11 August 1998 - literature trivia

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Look how the rosy-fingered dawn,
The morn in russet mantle clad,
Bleeds her life out on the lawn.
Isn’t that too bad!

Classical dawn goes down to day,
One more shelf of books to learn,
While the Pierian Prudhoe Bay
Serves up drink to burn.

clue:

“the rosy-fingered dawn” — Homer

“the morn in russet mantle clad” — Shakespeare

“dawn goes down to day” — Robert Frost

The Muses of Greek myth lived by the Pierian spring. It became a symbol of knowledge, as in the famous Alexander Pope couplet “A little learning is a dangerous thing;/Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”

Prudhoe Bay in Alaska is a major oil field.

give me a clue so sweet and true

the Daily Whale || copyright 1998, 2024 Jay J.P. Scott <jay@satirist.org>