Thursday 13 November 2008

Song of Sixpence

"When I try to put all into a phrase I say 'Man can embody truth but he cannot know it' ... The abstract is not life and everywhere draws out its contradictions. You can refute Hegel but not the Saint or the Song of Sixpence."
Yeats, in his last letter (Letters ed. A. Wade, 1954, p.922)

Questions (Time: 3 hours. Use one side of the paper only):

1. Was Yeats an Idiot?
2. By "The Saint", does Yeats mean the popular TV drama starring Roger Moore? If not, why not?
3. Discuss the implications of decimalisation for The Song of Sixpence. Please show your working.
4. Can you refute Hegel?
5. Can a woman know truth but not embody it? Are men thereby always wrong?
6. Draw a contradiction.

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