Fresh fields to conquer

Posted by Harikrishnan Menon on March 07, 2003

In Reply to: Fresh fields to conquer posted by Henry on March 06, 2003

: Fresh fields to conquer
: What is the origin of this fairly common phrase?

In 'Lycidas' , John Milton wrote: "At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue; Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new." This is commonly misquoted as "fresh fields", probably because of the alliteration. And 'She Stoops To Conquer' is a play by Oliver Goldsmith. Perhaps someone combined the two and came up with "fresh fields to conquer"!