[analphilosopher] Keith Burgess-Jackson: Ambrose Bierce

[analphilosopher at lists.powerblogs.com]

Posted by Keith Burgess-Jackson:
Ambrose Bierce
http://www.analphilosopher.com/posts/1130705295.shtml


   Lyre, n. An ancient instrument of torture. The word is now used in a
   figurative sense to denote the poetic faculty, as in the following
   fiery lines of our great poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

     I sit astride Parnassus with my lyre,
     And pick with care the disobedient wire.
     That stupid shepherd lolling on his crook
     With deaf attention scarcely deigns to look.
     I bide my time, and it shall come at length,
     When, with a Titan's energy and strength,
     I'll grab a fistful of the strings, and O,
     The word shall suffer when I let them go!
     Farquharson Harris.

   (Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, c. 1911)