The Praise of Folly

"The Praise of Folly" is a transcript of a lecture delivered in a university hall to an audience of scholars. The lecturer is the goddess Folly, a persona invented by Erasmus. Folly has chosen herself as her subject. Her incongruous costume, a scholar's robe but the belled hat of a jester, suggests (correctly) that her words will be a mix of the serious with the hilarious. Throughout the lecture, she makes her case that foolishness, not rational thought, benefits mankind more. Readers will note that most of the human foibles discussed by Folly remain with us today.

This version of "The Praise of Folly," the first in verse, was written to commemorate the 500th anniversary of this enduring work's creation.