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Song of the Worm
| Critical Analysis #2 |
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Song of the Worm |
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Aurelian Member
since 2007-03-20
Posts 109TX, USA 
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Note: This one's supposed to go along with "The Valley of Mirrors" which I posted on the "Insights" forum by mistake. If someone could move it here, that would be greatly appreciated. The liberator slides along the rotting arm Freeing toe from foot and finger from hand The egalitarian levels all pretense Into a plebeian compost The oppressed man before the Worm is dissolved down And freed from the tyranny of fixed form The patriot of the lowly shall make all one One equal mound of rotted dust Behold! The Worm – The lowly - The champion of Total liberation |
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| © Copyright 2007 Joshua R. Tindell - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
Two points: This idea of 'egalitarianism' has always hit me as a misreading of the nineteenth century socialists. They may have been misguided, but they weren't talking about that (the precise opposite as far as I can tell.) At the same time, I think you rely too much on the 'worm' as a 'lowly' metaphor. I think this would be much more interesting if you showcased the positive aspects at the same time. |
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Aurelian Member
since 2007-03-20
Posts 109TX, USA |
Wasn't really meant to be just a critique of socialism - I meant it as a critique of radical materialism - the idea that everything's value is only that of the lowest common denominator - humans are "merely" naked apes, apes are "merely" hooting cabbages, and cabbages are "merely" photosynthesizing rocks and so on. I feel that this radical "egalitarianism" of dust and ashes is the same sort of mindset that led the world's most educated and cultured nation into converting about six million of their fellow "naked apes" into ash. The last line "The Champion of Total Liberation" is an actual transcript of a headline written in the New York Times many years ago referring to none other than the Marquis de Sade. I thought that if they could consider him a "champion" for his twisted philosophy of sade -ism - because it supposedly "freed" humankind from any restraint of humanity - then the ultimate liberator would be the worm who went even further and freed humans from the "constraints" of an intact body. My point being that such freedom is only the freedom of decay - what happens when a finger is "freed" from the body which nourishes it. |
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