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POEMS: The Book Of Wisdom |
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| The Book
of Wisdom The narrator of this poem came across a seer who held in his hands the book of wisdom. The omniscient seer was amused when the narrator asked him to read the book that the seer held. When the seer addressed the narrator as "Child" (line six), the narrator took offense to the name, and attempted to save his pride by confidently telling the man that he was not a child as he claimed to "…know much of that which you hold" (lines nine and ten). The seer humored the narrator and opened the book to which the young man claimed to know of already. Upon looking at the book, the young man suddenly became blind as his ignorance became paramount and what little he knew of the world could not begin to compare with all the world has to offer. The poem is written in a loose, free verse style. The poem, when analyzed deeply, relates to the young child who believes he is smart enough to become an adult. The seer, who is portrayed as all knowing and wise, commands both the powers of knowledge and voice. The young, brash narrator felt that he was not a child, as the seer called him, because he felt he knew of the world around him. His confidence in his own knowledge overshadowed his ignorance in his own mind, but his lack of knowledge did not escape the seer. With just a smile, he opened the book to the cocky mind of the child. When the boy addresses the seer as "sir" (line four), he acknowledges the seer's superior intelligence. Similarly, when the seer calls the young man "child", the true nature of the boy is being revealed. The two words parallel each other in that they represent the knowledge that age brings. The simple way the elder man speaks is similar to the way the narrator in "Think as I Think" speaks: saying a lot in as few words as possible. The theme of this poem is that knowledge comes with experiences and age. Furthermore, there is more to life than just rudimentary knowledge. Experiencing feelings and emotions constitute more of an education that any college or school could ever offer a student. |