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Everybody freaking out about recent events needs to be aware of something, and I'm going to say it very slowly so that the Peddlers of Prophetic Critique can understand. (And yes, sure, I will be happy to write this essay for whoever would like to pay me for it.)
Robert Frost wrote a poem called "Dedication" for John F. Kennedy's inauguration. In the event, he recited "The Gift Outright" instead, but you can still find and read "Dedication."
In the poem, Frost takes the stance of Horace in a new Roman Ode, predicting the rise of a new
In the poem, Frost takes the stance of Horace in a new Roman Ode, predicting the rise of a new
"Augustan age/Of a power leading from its strength and pride," a "golden age of poetry and power." If Frost is Horace singing a new "Augustan age," who does that make JFK? That's right!
So, JFK is an emperor presiding over a "democratic form of right devine," a paradox by which
So, JFK is an emperor presiding over a "democratic form of right devine," a paradox by which
the people elects a supreme leader independent of the people and subject to a higher law: "to rule first answerable to high design," i.e. democratic ideology.
This ideology is the state religion. It has "consecrated seers": "I mean the great four, Washington,/John Adams,
This ideology is the state religion. It has "consecrated seers": "I mean the great four, Washington,/John Adams,
Jefferson, and Madison."
This religion is evangelical: the U.S. will "by the example of our Declaration/Make everybody want to be a nation"; we will "teach" other peoples, "our wards," "how Democracy is meant."
Frost, in other words, is living in the "'New order of the ages'"-
This religion is evangelical: the U.S. will "by the example of our Declaration/Make everybody want to be a nation"; we will "teach" other peoples, "our wards," "how Democracy is meant."
Frost, in other words, is living in the "'New order of the ages'"-
-found on our seal and our money, but ultimately coming from Vergil's fourth Eclogue that prophesies the birth of a special child who will inaugurate a kind of paradise on earth.
It is perhaps important to note that what we see in this poem from almost sixty years ago is
It is perhaps important to note that what we see in this poem from almost sixty years ago is
integrally and essentially, rather than accidentally and arbitrarily, related to what has been going on in recent days and weeks, and to adjust our evaluations and statements of Shock and Dismay accordingly, with a more self-aware sense of how we got here.*
*This thread was
*This thread was
inspired by a student paper I just read on Frost and Horace; I think him for the provocation.
(Also, in case it wasn't clear, on this telling the American Founding has God's explicit approval: it is a "new order" that "God nodded his approval of as good.")
