" everything has been written down , " said he . " our time is not the old time . " " no , " said the woman . " in the old time wise women were burnt , and poets went about with empty stomachs , and very much out at elbows . the present time is good , it is the best of times . but you have not the right way of looking at it . your ear is not sharpened to hear , and i fancy you do not say the lord 's prayer in the evening . there is plenty here to write poems about , and to tell of , for any one who knows the way . you can read it in the fruits of the earth , you can draw it from the flowing and the standing water . you must understand how -- you must understand how to catch a sunbeam . now just you try my spectacles on , and put my ear - trumpet to your ear , and then pray to god , and leave off thinking of yourself . "
because his ear is not sharpened to hear and he does not say the lord 's prayer in the evening .
why wasn't the young man able to write poems according to the wise woman ?
why wasn't the young man able to write poems according to the wise woman ?