POETRY MONTH: The Aristocrat

[nineveh_uk]

azdak’s posting of Chesterton’s Antichrist, Or The Reunion Of Christendom: An Ode inspired me to think of Chesterton, and what with the present JKR court case, of Harry Potter, hence to this poem, the second stanza of which inspired a plot bunny about Lupin being invited by Narcissa to visit Malfoy Manor after Voldemort's first defeat. Alas, it had no actual plot, and I’m not that interested in Lupin, so its chances of ever being written are slim. But the poem still makes me think of the sudden thick gloom beneath National Trust roller blinds protecting the soft furnishings against the bright light outside, and Agatha Christie type characters sniffing heroin off a feather, and the Death Eaters, which fit in even better after Deathly Hallows, which I am just about to re-read. I don't think it's a brilliant poem, but it makes me think of stories.

The Aristocrat

The Devil is a gentleman, and asks you down to stay
At his little place at What’sitsname (it isn’t far away).
They say the sport is splendid; there is always something new,
And fairy scenes, and fearful feats that none but he can do;
He can shoot the feathered cherubs if they fly on the estate,
Or fish for Father Neptune with the mermaids for a bait;
He scaled amid the staggering stars that precipice, the sky,
And blew his trumpet above heaven, and got by mastery
The starry crown of God Himself, and shoved it on the shelf;
But the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn’t brag himself.

O blind your eyes and break your heart and hack your hand away,
And lose your love and shave your head; but do not go to stay
At the little place in What’sitsname where folks are rich and clever;
The golden and the goodly house, where things grow worse for ever;
There are things you need not know of, though you live and die in vain,
There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain;
There is a game of April Fool that’s played behind its door,
Where the fool remains for ever and the April comes no more,
Where the splendour of the daylight grows drearier than the dark,
And life droops like a vulture that once was such a lark:
And that is the Blue Devil that once was the Blue Bird;
For the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn’t keep his word.

Comments

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Ow! That really would fit into the Death Eaters' world (it has a touch of the Dian de Momeries about it, too).

I really like "For the devil is a gentleman, AND doesn't keep his word." Such cynicism! And for a further example of Chesterton's view on what it means to be a gentleman, we have Exhibit B:

Tea is like the East he grows in,
A great yellow Mandarin
With urbanity of manner
And unconsciousness of sin;
All the women, like a harem,
At his pig-tail troop along;
And, like all the East he grows in,
He is Poison when he's strong.

Tea, although an Oriental,
Is a gentleman at least;
Cocoa is a cad and coward,
Cocoa is a vulgar beast,
Cocoa is a dull, disloyal,
Lying, crawling cad and clown,
And may very well be grateful
To the fool that takes him down.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Cynicism or not pandering to a self-created illusion... And yes, definitely a touch of Dian de Momeries in there (I would love to see MMA as a really well-made TV drama, although this may be because of all the books it might be the best for clothes...).

And unconsciousness of sin
More Ow indeed.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

More Ow indeed.

G.K. Chesterton: Being bigoted and Offensive since 1900

I would love to see MMA as a really well-made TV drama

My mind boggles at the thought. Truly, it does. I think all the harlequin scenes are so unspeakably dreadful in the original that I can't imagine a well-made TV version, unless they re-wrote all the de Momerie chapters.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I think all the harlequin scenes are so unspeakably dreadful in the original that I can't imagine a well-made TV version, unless they re-wrote all the de Momerie chapters

Nah - all you have to do is acknowledge that every single person involved in them (including Peter) is high on something. Film it in black and white, make it explicitly hallucinogenic, wibbly under the moon stuff. Show the fountain next day - not high, with deep, safe basin - compared to the olympic diving board height you've previously illustrated it as, play up the glamour vs. tawdry reality stuff. Make the cars impossibly fast, the clothes impossibly tight, Peter thinking of himself as a comic book hero, and the whole thing a devestating critique of market capitalism and it could be fantastic ;-)

Oh, and shoe-horn Harriet in as much as possible!

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Well, at least you suggestion has the virtue of not requiring the viewer to take it seriously. And the fountain could be really funny.

Yes, you've sold it to me. As long as it's just one scene and not several chapters where the same damn things happens over and over again.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

and not several chapters where the same damn things happens over and over again
And that you solve by showing only the last 5 seconds and making it dream sequence. And you could blur Dian/Bredon/Harlequin's POV, and make some of it really creepy; I think it could be great fun. Never happen, of course.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I think you should write to the Beeb and suggest it.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Maybe if I can sell it is a talent show to find the next Great Aristocratic Amateur Detective they'll buy it!

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha! In that case, diving off the fountain (Olympic-size) will have to be one of the casting criteria.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

And looking good in a skin-tight silk knit catsuit for the men (to which I can only think "crikey!" I think the TV version will have the outfit made out of very, very fine leather instead, as slightly less scary), or bias cut oyster satin for the women.

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

I like this. And it certainly has resonances of the Death Eaters.

Haven't read any Chesterton. I'll have to look at his other stuff.

MM

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

You think the good old days are all Muggle-hunting and the half-bloods knowing their place and you enjoying yours, and before you know it your son is watching his teacher murdered above the dining room table.

I keep meaning to try the Father Brown books, but haven't.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Oh, I really like this poem! I'd not run across it before, so thanks for posting! The last line in particular stings in a wonderful way.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I think it was the last line that hooked me the first time I read it: it just bashes that last nail in.

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

I've always loved this poem, with the image of the suave, double-dealing Devil. I haven't read Chesterton since school, but this inspires me to crack open the old books again.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It's great, isn't it? I think I should go and get some Chesterton from the library - I'm sure I'd understand a lot more now than I did then.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is a good one. Incidentally, might you be about in London on Saturday for fabric shopping in Goldhawk Road? I am coming to London (theatre with sister in the evening) and need to buy some fabric...

[aerama.livejournal.com]

Chesterton!

This line: "There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain"

Holy crap. It's my Old Boss.
And the last line too, perhaps...perhaps.

This: "Where the fool remains for ever and the April comes no more," just fills me with a nameless dread.

Ow all around.
Good stuff.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

"Where the fool remains for ever and the April comes no more," just fills me with a nameless dread.

I do love that line. On the whole, Lucius Malfoy is probably happier not having read it.

(And how are we to consider Bosses now/ Is Old Boss now Old Old Boss, and Boss Old Boss, or do we have Old Boss, Ex Boss, and Ben?)

[aerama.livejournal.com]

A foe of Lucius would print out copies of this poem and plaster them on the walkways around his mansion and insert it into the pages of the trashy newspapers and magazines you know he furtively reads. :)

Alas for my impersonalization! - The original hideous boss will probably still be Big Big Boss, if I ever have the misfortune to reference him much in the future; my departed Boss should be named by his real name in the future (if ever I have the misfortune...); and I think I'll just call Ben "Ben" because I foresee, in a retroactive way, that I will become even more tangled up in objectifying the poor lads if I continue. Heh.

The more I read that poem, the more I like it. I am inflicting it on others as we speak. "It's Poetry Month!" I declare, dropping it and running. They are all at my mercy.
***
It also reminds me of the line from "All Along the Watchtower:" "There are many here among us / Who feel that life is but a joke."