0 |
Sender: |
|
Subject: |
|
From: |
|
Date: |
Sun, 14 Mar 1999 15:57:33 -0500 |
In-Reply-To: |
|
Content-Type: |
text/plain; charset="us-ascii" |
Reply-To: |
|
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
1. Might it be that EP connected ant and
centaur because both have six limbs?
2. In connection with the vanity theme,
the line's meaning doesn't seem that mysterious--
to me, anyway. All he's saying is that all us little
critters puff ourselves up in our minds--
(we become centaurs) and puff up the
importance of our little worlds of concern
(enemy lizards become dragons)--far beyond their
real significance.
Nevertheless, it's fun to see all these ingenious
explications offered up here. The line does serve
as a wonderful Rorschach for us literary critics.
This is my own second run at it.
==Dan P
At 03:14 PM 3/14/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Michael Coyle asked: "what *do* these lines mean?
>>The ant's a centaur in his
>> dragon world."
> I like this question a lot--because I don't know the answer either,
>but have puzzled by it for about ten years, after taking it for granted for
>the previous twenty.
Dan Pearlman Office: Department of English
102 Blackstone Blvd. #5 University of Rhode Island
Providence, RI 02906 Kingston, RI 02881
Tel.: 401 453-3027 Tel.: 401 874-4659
email: [log in to unmask] Fax: 401 874-2580
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/
|
|
|