Thursday, September 29, 2016

 

In Defence of Heavy Drinking

Alexander Pope (1688-1744), Essay on Criticism 215-218:
A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Largely (218) = "Copiously, abundantly; extensively, greatly, considerably; on a large scale" (Oxford English Dictionary, s.v., sense 2.a). The adverb of course modifies drinking, not sobers.

# posted by Michael Gilleland @ 4:29 AM


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