Monday 18 January 2016

A Total Revolution ( an answer for Robert Frost ) - Oscar Williams ( 29/12/00 - 10/10/64)


( Oscar Williams was the pen name of Oscar Kaplan  American anthropologist and poet, here's a comparative piece)

A Total Revolution

I advocate a total revolution.
The trouble with a semi-revolution.
It's likely to be as slow as evolution. 
Who wants  to spend ages in collusion
With Compromise, Complacence and Confusion?
As for the same class coming out on top
That's wholecloth from the propaganda shop;
The old saw says there's loads of room on top.
That's where the poor should really plan to stop.
And speaking of those people called  the 'haves'
Who own the whole cow and must have the calves
(And plant the wounds so they can sell the salves)
They won't be stopped by doing things by halves.
I say that for a permanent solution
There's nothing like  a total revolution!

In comparison  here's Robert Frosts poem, more famous than Oscar I guess, but I know which poem I prefer, Oscar wins head down.

A Semi Revolution  - Robert Frost ( 26/3/1874- 29/1/63)

I advocate a semi-revolution
The trouble with a total revolution
( ask any reputable Rosicrucucian)
Is that it brings the same class up on top.
Executives of skillful execution
Will therefore  plan to go half-way and stop.
Yes, revolutions are the only salves,
But they're one thing that should be done by halves.


By the way Robert a true Rosicrucian  would never openly admit to being one, while a true revolutionary wears a radical  heart on their sleeves, their cause self-evident, ready and willing  to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs.

3 comments:

  1. Williams' poem isn't complete without the final couplet:

    P.S. And may I add by way of a conclusion
    I wouldn't dream to ask a Rosicrucian.

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  2. The American technology oligarchs are on top now and will remain on top after they purchase a socialist revolution with the misfortune and blood of our former middle class and the currently complacent poor. I'll side, myself, with Frost.

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