--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: privately he composed—in French—a poem…" description: "\"“privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his pleasure at having given the French a kick in the cul, which Carlyle delicately translated as “t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a4/will-durant-948_carlyle_privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-e_114267.png" --- # privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his… ![“privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his pleasure at having given the French a kick in the cul, which Carlyle delicately translated as “the seat of honor.” quote by Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a4/will-durant-948_carlyle_privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-e_114267.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a4/will-durant-948_carlyle_privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-e_114267.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a4/will-durant-948_carlyle_privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-e_114267.png) > ““privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his pleasure at having given the French a kick in the cul, which Carlyle delicately translated as “the seat of honor.”” [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A witty, culturally nuanced poem can celebrate a triumph while employing playful language to soften political overtones. **In simple terms:** Poetry can mock triumph with clever phrasing. Key Takeaway Humor disguises political commentary. Themes poetry politics humor translation Mood wry ironic Type literary historical When to use this quote - historian interpreting wartime literature - translator handling idioms - satirist crafting political verse Key Concepts cultural satire linguistic nuance Practical Applications - study original language for deeper meaning - use humor to broach sensitive topics Questions to Reflect On - How does translation affect the impact of satire? - When does humor undermine political critique? A Different Perspective Humor may obscure the seriousness of the underlying event. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carlyle/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [Like a French poem is life; being only perfect in structure when with the masculine rhymes mingled the feminine are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/like-a-french-poem-is-life-being-only-perfect-in-structure-when-with/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [Madame V begins the lesson by reading aloud the first stanza of a famous French poem: Il pleure dans mon coeur Comme il pleut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonya-sones/madame-v-begins-the-lesson-by-reading-aloud-the-first-stanza-of-a/) [Sonya Sones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonya-sones/) > [“Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/under-all-speech-that-is-good-for-anything-there-lies-a-silence-that-2/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Carlyle: a passionate outpouring of words recommending silence and self-control.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/carlyle-a-passionate-outpouring-of-words-recommending-silence-and/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“Carlyle had no option but to sit down and recompose the book as best he could—a task made all the more challenging by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/carlyle-had-no-option-but-to-sit-down-and-recompose-the-book-as-best/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“In employing the long sentence the inexperienced writer should not strain after the heavy, ponderous type. Johnson and Carlyle used such a type, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-devlin/in-employing-the-long-sentence-the-inexperienced-writer-should-not/) [Joseph Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-devlin/) > [“The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. —historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-tavris/the-greatest-of-faults-i-should-say-is-to-be-conscious-of-none/) [Carol Tavris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-tavris/) > [“Mr. Rubenstein says he likes to apply the “mother standard” to giving. “When I built Carlyle, my mother didn’t call to say, ‘I’m so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/mr-rubenstein-says-he-likes-to-apply-the-mother-standard-to-giving/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“A great man shows his greatness,” said Carlyle, “by the way he treats little men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-great-man-shows-his-greatness-said-carlyle-by-the-way-he-treats/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Carlyle, a man of strong words and attitudes, a rhetorician out of necessity, constantly aroused by the craving for a strong faithas well as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/carlyle-a-man-of-strong-words-and-attitudes-a-rhetorician-out-of/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Popular opinion is oftenest, what Carlyle pronounced it to be, a lie!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/popular-opinion-is-oftenest-what-carlyle-pronounced-it-to-be-a-lie/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [IT is reported of Margaret Fuller that she said she accepted the universe. "Gad, she'd better!" retorted Carlyle. Carlyle himself did not accept the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/it-is-reported-of-margaret-fuller-that-she-said-she-accepted-the/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [“My books are friends that never fail me." ( Letter to his mother, Margaret A. Carlyle ; 17 March 1817)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/my-books-are-friends-that-never-fail-me-letter-to-his-mother-margaret/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [“Emerson loved the good and his life was a symphony of peace and harmony, Carlyle hated the bad, and his life was a record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/emerson-loved-the-good-and-his-life-was-a-symphony-of-peace-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Carlyle said 'a lie cannot live.' It shows that he did not know how to tell them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/carlyle-said-a-lie-cannot-live-it-shows-that-he-did-not-know-how-to/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More by Will Durant > [I came to think of myself, not as a dance and chaos of molecules, but as a brief and minute portion of that majestic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/i-came-to-think-of-myself-not-as-a-dance-and-chaos-of-molecules-but/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“This is the tragedy of almost every civilization—that its soul is in its faith, and seldom survives philosophy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/this-is-the-tragedy-of-almost-every-civilization-that-its-soul-is-in/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/education-is-a-progressive-discovery-of-our-own-ignorance/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [In philosophy, as in politics, the longest distance between two points is a straight line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/in-philosophy-as-in-politics-the-longest-distance-between-two-points/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [As long as there is poverty there will be gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/as-long-as-there-is-poverty-there-will-be-gods/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“Hence the uselessness of logic: no one ever convinced anybody by logic; and even logicians use logic only as a source of income. 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Johnson and Carlyle used such a type, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-devlin/in-employing-the-long-sentence-the-inexperienced-writer-should-not/) [Joseph Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-devlin/) > [“Carlyle had no option but to sit down and recompose the book as best he could—a task made all the more challenging by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/carlyle-had-no-option-but-to-sit-down-and-recompose-the-book-as-best/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [Carlyle: a passionate outpouring of words recommending silence and self-control.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/carlyle-a-passionate-outpouring-of-words-recommending-silence-and/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/under-all-speech-that-is-good-for-anything-there-lies-a-silence-that-2/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [It is curious for one who studies the action and reaction of national literature on each other, to see the humor of Swift and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/it-is-curious-for-one-who-studies-the-action-and-reaction-of-national/) [James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/) > [Carlyle uttered a pregnant truth when he said that the history of any country is in the biographies of the men who made it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-dickson-white/carlyle-uttered-a-pregnant-truth-when-he-said-that-the-history-of-any/) [Andrew Dickson White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-dickson-white/) [Browse all 34 Carlyle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carlyle/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his pleasure at having given the French a kick in the cul, which Carlyle delicately translated as “the seat of honor.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Will Durant" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-expressing-his-pleasure-at/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Carlyle" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-expressing-his-pleasure-at/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a4/will-durant-948_carlyle_privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-e_114267.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a4/will-durant-948_carlyle_privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-e_114267.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a4/will-durant-948_carlyle_privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-e_114267.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his pleasure at having given the French a kick in the cul…” — Will Durant", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Will Durant", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-expressing-his-pleasure-at/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-expressing-his-pleasure-at/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```