Ralph Dumain: "The Autodidact Project": Poem: Sir Thomas More: To breake a little wind

To breake a little wind

by Sir Thomas More
translated from Latin by Sir John Harington

To breake a little wind, sometime ones life doth save,
For want of vent behind, some folk their ruine have:
A powre it hath therefore, of life, and death expresse:
A king can cause no more, a cracke doth do no lesse.

SOURCE: Rosebury, Theodor. Life on Man (New York: Viking Press, 1969; New York: Berkeley Medallion Books, 1970), p. 141. Apparent source of poem: Harington, Sir John. The Metamorphosis of Ajax (1596), critical annotated edition by E. S. Donno (New York: Columbia University Press, 1962).

Science Humor & Parody: Select Bibliography

Exotica, Curiosa, Crankery, Hoaxes, Cultural & Intellectual Arcana:
Selected Web Guide & Bibliography

CONTACT Ralph Dumain

Uploaded 7 June 2006
Links updated 18 January 2021