The Poem
Civilized Man is a 3,000 line Latin verse poem that gives proper advice on a wide range of social situations the typical medieval person may encounter in day to day life.
Examples include:
- 'If you wish to belch, remember to look up to the ceiling.'
- 'Do not attack your enemy while he is squatting to defecate.'
- 'If there is something you do not want people to know, do not tell it to your wife.'
- 'Say thank you to your host.'
- 'Don't mount your horse in the hall.'
- 'If visitors had already eaten, give them drink anyway.'
- 'Loosen your reins when riding over a bridge.'
- 'Receive gifts from great men with gratitude.'
- 'If you are a judge, be just.'
- 'Eating at the table of the rich, speak little.'
- The book ends with 'Old King Henry first gave to the uncourtly the teaching written in this book.'
Read more about this topic: Book Of The Civilized Man
Famous quotes containing the word poem:
“Poetry has no goal other than itself; it can have no other, and no poem will be so great, so noble, so truly worthy of the name of poem, than one written uniquely for the pleasure of writing a poem.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
“The great poem must have the stamp of greatness as well as its essence.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)