Frases de Samuel Butler (poeta)

Samuel Butler fue un poeta inglés. De todas sus obras, características de la literatura de la Restauración inglesa, destaca Hudibras, un largo poema satírico y burlesco sobre el puritanismo.

Primero fue clérigo y más adelante juez de paz. Antes de dar a conocer sus investigaciones sobre poesía, quedó ligado a la casa de la duquesa de Kent, quien le dio la libertad de dedicarse enteramente a sus estudios; más tarde ocupó un empleo en casa de Samuel Like, puritano y partidario de Oliver Cromwell.



Con la llegada de la restauración, se convirtió en secretario del Lord-Presidente de Gales; en esa época se casó también con una viuda de nombre Herbert. En 1663 se publicó la primera parte de Hudibras y las dos siguientes lo hicieron en 1664 y 1678. Carlos II de Inglaterra se declaró un admirador de la obra y ofreció a su autor una pensión.

Butler colaboró con George Villiers en la creación de The Rehearsal, pieza satírica que ridiculizaba el drama heroico.

A pesar de la popularidad de Hudibras, Butler no recibió el favor de la corte y murió en 1680 en la pobreza. Está enterrado en la abadía de Westminster. Wikipedia  

✵ 3. febrero 1612 – 25. septiembre 1680
Samuel Butler (poeta) Foto
Samuel Butler (poeta): 89   frases 0   Me gusta

Frases célebres de Samuel Butler (poeta)

“El político moderno: … Él cree que no hay manera más fácil y seguro de avanzar en la vida que enriquecerse por defraudar al público: el robo público es más seguro que el robo privado y se persigue menos, al igual que los robos cometidos de noche… La única dificultad es obtener la confianza y una vez conseguida esta, el negocio sale redondo; y en caso de que tenga que rendir cuentas, el indulto es tan barato que una comisión: no supone más que el diez por ciento…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A modern politician: ... He believes there is no way of thriving so easy and certain as to grow rich by defrauding the public; for public thieveries are more safe and less prosecuted than private, like robberies committed between sun and sun,... For all the difficulty lies in being trusted, and when he has obtained that, the business does itself; and if he should happen to be questioned and called to an account, a pardon is as cheap as a paymaster's fee, not above fourteenpence in the pound...».
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

“El poeta menor: … No tiene reparo en componer obras de teatro porque no es lo suficientemente inteligente como para comprender la dificultad… Donde cree que podrá hacerlo sin riesgo, se apropiará alegremente de los escritos de otros… Para los símiles, prefiere los más complejos y más rebuscados porque, al igual que las damas visten de negro para realzar sus complexiones y las hacen aparentar más guapas de lo que son, cuando una imagen mental es más oscuro que el significado que le precede, debe necesariamente aparentar ser más claro que antes, puesto que los opuestos se contrastan mejor con opuestos…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A small poet: ... He makes nothing of writing plays, because he has not wit enough to understand the difficulty... Where he thinks he may do it safely, he will confidently own other men's writing... For similitudes, he likes the hardest and most obscure best; for as ladies wear black patches to make their complexions seem fairer than they are, so when an illustration is more obscure than the sense that went before it, it must of necessity make it appear clearer than it did, for contraries are best set off with contraries...».
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

“El periodista: Es un tratante del rumor que recibe en confianza y vende igual de barato que lo compra. Maneja un bien perecedero que no durará; si no es fresco se quedará con la mercancía y no le aportará beneficio alguno. Que sea verdadero o falso le da igual, ya que la novedad es la gracia de ambos y una verdad se caduca al igual que una mentira; al igual que un traje barato sirve tanto como uno caro mientras dure la moda, una mentira sirve tanto como una verdad hasta que lleguen las nuevas. Le preocupa poco que sea buena o mala, ya que eso no influye en que sea más o menos novedosa; y, en caso de haber una diferencia, le encanta más la mala noticia porque se dice que viene antes y porque participaría de buena gana en cualquier desgracia pública por el gusto de poder oírla y transmitirla…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A news-monger: Is a retailer of rumour that takes up upon trust and sells as cheap as he buys. He deals in a perishable commodity that will not keep; for if it be not fresh it lies upon his hands and will yield nothing. True or false is all one to him; for novelty being the grace of both, a truth grows stale as soon as a lie; and as a slight suit will last as well as a better while the fashion holds, a lie serves as well as truth till new ones come up. He is little concerned whether it be good or bad, for that does not make it more or less news; and, if there be any difference, he loves the bad best, because it is said to come soonest; for he would willingly bear his share in any public calamity to have the pleasure of hearing and telling it...».
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

“El dramaturgo: … Nada le anima más en su empeño que su propia ignorancia, porque no tiene la inteligencia de comprender la dificultad de lo que pretende realizar; por ello se precipita como un temerario y la diosa Fortuna, que favorece a los idiotas y los atrevidos, a veces se repara en él, por sus dos facetas, y le recibe con gracia. Él tiene otro motivo, y es la ignorancia popular que le acompaña hoy día, en el que sus salidas afectadas se reciben con aplauso, como la oratoria de Oliver Cromwell entre los fanáticos y partidarios de su misma ideología moralizadora y hipócrita. Prefiere escribir en verso más que en prosa porque, al ser el mundo saturado de romances, encuentra fácilmente tramas, pasiones y réplicas y si las convierten en rima, logra así disfrazar su hurto y hacerlo pasar por su propio ingenio…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A play writer: ... Nothing encourages him more in his undertaking than his ignorance, for he has not wit enough to understand so much as the difficulty of what he attempts; therefore he runs on boldly like a foolhardy wit, and Fortune, that favours fools and the bold, sometimes takes notice of him for his double capacity, and receives him into her good graces. He has one motive more, and that is the concurrent ignorant judgment of the present age, in which his sottish fopperies pass with applause, like Oliver Cromwell's oratory among fanatics of his own canting inclination. He finds it easier to write in rhyme than prose, for the world being over-charged with romances, he finds his plots, passions, and repartees ready made to his hand, and if he can but turn them into rhyme the thievery is disguised, and they pass for his own wit and invention...».
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

“El difamador: … Todas sus obras consisten en solo dos cosas; su propia malicia y los errores del otro y describe a ambas cosas usando un lenguaje muy correcto y pertinente. No le preocupa mucho si lo que escribe sea verdadero o falso ya que le da igual puesto que su propósito es la suciedad y la amargura, por lo que sus palabras, al igual que las imágenes del diablo, cuánto peor le pintan, mejor. Al robarle el buen nombre de un hombre, no lo hace en beneficio propio (porque no se atreve confesar la autoría) lo hace por placer, al igual que el grajo roba la moneda… Trata a su víctima como la Inquisición española trata al hereje, vistiéndole en un sambenito pintado con demonios y le expone así a la muchedumbre para que aparezca aún más odioso…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A libeller: ... All his works treat but of two things, his own malice and another man's faults, both which he describes in very proper and pertinent language. He is not much concerned whether what he writes be true or false; that's nothing to his purpose, which aims only at filthy and bitter, and therefore his language is, like pictures of the devil, the fouler the better. He robs a man of his good name, not for any good it will do him (for he dares not own it), but merely, as a jackdaw steals money, for his pleasure... He deals with a man as the Spanish Inquisition does with heretics, clothes him in a coat painted with hellish shapes of fiends, and so shows him to the rabble to render him the more odious...».
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

“El crítico moderno: … Es vocal del comité de la comunidad de letras y cuan gran tirano, no está sujeto a ninguna regla que no sea la suya, la cual no tolerará que se discute. Él mismo ha sido escritorzuelo, pero al faltarle la calidad necesaria se desencantó y volvió apóstata, de allí es tan severo con los demás. Nunca recomienda nada salvo para poder criticar otra cosa que infravalora y suele favorecer a los más débiles, lo cual sería meritorio en cualquier otro campo. Es peor que un index expurgatorius porque tacha todo y cuando no encuentre ningún fallo, lo inventa…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A modern critic: ... He is a committee-man in the commonwealth of letters, and as great a tyrant, so is not bound to proceed but by his own rules, which he will not endure to be disputed. He has been an apocryphal scribbler himself; but his writings wanting authority, he grew discontent and turned apostate, and thence becomes so severe to those of his own profession. He never commends anything but in opposition to something else that he would undervalue, and commonly sides with the weakest, which is generous anywhere but in judging. He is worse than an index expurgatorius; for he blots out all, and when he cannot find a fault, makes one...».
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

“El cazador: Es un perro de caza auxiliar que ayuda a unas bestias a someter y exterminar a otras… Sufre también, a su manera, pero aunque lo considero un juego]] y un deporte porque no sirve ningún propósito, hace todo lo que puede para que los demás sepan lo duro que es. Haga lo que haga la liebre, al final le llevará al cazador a la taberna donde este disfrutará inventando sus hazañas…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A hunter: Is an auxiliary hound that assists one nation of beasts to subdue and overrun another... He takes very great pains in his way, but calls it game and sport because it is to no purpose; and he is willing to make as much of it as he can, and not be thought to bestow so much labour and pains about nothing. Let the hare take which way she will, she seldom fails to lead him at long-running to the alehouse, where he meets with an after-game of delight in making up a narrative...».
Fuente: [Morley] (1891).
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

“El abogado: Es un vendedor de justicia que utiliza opiniones falsas, expectativas falsas y falsas medidas. Él mide el bien y el mal según sus honorarios y, al igual de el duelista francés, se apunta al bando que le contrata antes, aunque sea contra su propio hermano; no porque es lo correcto sino por el mero puntillo del dinero, que le resulta más beneficioso que el honor ya que la riqueza puede comprar nobleza mientras que la nobleza, al no tener ningún valor intrínseco, no puede comprar nada… No es su culpa si comete un error de juicio, porque esa parte del derecho es competencia del juez, no suya…”

«Caracteres» (en Remains 1759-obra póstuma)
Original: «A lawyer: Is a retailer of justice that uses false lights, false weights, and false measures. He measures right and wrong by his retaining fee, and, like a French duellist, engages on that side that first bespeaks him, though it be against his own brother; not because it is right, but merely upon a punctilio of profit, which is better than honour to him, because riches will buy nobility, and nobility nothing, as having no intrinsic value... He believes it no fault in himself to err in judgment, because that part of the law belongs to the judge and not to him...».
Fuente: [Morley] (1891).
Fuente: Remains, vol. 2 (1759)

Samuel Butler (poeta): Frases en inglés

“Compound for sins they are inclin'd to,
By damning those they have no mind to”

Canto I, line 189
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: For his Religion, it was fit
To match his learning and his wit;
'Twas Presbyterian true blue;
For he was of that stubborn crew
Of errant saints, whom all men grant
To be the true Church Militant;
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks;
Call fire and sword and desolation,
A godly thorough reformation,
Which always must be carried on,
And still be doing, never done;
As if religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended.
A sect, whose chief devotion lies
In odd perverse antipathies;
In falling out with that or this,
And finding somewhat still amiss;
More peevish, cross, and splenetick,
Than dog distract, or monkey sick.
That with more care keep holy-day
The wrong, than others the right way;
Compound for sins they are inclin'd to,
By damning those they have no mind to:
Still so perverse and opposite,
As if they worshipp'd God for spite.
The self-same thing they will abhor
One way, and long another for.
Free-will they one way disavow,
Another, nothing else allow:
All piety consists therein
In them, in other men all sin...

“Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For ev'ry why he had a wherefore;”

Canto I, line 131
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For ev'ry why he had a wherefore;
Knew more than forty of them do,
As far as words and terms cou'd go.
All which he understood by rote
And, as occasion serv'd, would quote;
No matter whether right or wrong,
They might be either said or sung.
His notions fitted things so well,
That which was which he could not tell;
But oftentimes mistook th' one
For th' other, as great clerks have done.

“He cou'd foretel whats'ever was
By consequence to come to pass;
As death of great men, alterations,
Diseases, battles, inundations.
All this, without th' eclipse o' th' sun,
Or dreadful comet, he hath done,
By inward light; away as good,
And easy to be understood;”

Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: He cou'd foretel whats'ever was
By consequence to come to pass;
As death of great men, alterations,
Diseases, battles, inundations.
All this, without th' eclipse o' th' sun,
Or dreadful comet, he hath done,
By inward light; away as good,
And easy to be understood;
But with more lucky hit than those
That use to make the stars depose,
Like Knights o' th' post, and falsely charge
Upon themselves what others forge:
As if they were consenting to
All mischiefs in the world men do:
Or, like the Devil, did tempt and sway 'em
To rogueries, and then betray 'em.

“When civil fury first grew high,
And men fell out, they knew not why;
When hard words, jealousies, and fears,
Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk; Whose honesty they all durst swear for,
Though not a man of them knew wherefore:”

Canto I, first lines
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: When civil fury first grew high,
And men fell out, they knew not why;
When hard words, jealousies, and fears,
Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk; Whose honesty they all durst swear for,
Though not a man of them knew wherefore:
When Gospel-Trumpeter, surrounded
With long-ear'd rout, to battle sounded,
And pulpit, drum ecclesiastick,
Was beat with fist, instead of a stick;
Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling,
And out he rode a colonelling.

“All piety consists therein
In them, in other men all sin…”

Canto I, line 189
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: For his Religion, it was fit
To match his learning and his wit;
'Twas Presbyterian true blue;
For he was of that stubborn crew
Of errant saints, whom all men grant
To be the true Church Militant;
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks;
Call fire and sword and desolation,
A godly thorough reformation,
Which always must be carried on,
And still be doing, never done;
As if religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended.
A sect, whose chief devotion lies
In odd perverse antipathies;
In falling out with that or this,
And finding somewhat still amiss;
More peevish, cross, and splenetick,
Than dog distract, or monkey sick.
That with more care keep holy-day
The wrong, than others the right way;
Compound for sins they are inclin'd to,
By damning those they have no mind to:
Still so perverse and opposite,
As if they worshipp'd God for spite.
The self-same thing they will abhor
One way, and long another for.
Free-will they one way disavow,
Another, nothing else allow:
All piety consists therein
In them, in other men all sin...

“Like men condemn'd to thunder-bolts,
Who, ere the blow, become mere dolts;
Or fools besotted with their crimes,
That know not how to shift betimes,
And neither have the hearts to stay,
Nor wit enough to run away.”

Hudibras, Part III (1678)
Contexto: We idly sit, like stupid blockheads,
Our hands committed to our pockets,
And nothing but our tongues at large,
To get the wretches a discharge:
Like men condemn'd to thunder-bolts,
Who, ere the blow, become mere dolts;
Or fools besotted with their crimes,
That know not how to shift betimes,
And neither have the hearts to stay,
Nor wit enough to run away.

“For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope;
And when he happen'd to break off
I' th' middle of his speech, or cough,
H' had hard words,ready to show why,
And tell what rules he did it by;”

Canto I, line 81
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope;
And when he happen'd to break off
I' th' middle of his speech, or cough,
H' had hard words, ready to show why,
And tell what rules he did it by;
Else, when with greatest art he spoke,
You'd think he talk'd like other folk,
For all a rhetorician's rules
Teach nothing but to name his tools.

“For he was of that stubborn crew
Of errant saints, whom all men grant
To be the true Church Militant;
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks;
Call fire and sword and desolation,
A godly thorough reformation,
Which always must be carried on,
And still be doing, never done;
As if religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended.”

Canto I, line 189
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: For his Religion, it was fit
To match his learning and his wit;
'Twas Presbyterian true blue;
For he was of that stubborn crew
Of errant saints, whom all men grant
To be the true Church Militant;
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks;
Call fire and sword and desolation,
A godly thorough reformation,
Which always must be carried on,
And still be doing, never done;
As if religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended.
A sect, whose chief devotion lies
In odd perverse antipathies;
In falling out with that or this,
And finding somewhat still amiss;
More peevish, cross, and splenetick,
Than dog distract, or monkey sick.
That with more care keep holy-day
The wrong, than others the right way;
Compound for sins they are inclin'd to,
By damning those they have no mind to:
Still so perverse and opposite,
As if they worshipp'd God for spite.
The self-same thing they will abhor
One way, and long another for.
Free-will they one way disavow,
Another, nothing else allow:
All piety consists therein
In them, in other men all sin...

“For all a rhetorician's rules
Teach nothing but to name his tools.”

Canto I, line 81
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope;
And when he happen'd to break off
I' th' middle of his speech, or cough,
H' had hard words, ready to show why,
And tell what rules he did it by;
Else, when with greatest art he spoke,
You'd think he talk'd like other folk,
For all a rhetorician's rules
Teach nothing but to name his tools.

“What did we else, but make a vow
To do we know not what, nor how?”

Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: They'll say our bus'ness, to reform
The Church and State, is but a worm;
For to subscribe, unsight, unseen,
To an unknown Church-discipline,
What is it else, but before-hand
T'engage, and after understand?
For when we swore to carry on
The present Reformation,
According to the purest mode
Of Churches best reformed abroad,
What did we else, but make a vow
To do we know not what, nor how?

“His notions fitted things so well,
That which was which he could not tell;
But oftentimes mistook th' one
For th' other, as great clerks have done.”

Canto I, line 131
Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For ev'ry why he had a wherefore;
Knew more than forty of them do,
As far as words and terms cou'd go.
All which he understood by rote
And, as occasion serv'd, would quote;
No matter whether right or wrong,
They might be either said or sung.
His notions fitted things so well,
That which was which he could not tell;
But oftentimes mistook th' one
For th' other, as great clerks have done.

“They'll say our bus'ness, to reform
The Church and State, is but a worm;
For to subscribe, unsight, unseen,
To an unknown Church-discipline,
What is it else, but before-hand
T'engage, and after understand?”

Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
Contexto: They'll say our bus'ness, to reform
The Church and State, is but a worm;
For to subscribe, unsight, unseen,
To an unknown Church-discipline,
What is it else, but before-hand
T'engage, and after understand?
For when we swore to carry on
The present Reformation,
According to the purest mode
Of Churches best reformed abroad,
What did we else, but make a vow
To do we know not what, nor how?

“Each window like a pill'ry appears,
With heads thrust thro' nail'd by the ears.”

Canto III, line 391
Fuente: Hudibras, Part II (1664)

“Friend Ralph, thou hast
Outrun the constable at last.”

Canto III, line 1367
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“Nor do I know what is become
Of him, more than the Pope of Rome.”

Canto III, line 263
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“And force them, though it was in spite
Of Nature and their stars, to write.”

Canto I, line 647
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“Ay me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron!”

Canto III, line 1
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“He ne'er consider'd it, as loth
To look a gift-horse in the mouth.”

Canto I, line 490
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.”

Canto I, line 93
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick,
Though he gave his name to our Old Nick.”

Canto I, line 1313
Fuente: Hudibras, Part III (1678)

“Love in your hearts as idly burns
As fire in antique Roman urns.”

Canto I, line 309
Fuente: Hudibras, Part II (1664)

“Cheer'd up himself with ends of verse
And sayings of philosophers.”

Canto III, line 1011
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“When pious frauds and holy shifts
Are dispensations and gifts.”

Canto III, line 1145
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“With mortal crisis doth portend
My days to appropinque an end.”

Canto III, line 589
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“We grant, although he had much wit,
He was very shy of using it.”

Canto I, line 45
Fuente: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

“He made an instrument to know
If the moon shine at full or no.”

Canto III, line 261
Fuente: Hudibras, Part II (1664)