[ Harold doesn't assume anyone is uneducated -- actually, he hates that word. It implies something he doesn't like, that education means being informed about certain predetermined things, a scope of knowledge set by insufferably privileged academics. Rather, he doesn't assume John is unfamiliar with Rilke, or with poetry at large, but upon being disabused of that idea he's ready to explain.
He still doesn't assume John hadn't understood the poem he'd left, or the quote he'd just made. Understanding is probably not the right word, either. He doesn't assume he shares Harold's interpretation -- that would be closer.
He takes his pancakes and bacon and answers equably. ]
Rainer Maria Rilke was a late 19th and early 20th century Austrian poet. An extremely sensitive man, he was utterly changed by his drafting into the Great War as a German, and took years to recover his voice as a writer. When he did, he wrote what most consider to be his masterpieces.
[ In a clearer voice than before, deliberately quoting as demonstration: ] Let this darkness be a bell tower, and you the bell. As you ring, what batters you becomes your strength.
no subject
He still doesn't assume John hadn't understood the poem he'd left, or the quote he'd just made. Understanding is probably not the right word, either. He doesn't assume he shares Harold's interpretation -- that would be closer.
He takes his pancakes and bacon and answers equably. ]
Rainer Maria Rilke was a late 19th and early 20th century Austrian poet. An extremely sensitive man, he was utterly changed by his drafting into the Great War as a German, and took years to recover his voice as a writer. When he did, he wrote what most consider to be his masterpieces.
[ In a clearer voice than before, deliberately quoting as demonstration: ] Let this darkness be a bell tower, and you the bell. As you ring, what batters you becomes your strength.