Analysis of The Gods Of The Copybook Headings
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall.
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn.
That water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision, and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorilas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither clud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch.
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch.
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshiped the Gods of the Market Who promiced these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promiced perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: 'Stick to the Devil you know.'
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promiced the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: 'The Wages of Sin is Death/'
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selective Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: 'If you don't work you die.'
The the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tounged wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to belive it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four---
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man---
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:---
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
Scheme | AABB CCDD AAXX EEFF GGHH IIXX BBJJ KKLL MMXXNNCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111100100100101 11110110110101 101100101111001 00110110110111 1010011111111101 11011001111011001 111110010100111 11111101111001111 111010101101011 1010111110110101 1111111010100111 10111111110111101 101110111110100111 1011011110111101 10111001010110111 11100110101111001 10100100101101001 111111101010110111 111011110010111101 0011011011101011 101111010101 110110101001011011 110101111000111001 0011011010101111 00010010101001011 110010101110101 1111101101110101011 001101101111111 00110101001111001 001101001000111111 11111110010111 0011011011101111 111100101110111 11101110110101 10101111000101101 001110101111010 0110110100011101 11111101001111111 11011011111011011 011011011001001 |
Characters | 2,740 |
Words | 515 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 55 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 243 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 2:34 min read
- 22,059 Views
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"The Gods Of The Copybook Headings" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33442/the-gods-of-the-copybook-headings>.
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