|
The W.B. Yeats poem "He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven " was published in his 1899 collection , The Wind Among The Reeds :
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths ,
Enwrought with golden and silver light ,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light ,
I would spread the cloths under your feet :
But I , being poor , have only my dreams ;
I have spread my dreams under your feet ,
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Borrowing the last line , Malcolm Muggeridge used it for his 1966 collection of essays , Tread Softly For
You Tread On My Jokes. He opens it with some ruminations on his time (in the 1950s) as the editor of Punch magazine. “ I learned that
the English , particularly , take their humour very seriously , and grow exceedingly angry at attempts to amuse them which they consider to have failed. I decided that the business of a satirical
magazine must be to ridicule the age in which we live , and particularly those set in authority over us. Here a difficulty at once arose. Our age (as I dare say every age has seemed at the time)
is so overflowing with absurdity that it defies mockery. Who will be bold enough to produce absurdities outdoing those which television screens and government press releases constantly purvey ? ” .
Yeats was one of those men who are attracted to ‘the wisdom of old’ in all its bogus varieties. Theosophy to start with , thence to The Order Of The Golden Dawn , a hodge-podge of the Jewish
Kabbalistic tradition with material from medieval Grimoires. Muggeridge became a serious God-botherer in his old age , like
so many ex-agnostics before him. We may well imagine the jokes his older self would have afforded to the younger Malcolm’s pen. In much the same way , we can easily conjure up the younger John
Lennon's response to the “iconic” Marxist millionaire in New York that he became. Imagine no possessions … apart from his temperature-controlled room full of fur coats , his extensive property
portfolio , etcetera , etcetera. For an unrivalled example of spouting fatuous nonsense , we can turn to Mrs. Thatcher , who described Jimmy Savile as “a dynamic example of enterprise Britain and
an inspiring example of responsible Britain.”
There is a pompous air of solemnity and decorum in the Concert Hall , as in museums of Art. These were never places in which laughter was deemed appropriate. To us , their aspiration to “higher
things” provokes a chortle more successfully than many a professional comedian. Writers of self-improvement manuals prescribe a smile when misfortune descends upon us but we suggest a better tonic
for a flagging spirit. Study the mannerisms of those who aspire to bear the torch of high culture aloft on television screens. What a motley procession ! Lisping Lucy Worsley , the well-tailored
Graham-Dixon , earnest Mr. Montefiori , Janina Ramirez with her heavy mascara , the something-of-a-toff Alastair Sooke , Uncle Dave Starkey and all. Exposition after exposition , extending from the
Ancient Empires or Great Masters of yore to the brash (and wealthy) iconoclasts of today. They convey a sense of easy contact with their audience , of shared interests and mutual trust. Hands
moving horizontally in emphasis , as if playing an invisible squeeze box. Clarifications delivered over the shoulder to the following cameraman as they proceed across plazas or mince up and down
palace steps. The credits roll as they and their production team disappear , moving off-camera to their next extravaganza : The Art of Making Arty Documentaries for BBC 4.
Wig
|
Archive
Poets' Corner #1 – Poetic Pessimism, 13th September 2012
Poets' Corner #2 – The Workman's Friend, 10th October 2012
Poets' Corner #3 – On The Trail of Two Dylans, 12th November 2012
Poets' Corner #4 – Omar Khayyam, 14th December 2012
Poets' Corner #5 – William Blake, 25th January 2013
Poets' Corner #6 – A Minor Poet, 19th February 2013
Poets' Corner #7 – Thomas Hardy, 20th March 2013
Poets' Corner #8 – Shakespeare's Sonnets, 21st April 2013
Poets' Corner #9 – Edward Thomas, 20th May 2013
Poets' Corner #10 – Harry Smith's Anthology, 19th June 2013
Poets' Corner #11 – William Plomer, 21st July 2013
Poets' Corner #12 – Ghosts , 20th August 2013
Poets' Corner #13 – William Dunbar, 20th September 2013
Poets' Corner #14 – Bathtub Thoughts, 20th October 2013
Poets' Corner #15 – Bagpipe Music, 20th November 2013
Poets' Corner #16 – Sylvia & Emily, 20th December 2013
Poets' Corner #17 – The Fall Of Icarus, 16th January 2014
Poets' Corner #18 – Those Gone Before, 20th February 2014
Poets' Corner #19 – Rudyard Kipling, 20th March 2014
Poets' Corner #20 – Martin Bell, 20th April 2014
Poets' Corner #21 – Another Modest Proposal, 20th May 2014
Poets' Corner #22 – Thomas Gray and the Eighteenth Century, 20th June 2014
Poets' Corner #23 – Edgar Allan Poe, 18th July 2014
|