POEMS AND POETS
25. A GOLDEN AGE?
Societies with a long,continuous tradition generally look up to some past age as being the ideal, in any case better than the current one. Of course. different people have their own criteria. But the idea of a golden past is common.
This happens in almost all fields. Sometimes, we speak of the 'Golden Fifties' in some connection. But in the 50s, my grandfather used to talk of the pre-War (I) as the golden years.. In India, a full silver rupee circulated, and gold was cheap. Movie buffs certainly consider the Hindi movie music of the 50s as golden.
But the trend in the literary field is more firm and gets set in time. This becomes the standard 'canon' which becomes compulsory reading for subsequent generations. But with the explosion in the publications and literary activity, and the publicity business, this is losing all meaning in our time. The best seller cult is difficult to judge.
Only a few books stand out at any time, stand in time. 'Gone with the Wind' became celebrated, its author becoming world famous with just a single book. But its appeal is only to a limited audience. Personally, I like to think of 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' ( Harper Lee) and 'To Sir With Love' ( Braithwaite) as the outstanding stories of our time. Fortunately, both were made into good movies, which is rather rare. The message was simple, and its effect was humanising-we all wanted to become better people. I liked the sober quality of Nevil Shute's novels. I like him immensely. I liked A.J.Cronin, but somehow his 'The Judas Tree' deeply disturbed me. I gave up reading novels thereafter. There were a few stray ones- like Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K.Gann, A Ram in the Thicket by Frank G.Robertson,etc which I enjoyed. I liked Ralph Moody too, whatever people may say about the 'crude language'. His 'Man of the Family' affected me deeply. It is such books that influence us in the long run. I confess I am also a fan of Louis L'Amour. Not for the action, but for the way he depicts an age and its mores. His descriptions of the landscape are the best I like after Thomas Hardy. I found many sentences worthy of being underlined. But I get only hardbound editions- the mass market paperbacks are worse than saw dust.
I feel a book must make us better in some way. There is no point in reading a book to merely 'spend time' as if time is standing still and will accumulate without our spending it. It seems so absurd to me. It has become so difficult to get a simple magazine with simple, nice stories and poems.
Or, even books. I have been buying books for over 50 years. Good books are costly. The so called paperbacks are outrageously badly printed and bound. It is a blot on our civilization. The classics in the paperback editions-by any international publisher- are just horribly printed and bound. Even standard reputed publishers seem to have forgotten or given up the art of making a durable book, with sewn binding at affordable prices..But the more durable editions will not only put a hole in your pocket, they will set your house on fire. Try getting a good edition of Palgrave's Golden Treasury now! The fall in the standards of book manufacture seems to match the fall in the quality of current writing. Anything can be written, and anything will sell.
This trend was identified by Wordsworth 200 years ago! He wrote in 1802:
How stunningly prescient these words are, written two hundred years ago! This is the poets' sensibility we have been talking about! These words constitute poetry in prose! The glorification of trivia in the national press, all the focus and attention on the seamy side of human affairs, all the meaningless entertainment beamed non-stop by the TV channels have all been foreseen here! What is the responsibility of a writer then? Wordsworth's words again:
Alas! These have become a cry in the wilderness. "The degrading thirst after outrageous stimulation" has become the mark of the literary work of our day, and dominates our visual media. And everyone says this is what people want, or "goes". But we go down with them!
It is little wonder then that Wordsworth looked up to a past age with nostalgia, and upon past greats with undisguised admiration.
Wordsworth
'Great Men have been among us'
Great Men have been among us; hands that penned
And Tongues that uttered wisdom, better none:
The later Sydney,Marvel,Harrington,
Young Vane, and others who called Milton Friend.
These Moralists could act and comprehend:
They knew how genuine glory was put on;
Taught us how rightfully a nation shone
In splendour: what strength was, that would not bend
But in magnanimous meekness.
'Not to bend our knees before insolent might', wrote Tagore.
What happens when a country lacks them?
France,'tis strange,
Hath brought forth no such souls as we had then,
Perpetual emptiness! unceasing change!
No single Volume paramount, no code,
No master spirit, no determined road;
But equally a want of Books and Men!
We have to let these words sink in us,touch our consciousness. Great men live us in their books after them. But in the absence of both great books and great men, we have nothing more than a glamorous emptiness and unceasing change! Let us recall how one great man like Bankim Chandra or Rabindranath Tagore raised our awareness and electrified the nation! They symbolised the whole nation and the human spirit. Let us ask ourselves whether any thing or any one moves us so, now?
Wordsworth can be even more specific.
London ( 1802)
Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar,sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue,freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea;
Pure as the naked heavens,majestic,free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In chearful godliness, and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on itself did lay.
It is great men who, by their life and works provide us the ideals by which to live. Which nation can aspire to greatness, and its people to happiness if it lacks the example of such great lives before them?
The importance of the presence of wise people in a society is brought to us from an obscure corner of the ancient Tamil land. Grey hair is usually taken as the sign of advancing age, and /or undue worry. But in a village, an old man is found without grey hair! People are surprised, and they ask him. This is what he tells them.
Pisiraandaiyaar
If you ask me how come that my hair
Has not turned grey, though my age is advanced far,
Now, listen:
My virtuous wife is ever supportive;
My children are full in learning and virtue;
My servants complete tasks, knowing my mind:
The king- he refrains from unbecoming acts, and
protects the righteous way.
But above all this:
In the place where I live-
There live many virtuous elders, who
Having overcome the temptations of the flesh,
Inquired into Truth and settled in that Peace
That has become their forte.
How can an age which sets store by material standards ever understand such things? After all, they do not figure in the GDP!
"a multitude of causes, unknown to former times, are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor. The most effective of these causes are the great national events which are daily taking place, and the increasing accumulation of men in cities, where the uniformity of their occupations produces a craving for extraordinary incident, which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies. To this tendency of life and manners the literature and the theatrical exhibitions of the country have conformed themselves."
How stunningly prescient these words are, written two hundred years ago! This is the poets' sensibility we have been talking about! These words constitute poetry in prose! The glorification of trivia in the national press, all the focus and attention on the seamy side of human affairs, all the meaningless entertainment beamed non-stop by the TV channels have all been foreseen here! What is the responsibility of a writer then? Wordsworth's words again:
" the human mind is capable of being excited without the application of gross and violent stimulants; and he must have a very faint perception of its beauty and dignity who does not know this, and who does not further know, that one being is elevated above another, in proportion as he possesses this capability......to endeavour to produce or enlarge this capability is one of the best services in which, at any period, a Writer can be engaged; but this service, excellent at all times,is especially so at the present day."
Alas! These have become a cry in the wilderness. "The degrading thirst after outrageous stimulation" has become the mark of the literary work of our day, and dominates our visual media. And everyone says this is what people want, or "goes". But we go down with them!
It is little wonder then that Wordsworth looked up to a past age with nostalgia, and upon past greats with undisguised admiration.
Wordsworth
'Great Men have been among us'
Great Men have been among us; hands that penned
And Tongues that uttered wisdom, better none:
The later Sydney,Marvel,Harrington,
Young Vane, and others who called Milton Friend.
These Moralists could act and comprehend:
They knew how genuine glory was put on;
Taught us how rightfully a nation shone
In splendour: what strength was, that would not bend
But in magnanimous meekness.
'Not to bend our knees before insolent might', wrote Tagore.
What happens when a country lacks them?
France,'tis strange,
Hath brought forth no such souls as we had then,
Perpetual emptiness! unceasing change!
No single Volume paramount, no code,
No master spirit, no determined road;
But equally a want of Books and Men!
We have to let these words sink in us,touch our consciousness. Great men live us in their books after them. But in the absence of both great books and great men, we have nothing more than a glamorous emptiness and unceasing change! Let us recall how one great man like Bankim Chandra or Rabindranath Tagore raised our awareness and electrified the nation! They symbolised the whole nation and the human spirit. Let us ask ourselves whether any thing or any one moves us so, now?
Wordsworth can be even more specific.
London ( 1802)
Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar,sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue,freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea;
Pure as the naked heavens,majestic,free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In chearful godliness, and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on itself did lay.
It is great men who, by their life and works provide us the ideals by which to live. Which nation can aspire to greatness, and its people to happiness if it lacks the example of such great lives before them?
The importance of the presence of wise people in a society is brought to us from an obscure corner of the ancient Tamil land. Grey hair is usually taken as the sign of advancing age, and /or undue worry. But in a village, an old man is found without grey hair! People are surprised, and they ask him. This is what he tells them.
Pisiraandaiyaar
If you ask me how come that my hair
Has not turned grey, though my age is advanced far,
Now, listen:
My virtuous wife is ever supportive;
My children are full in learning and virtue;
My servants complete tasks, knowing my mind:
The king- he refrains from unbecoming acts, and
protects the righteous way.
But above all this:
In the place where I live-
There live many virtuous elders, who
Having overcome the temptations of the flesh,
Inquired into Truth and settled in that Peace
That has become their forte.
How can an age which sets store by material standards ever understand such things? After all, they do not figure in the GDP!
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