(Ephesians 5:8)
Parents, leaders, and educators, we have a mission, a duty to lead children's souls toward the Light which will be their guide and their happiness. In order to illuminate the way that lies before each one of us, once a week we invite you to discover some of the words of certain wisemen and witnesses, measuring their worth by the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: “Do not consider the one who speaks, but whatever good you hear from him, confide it to your memory.” (from The Sixteen Ways to Acquire the Treasure of Knowledge by St. Thomas). Happy reading!
“True ; all my elegances are within.”Cyrano de Bergerac
Edmond ROSTAND (1868 – 1918)
Writer, dramatist, poet and essayist
“Nowadays some daring modern writers ambition to modernize La Fontaine … What a pity! We would prefer a thousand times to hear every single Frenchman speaking after La Fontaine’s style! Everybody in France should seem to be a little bit from Chateau-Thierry. But I need to be more explicit: if ever La Fontaine does need to be abridged and simplified at times, it should be for the sole purpose of allowing young readers to understand him better. But are those writers really to be praised who, for example, have replaced “Of his debris would be the cause” by “Of his end would be the cause”? I have seen it in a textbook with my own eyes! So much harmony and richness of expression have thus been lost in this translation! The original version speaks so much more to our imagination and ear! The word “debris,” rarely used in this way, it is true, is nevertheless more concrete and tells the reader more than the word “end”! And moreover, when are we going to stop changing La Fontaine? What will be the boundaries for these and similar transformations? When are we going to stop thinking that we have at last met the goal of being simple enough for the youth? Shall we go so far as to suppress all the inversions in order to straighten out La Fontaine’s verses? Aren’t we lowering a text by rewriting it in modern language? And all this under the pretense that we must protect children against haughty, vain, and lofty words! Isn’t it preferable to read La Fontaine rather than advertisements and newspaper articles? Certainly, a fourth-grade child needs poetry more than he needs prose. He craves for a language which is both simple and original, capturing a touch of mystery in its words. This exquisite choice of syllables, above and beyond the meaning of the words, will speak to the very core of his being; along with a sort of inner movement, it will give him an idea of song and dance.”
Henri POURRAT (1887 – 1959)
Writer
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