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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009Our better angels?
I hear many say, "Our better angels". I'm not sure that's erroneous, but "the better angels of our nature" makes more sense to me. > I hear many say, "Our better angels". > > I'm not sure that's erroneous, but "the better angels of our nature" > makes more sense to me. I've never heard the phrase. I've never been to heaven either. Swedenborg had something to say on the matter, I believe.  SignatureSkitt (AmE) just putting forth an angle on this Skitt filted: >I've never heard the phrase. I've never been to heaven either. Swedenborg >had something to say on the matter, I believe. So did Hoyt Axton...he admitted, however, that he'd been to Oklahoma....r Signature"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!" "You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!" > I hear many say, "Our better angels". > > I'm not sure that's erroneous, but "the better angels of our nature" > makes more sense to me. That appears to be the original, and is the way Lincoln used it in his first inaugural address (1861): The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. which appears to be the earliest use. I've always heard it as "the angels of our better nature", and this appears to be how Matthew Simpson misquoted Lincoln at the latter's funeral in 1865: The time will come when, in the beautiful words of him whose lips are now forever sealed, "the mystic chords of memory, which stretch from every battle-field, and from every patriot's grave, shall yield a sweeter music when touched by the angels of our better nature." This seems to be the earliest hit for "angels of our better nature" in Google Books. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |The purpose of writing is to inflate 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, Palo Alto, CA 94304 |and inhibit clarity. With a little |practice, writing can be an kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |intimidating and impenetrable fog! (650)857-7572 | Calvin http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ >> I hear many say, "Our better angels". >> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >which appears to be the earliest use. "our better angels" was used by Charles Dickens in Barnaby Rudge, 1841, Chapter 29, Paragraph 2. http://www.dickens-literature.com/Barnaby_Rudge/29.html ... the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > > I hear many say, "Our better angels". > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all > over this broad land, Hearing the speech, I would have been well down the garden path at this point, as cords stretch much more often than chords. > will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when > again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our > nature. ... -- Jerry Friedman |
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