Hopeless

From Robert Redford's customer letter on Page 2 of the Spring 2010 Sundance Catalog:

Spring. I love Spring. Not only because it springs eternal in the human breast but because it provides a stretch of time to just appreciate the natural beauty of seasons.

Sorry, Bob. Spring doesn't spring eternal. Hope does. Hope. Rhymes with Pope.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The soul uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

—Alexander Pope (1688-1744), "Essay on Man," Epistle I.

Comments

[Amy Reynaldo]

I think his line is fine. Spring is, after all, the season of rebirth, reawakening, and hope.

[Nancy Friedman]

Amy: Even if his sentence made sense (and I don't think it does), the redundancy of "Spring springs" is red-pencil-worthy.

[Nimble]

Thank you for the Pope verse which I hadn't heard except for the three words "Hope springs eternal". I think you're missing an 's' at the end of "Rest" in the last line.

[Nancy Friedman]

Nimble: Thanks--I've fixed it.

[mighty red pen]

Spring ... springs? Someone should have stopped that from happening. Some copy editor, somewhere ...