On Courtship… Or Something Like It

Hannah Roorda writes,

As my first contribution, I would like to share with you an instructive poem that found its way into a novel of mine last night. It would seem that it was simply inspired, but the truth is that I learned most of what I know about poetry from a single course?—?Omnibus II, put out by Veritas Press.

On Courtship?—?A couplet (forgive the pun).

Young man who hopes to win fair heart,
Must learn the ancient courting art.

He need not boast of honors long,
Nor prove himself in dance or song.

But when he is in lover’s sight
Must speak the truth, and act in right.

And not just then, but all the day
Must tread the straight and narrow way.

For maidens who are worth the fight
Want but men who walk upright.

Posted at 2:54 am EST on the 11th of May 2007 by H. G. Roorda.

Under Poetry as

There are 8 replies.
 
  1. John R. Ahern says on May 8th, 2007 at 3:30 pm

    Actually, scratch that. Nice post. I’ll post a reply myself a little later. Brilliant, but you’re still terribly wrong.

    If I understand you correctly, personality is the thing that makes Goodness, Truth, and Beauty valid?

  2. Nick says on May 11th, 2007 at 5:39 pm

    Oi! Nice poem, and very glad to have you on here. To be honest, I can’t believe someone convinced you to join us, but tres cool.

  3. John R. Ahern says on May 11th, 2007 at 7:11 pm

    P. S. BTW, great poem. You sound like Douglas Wilson.

  4. Han says on May 12th, 2007 at 12:11 am

    Thank you, gentlemen, I’m quite flattered.

  5. Nehemiah says on May 14th, 2007 at 6:54 pm

    I think Van Til would say that all reason that does not have God’s revelation (His word) as the starting point is bound to fail.

    “That is, the Bible is the Word of him who, as Creator-Redeemer alone can identify himself. God in Christ identifies himself in terms of himself because he exists exclusively in terms of himself. There is no non-being over against him that influences him. There are no laws of logic above him according to which he mush measure his own internal consistency. This God of the Bible is, therefore, the final reference point for predication of his rational creatures. They, and with them all things in the universe, must be explained in terms of him, and he is never wholly comprehensible to them. Therefore no fact in the universe is ever wholly comprehensible to them. They therefore need to live by authority. They have to be told who they are and what the things of the universe mean in relation to themselves and finally in relation to God. God’s supernatural revelation is presupposed in all successful rational inquiry on the part of man.” A Christian Theory of Knowledge – Van Til.

    I would argue against the idea that what makes us human is our sense of morality and ability to reason. I have a brother who is mentally retarded. Is he human? What about someone who is in a coma or other vegetative state. Are they human? Are babies human? What about people sleeping. They don’t have the ability to reason in that state.

    The bible says that we are made in the image of God, and that is what makes us human, not our mental abilities.

    What I wanted to say about logic is that it is only part of our language. It “shelves” and “categorizes” things that have already happened or things that are. It is courtroom language, scientific language, examining language. But we also speak with commands, and these have no place in logic. Commands and imperatives are based on authority, not logic. Ought is a question of authority, not logic. We are finite beings, and so eventually all our questions will have to rest on authority. The question is whether we will choose ourselves as the final authority, or the Lord of the universe.

  6. John R. Ahern says on May 25th, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    Hey, wait. The Musical side of me is offended. (I mean, Musical, i.e. Dannie Kaye, Fred Astaire, etc.) What about Kiss Me Kate, 1949? Really! That must be on the list of both excellent Shakespeare renderings and politically incorrect movies.

  7. John R. Ahern says on May 29th, 2007 at 3:50 am

    Wow. It’s fascinating how these cognates work, and it’s also fascinating to see where the word comes from.

    I think your conclusion about the real meaning of worship is vital and true. We need to hear more of that. Worship for God’s sake, not man’s.

  8. John R. Ahern says on May 29th, 2007 at 11:03 pm

    Thanks awfully, whoever fixed the URLs. I really need to do that for myself….