Back
in the days when a decent college education included at least a passing
nod at classical poetry, students studied such masters as Byron,
Shelley, Pope, Milton, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and others. Of
course
today all those old dead Englishmen have been tossed on the rubbish
heap in favor of more “hip” poetry by such modern geniuses as Ginsberg,
Eminem, Snoop Dog, Aquah LaLuah, and Sistah Souljah.
One poem I made sure my students were introduced to was “Ode On A
Grecian Urn,” By Keats. Many of you will remember those last two
lines
from this final stanza:
O
Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
Well, since people don’t like that sorta stuff any more, I kinda
brought it up to date:
Merde, Or A Clinton Turd
O dumpy shape! Harsh attitude! With cries
From dying men and power thou hast sought,
With petro dollars and “Foundation” lies;
Thou, cackling witch, art whole and fully bought
Through tricks political: Cold She-Devil!
When debts due this sacred nation waste,
Shalt thou be damned, to share Obama woe
For self, a friend to none, to whom Fate say’st,
“Evil is she, she evil,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
Prof Ron Metzger
holds our unendowed C&S Important Stuff chair .
