The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

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Author QuotedFrank Laurence Lucas
Title QuotedDecline and Fall of the Romantic Ideal
Date (Year/Month/Day)1941/10/10
Imprint[S.l.] : [s.n.]. 1936
QuotationI read in F. L. Lucas' Decline and Fall of the Romantic Ideal a series of quotations illustrating the term "Romantic." Most of them mean nothing to me: they are slightly or often very ridiculous ("Forlorn-the very word is like a bell""¦. "La Belle Dame sans Merci" ["The Beautiful Woman with no Pity."] / Hath thee in thrall." "Es war ein König in Thule." ["It was a king in Thule."] "Le vent qui vient a travers la montagne/me rendra fou." ["The wind that blows across the mountain makes me crazy."]-This last couldn't be anybody but Old Victor Hugo roaring in his liberal whiskers. I shake with delightful laughter over this sublime line for nearly ten minutes). Then, all of a sudden I come across a couple that not only do not make me laugh, but knock me right off my chair, I find them so impressive and excellent.
Quotation SourceRun to the mountain: The Story of a Vocation. The journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 1, 1939-1941.; Edited by Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O. / San Francisco : Harper Collins. 1995, p. 435
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