Your take on censorship and “Millennial Snot” reminded me how, even as a right-wing type, I used to consider any talk of restricting language as archaic or tyrannical. But now I see the spiritual impoverishment around us, especially with how profanity and irony have choked out our capacity for reverence. I love how you link it to Tolkien’s Elvish vs. the Black Speech—once we let the “Black Speech” style dominate our daily talk, we lose the vocabulary of transcendence. Living for cheap laughs ends up strangling the ability to express awe or depth.
Thank You. I read them back to back, but all three are fantastic. Makes me want to question what have I been consuming all my life and read The Divine Comedy again.
For myself, it feels as though I have to constantly adjust as the old methods of creating art are crumbling through my fingers. You listen to advice from Sci-Fi and Fantasy authors on how to “make it” and it’s somehow worse than the Boomers. Completely out of touch with how art has evolved (or more accurately, degenerated) over the course of the past twenty years. I don’t think anyone has really woken up to what art means in a post-literate society.
Great essay, it is my favorite one on substack yet.
You made a great point on the use of profanity. When i was a child i loved profanity, learning a new insult was really fun, but as a i grow up i didn't want other kids to learn them. Why was that? It just felt wrong and i dont have any "rational" explanation.
In many cases kids are being taught not to talk about "negro" or whathever which i find it harmful because it promotes our culture of "word-based" meaning that the stuff that comes from our mouths matter most than anything, which is stupid.
I do recognize that words matter, but the way that certain movements or power structures say that words matters is only to benefit their fantasy worldview. I don't want my male kids being afraid of words, it makes them weak. It makes them the kind of man that does not speak truth because its offensive, it makes them submissive to arbitrariety.
When this censorship goes way deep, that person does not even recognize itself.
I would like to digress to talk about my favorite poem, “The Hymn of Breaking Strain” by Rudyard Kipling. Everyday, when I work upon my machines, my mind seems to drift to “no set gauge they make us”… it’s line illuminate my occupation in engineering.
“Loads we cannot bear” and “The blame of loss, or murder is laid upon the man”, or who could forget, “Oh, luckier bridge and rail!”.
I come back to it over and over again, each time the world seems a little bit bigger for it. It seems to have all the answers to the modern conundrum: of course our machines are made to spec unlike us! Of course, it is the case that because we are broken, we have the ability to build the world anew! Of course, we are on course even when things are hidden.
I am never sure I could ever make anything that came close to it. I die inside in that I am obsessed with alone amongst my immediate peerage.
If there is a poem to carry into the next world, that would be the one for me. That is my earnest desire.
There is a lot of words that could unify that desire with your piece in terms of relevance, but I feel those words are wasteful rather than praising what poetry should bring about what comes next.
I enjoyed your three-part essay more than I should have. Even if I didn't agree with all of the conclusions that came forth (mostly due to my agnostic background), but I think most of the concepts presented are transcendental. And this has given more food for thought than my country's public media has provided me in the last 2 years. Even if we lack mentors in our current age, I think it is a miracle we got someone like you. Someone who is able to convey such a vast amount of ideas in such a, relatively, small text!
Should anyone want a primer in poetry, you could do a lot worse than Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled. Fry might be an insufferable lib, but this is a very helpful overview of metre and form - and having all the basics in one place is useful - it is also a genuinely fun read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66856.The_Ode_Less_Travelled
Twenty years ago I subscribed to periodicals like "First Things". I can remember thumbing the pages and stumbling on the included poem. I remember being a college poet, submitting via the postal service to a publication and waiting for the (rejection) letter in return.
The process for reading poetry and for being a readable poet was narrow. I could say it was gatekept, but I prefer to say it was protected.
I no longer subscribe to paper magazines. Scrolling through an internet menu is different from the surprise of turning a page and finding a poem. The immediacy: I had to read it at that moment. I think of Austen's "Persuasion" and Anne Elliot's comment to Captain Benwick: "We are living through a great age of poetry." What was it like to read new works by Shelley, Byron, and Keats fresh off the press? Amazing.
Do you remember when Dave Burge wrote only at his iowahawk blog? His humor was brilliant and his pieces were long. Then he joined twitter and stopped blogging. He's obviously funny in short form, but we lost great writing when we prioritized 140 characters.
One of the West's most famous poets was Orpheus who attempted to rescue Eurydice from the Underworld, but failed.
That having been sad please check out The Orpheum Trilogy the author of which was a modern day Orpheus except that he returned from the Underworld radiantly alive.
The first book of The Orpheum Trilogy is The Mummery Book which is todays equivalent of The Divine Comedy. The Mummery is based on the author's direct experience of everything that he describes or refers to.
The theme of The Mummery Book is Raymond's Problem which is the fact that the Beloved in all of his or her forms dies. The book describes Raymond's quest to be reunited with his beloved Quandra. Quandra is also a now an archetypal image for the SHAKTI.
Have you ever noticed that with very rare exception all of the West's favorite authors were written by men in their (futile) and unresolved attempts to come to terms with their mortality or the absence of Shakti in the world. By contrast the author of the above was thoroughly "united with" of Realized his oneness with the Shakti
Tolkien really isn't on the level of the greats like Dante or Cervantes and it would show a great deal of maturity on the right for that to be recognized
Perhaps but neither Dante nor Cervantes were the peers of the great Orpheus. Neither are most mothers or wives the greatest by some distant measure but it remains just as right that a man should love his own. Even if Tolkien is not the greatest in history he was great and is closer to us in time, spirit, experience, and language. Quit your pedantry and virtue signaling.
Yes, Sauron created the One Ring. Although I think Tolkien referred to Arda itself as 'Morgoth's Ring' in a spiritual sense, since he managed to corrupt all matter.
I'm curious if Dave ever read the Earthsea series or what his take on it would be, since that's notable as a fantasy series that touches heavily on language and forbidden knowledge. (And wizards.)
Not in the appendices to LotR, so far as I recall, but it's used as the title for one of the volumes of the History of Middle Earth his son published. It's not the artifact destroyed at Mt. Doom, although the two can be linked insofar as Morgoth originated all evil.
Your take on censorship and “Millennial Snot” reminded me how, even as a right-wing type, I used to consider any talk of restricting language as archaic or tyrannical. But now I see the spiritual impoverishment around us, especially with how profanity and irony have choked out our capacity for reverence. I love how you link it to Tolkien’s Elvish vs. the Black Speech—once we let the “Black Speech” style dominate our daily talk, we lose the vocabulary of transcendence. Living for cheap laughs ends up strangling the ability to express awe or depth.
This is brilliant! I feel spiritually uplifted after reading it.
Thanks man. It was very hard writing a conclusion to this series.
Thank You. I read them back to back, but all three are fantastic. Makes me want to question what have I been consuming all my life and read The Divine Comedy again.
For myself, it feels as though I have to constantly adjust as the old methods of creating art are crumbling through my fingers. You listen to advice from Sci-Fi and Fantasy authors on how to “make it” and it’s somehow worse than the Boomers. Completely out of touch with how art has evolved (or more accurately, degenerated) over the course of the past twenty years. I don’t think anyone has really woken up to what art means in a post-literate society.
Agreed.
and yet where is the skillset of the artist more important than this exact scenario?
it's a time of opportunity
Great essay, it is my favorite one on substack yet.
You made a great point on the use of profanity. When i was a child i loved profanity, learning a new insult was really fun, but as a i grow up i didn't want other kids to learn them. Why was that? It just felt wrong and i dont have any "rational" explanation.
In many cases kids are being taught not to talk about "negro" or whathever which i find it harmful because it promotes our culture of "word-based" meaning that the stuff that comes from our mouths matter most than anything, which is stupid.
I do recognize that words matter, but the way that certain movements or power structures say that words matters is only to benefit their fantasy worldview. I don't want my male kids being afraid of words, it makes them weak. It makes them the kind of man that does not speak truth because its offensive, it makes them submissive to arbitrariety.
When this censorship goes way deep, that person does not even recognize itself.
How do we approach this? Thanks
I would like to digress to talk about my favorite poem, “The Hymn of Breaking Strain” by Rudyard Kipling. Everyday, when I work upon my machines, my mind seems to drift to “no set gauge they make us”… it’s line illuminate my occupation in engineering.
“Loads we cannot bear” and “The blame of loss, or murder is laid upon the man”, or who could forget, “Oh, luckier bridge and rail!”.
I come back to it over and over again, each time the world seems a little bit bigger for it. It seems to have all the answers to the modern conundrum: of course our machines are made to spec unlike us! Of course, it is the case that because we are broken, we have the ability to build the world anew! Of course, we are on course even when things are hidden.
I am never sure I could ever make anything that came close to it. I die inside in that I am obsessed with alone amongst my immediate peerage.
If there is a poem to carry into the next world, that would be the one for me. That is my earnest desire.
There is a lot of words that could unify that desire with your piece in terms of relevance, but I feel those words are wasteful rather than praising what poetry should bring about what comes next.
Kipling was great.
I enjoyed your three-part essay more than I should have. Even if I didn't agree with all of the conclusions that came forth (mostly due to my agnostic background), but I think most of the concepts presented are transcendental. And this has given more food for thought than my country's public media has provided me in the last 2 years. Even if we lack mentors in our current age, I think it is a miracle we got someone like you. Someone who is able to convey such a vast amount of ideas in such a, relatively, small text!
Should anyone want a primer in poetry, you could do a lot worse than Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled. Fry might be an insufferable lib, but this is a very helpful overview of metre and form - and having all the basics in one place is useful - it is also a genuinely fun read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66856.The_Ode_Less_Travelled
That's the book I recommend to beginners in prosody. There are some gaps, which I cover here: https://qr.ae/pGeXLZ
what a series. your treatment of the sacred and the profane was illuminating. bloody fantastic.
Glad you liked it!
I can tell there's something of the numinous in you and your story Dave. Your wtiting is, as ever, edifying.
Twenty years ago I subscribed to periodicals like "First Things". I can remember thumbing the pages and stumbling on the included poem. I remember being a college poet, submitting via the postal service to a publication and waiting for the (rejection) letter in return.
The process for reading poetry and for being a readable poet was narrow. I could say it was gatekept, but I prefer to say it was protected.
I no longer subscribe to paper magazines. Scrolling through an internet menu is different from the surprise of turning a page and finding a poem. The immediacy: I had to read it at that moment. I think of Austen's "Persuasion" and Anne Elliot's comment to Captain Benwick: "We are living through a great age of poetry." What was it like to read new works by Shelley, Byron, and Keats fresh off the press? Amazing.
Do you remember when Dave Burge wrote only at his iowahawk blog? His humor was brilliant and his pieces were long. Then he joined twitter and stopped blogging. He's obviously funny in short form, but we lost great writing when we prioritized 140 characters.
One of the West's most famous poets was Orpheus who attempted to rescue Eurydice from the Underworld, but failed.
That having been sad please check out The Orpheum Trilogy the author of which was a modern day Orpheus except that he returned from the Underworld radiantly alive.
http://www.adidaupclose.org/Literature_Theater/skalsky.html
The first book of The Orpheum Trilogy is The Mummery Book which is todays equivalent of The Divine Comedy. The Mummery is based on the author's direct experience of everything that he describes or refers to.
The theme of The Mummery Book is Raymond's Problem which is the fact that the Beloved in all of his or her forms dies. The book describes Raymond's quest to be reunited with his beloved Quandra. Quandra is also a now an archetypal image for the SHAKTI.
Have you ever noticed that with very rare exception all of the West's favorite authors were written by men in their (futile) and unresolved attempts to come to terms with their mortality or the absence of Shakti in the world. By contrast the author of the above was thoroughly "united with" of Realized his oneness with the Shakti
http://beezone.com/adida/shakti/theshaktiherplaywithadida.html
Tolkien really isn't on the level of the greats like Dante or Cervantes and it would show a great deal of maturity on the right for that to be recognized
Perhaps but neither Dante nor Cervantes were the peers of the great Orpheus. Neither are most mothers or wives the greatest by some distant measure but it remains just as right that a man should love his own. Even if Tolkien is not the greatest in history he was great and is closer to us in time, spirit, experience, and language. Quit your pedantry and virtue signaling.
I am not virtue signaling. The only thing I am signaling is an attempt to leave the kludge of the fantasy genre
Yes, Sauron created the One Ring. Although I think Tolkien referred to Arda itself as 'Morgoth's Ring' in a spiritual sense, since he managed to corrupt all matter.
I'm curious if Dave ever read the Earthsea series or what his take on it would be, since that's notable as a fantasy series that touches heavily on language and forbidden knowledge. (And wizards.)
Morgoth’s ring is what it’s called in the appendix, I believe
Not in the appendices to LotR, so far as I recall, but it's used as the title for one of the volumes of the History of Middle Earth his son published. It's not the artifact destroyed at Mt. Doom, although the two can be linked insofar as Morgoth originated all evil.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgoth's_Ring
https://youtu.be/Yqz91_COzFo?t=65