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Hilaire Belloc’s “Lines to a Don” meant something entirely different…

… but parts of the poem contain a curiously contemporary resonance.

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… Don poor at Bed and worse at Table,
Don pinched, Don starved, Don miserable;
Don stuttering, Don with roving eyes,
Don nervous, Don of crudities;
Don clerical, Don ordinary,
Don self-absorbed and solitary;
Don here-and-there, Don epileptic;
Don puffed and empty, Don dyspeptic;
Don middle-class, Don sycophantic,
Don dull, Don brutish, Don pedantic;
Don hypocritical, Don bad,
Don furtive, Don three-quarters mad;
Don (since a man must make an end),
Don that shall never be my friend.

… Don dreadful, rasping Don and wearing,
Repulsive Don—Don past all bearing.
Don of the cold and doubtful breath,
Don despicable, Don of death;
Don nasty, skimpy, silent, level;
Don evil; Don that serves the devil.
Don ugly — that makes fifty lines…

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Guess that’s what they mean by immortal verse.

Margaret Soltan, October 21, 2016 12:37PM
Posted in: democracy, poem

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3 Responses to “Hilaire Belloc’s “Lines to a Don” meant something entirely different…”

  1. dmf Says:

    http://www.wnyc.org/story/week-politics-playwright-tony-kushner-roy-cohn-and-donald-trump/

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    dmf: Just listened. Fantastic. Thanks for the link.

  3. dmf Says:

    my pleasure, how the cold war still haunts us, can’t wait to see Kushner’s now finished play.

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