Archimedes and the Student
Archimedes and the Student - meaning Summary
Divine Art Versus Human Craft
A young man asks Archimedes to teach the "most godly" art that saved their city. Archimedes answers that the art was once venerated but is not literal divinity; its practical benefits can be produced by humans. He cautions that seeking the Goddess is different from seeking a woman: reverence or myth around knowledge should not obscure its human, teachable, and instrumental nature. The poem contrasts sacred language with pragmatic reality.
Read Complete AnalysesTo Archimedes came a youth desirous of knowledge, “Tutor me,” spoke he to him, “in the most godly of arts, Which such glorious fruit to the land of our father hath yielded And the walls of the town from the Sambuca preserved!” “Godly nam'st thou the art? She is't,” responded the wise one; “But she was that, my dear son, ere she the state served. Wouldst thou but the fruits from her, these too can the mortal engender; Who doth woo the Goddess, seek not the woman in her.”
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