Bards

Famous quotes containing the word bards:

    Let us pray that the great historic tragedy of our time may not have been enacted without instructing our whole beloved country through terror and pity; and may fulfillment verify in the end those expectations which kindle the bards of Progress and Humanity.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    The present century has not dealt kindly with the farmer. His legends are all but obsolete, and his beliefs have been pared away by the professors at colleges of agriculture. Even the farm- bred bards who twang guitars before radio microphones prefer “I’m Headin’ for the Last Roundup” to “Turkey in the Straw” or “Father Put the Cows Away.”
    —For the State of Kansas, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    O black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?
    James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)