Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 September 16

= September 16 =

There is a pleasure in the pathless wood
Hello,

What is the meaning of the sentence "From these our interviews, in which I steal" the appears in Lord Byron's poem "There is a pleasure in the pathless wood" (can be found here)? what are "our interviews", and what does he steal in them? Thanks, 109.160.236.195 (talk) 15:47, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * That is not a sentence. The entire first stanza is one complex sentence. The "interviews" are described before the colon, that which is stolen is described in the lines following this one. Rmhermen (talk) 17:26, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * The "interviews" are his time spent alone in metaphorical conversation with with the sea and nature. The word "steal" is being used in the sense of "sneak away". The passage reads "I steal/From all I may be, or have been before,/To mingle with the Universe". He is talking of sneaking away from normal life and society to commune with nature alone. --Nicknack009 (talk) 17:33, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Except not alone. Just away from his usual crowd. Hard to mingle by yourself. Easy to drink alone, but results in less-than-stellar poetry. Same inner peace/pleasure, though. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:32, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * I fail to see how this comment relates to the question. Rmhermen (talk) 21:41, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * By clarifying the answer to it. He's not alone when he's surrounded by "Nature". Just away from "Man". That's why his interview accomplished more than talking to himself would have. InedibleHulk (talk) 21:48, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Except that Byron is not a Japanese Buddhist and that the subject of the poem is not literally talking to Nature. Rmhermen (talk) 23:31, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Au contraire, Byron was a well-documented Orientalist, and would have been familiar with such lines of thinking. See the Wikipedia article titled Orientalism, to wit, "Byron's poetry was highly influential in introducing Europe to the heady cocktail of Romanticism in exotic Oriental settings which was to dominate 19th century Oriental art."  Be careful when you speak, without knowing of what you're speaking; that's why this is the Reference Desk, where we provide links and references to back up what we say and not the "Make things up" desk.  -- Jayron 32 23:44, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * You don't have to understand a sensation to feel it, in any event, especially when you "can ne'er express" it. If what the Japanese Buddhist term (or others) describes is indeed a quality of reality, it wouldn't only affect Japanese Buddhists. Even shrimp will get the gist of a truly perennial philosophy. Fairly big "if", of course. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:11, 17 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Lumberjack human resources never gets any easier, does it. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:59, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * I don't even know if that's a question, let alone an unanswerable one, but you combine a lumberjack's torso with a ballerina's legs, and--presto--a chimera is born. That much is certain. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:14, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * I think you'll find it's actually "Hey, Presto". Martinevans123 (talk) 22:46, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Mmmm...presto sauce. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:51, 16 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Keep in mind, an interview doesn't require questions and answers, or conversation at all, only a face to face meeting. At least in the olden days. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:17, 17 September 2015 (UTC)