Among the earliest translated clay tablets is a screed complaining that society is going to the dogs, nobody respects the old ways, and the kids are totally out of control.
This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsNot with a bang but with a whimper. T S Eliot – The Hollow Men.
Dam the Poetry ! Full speed ahead ! Fire up the grill and start burning Burgers and Dogs tis the 4th don’t you know. Happy 4th of July ! … Croc Power !
For an artist who can pull off a humorous, yet timely, thoughtful, and erudite strip like this, why does Pastis resort to so many gags based on third-grade puns?
All manner of rough beasts slouching towards a Bethlehem of the mind. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Coney_Island_of_the_Mind
They ne’er cared for us yet; suffer us to famish and their store-houses crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich and provide more piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there’s all the love they bear us.
“I saw Tom Jefferson drop his copy of the Declaration of Independence and when he went to pick it up, his pants split…Oh my God! ROFLMAO” – Alexander Hamilton
The best poetry is good for any occasion. Back in April, I reflected on the opening line of T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’: ‘April is the cruelest month’. We’re now into our fourth cruel month. In the last panel, we see Rat developing an appreciation for poetry.
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,And towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hootsOf gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumblingFitting the clumsy helmets just in time,But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in,And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.
“And they will hate one another and provoke one another to fight. And the despised will rule over the honorable, and the unworthy will raise themselves over the illustrious.And many will be delivered to the few …and the impious will exalt themselves over the brave. The wise will be silent, and the foolish will speak.”
A chilling prophecy from the Apocrypha – part of the Catholic Bible. How is that for “poetry?”
Some say the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice. / From what I’ve tasted of desire /I hold with those who favor fire. /But if it had to perish twice, /I think I know enough of hate /To say that for destruction ice /Is also great / And would suffice. // “Fire and Ice” — Robert Frost
Aye, the falconer should get a new falcon and in the meantime get the falcon’s hearing tested, lest it come to a bad end, or something. A relatable lesson for our time indeed. /s
“The best lose all conviction”/ Yeats’ poem is a sad depiction/ of the state of this nation/ on this celebration/ of our fumbled founding fiction. (i.e. “all men are created equal”)
a little dated but same sentiment, end of the world. “Two thousand zero zero party’s over, oops, out of time. Tonight I’m going to party like it’s Nineteen ninety nine.” Prince, or the Artist once known as Prince, or the Glyph. Who cares, some of my favorite ’90’s music are his.
BE THIS GUY over 4 years ago
Put a dust jacket from a Bill O’Reilly book on it if you’re embarrassed to be seen with it.
Sherlock Watson over 4 years ago
“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” —Shakespeare
wiatr over 4 years ago
I have to admit that poetry and I just don’t get along but this one makes some sense.
Concretionist over 4 years ago
Among the earliest translated clay tablets is a screed complaining that society is going to the dogs, nobody respects the old ways, and the kids are totally out of control.
Or at least, that’s what I’ve heard.
DennisinSeattle over 4 years ago
Yeats’ vision has come true several times to different parts of the world in the past century.
darkwingdave over 4 years ago
I remember that line from a Spenser novel by Robert Parker.
Caldonia over 4 years ago
Misery Before Swine
gopher gofer over 4 years ago
next he can read a novel by chinua achebe, things fall apart…
robnvon Premium Member over 4 years ago
Surely the Second Coming is near at hand….
Gent over 4 years ago
How’d Yeats know about the autonomous anarchy zones?
hitmouse over 4 years ago
This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsNot with a bang but with a whimper. T S Eliot – The Hollow Men.
RohanDemon over 4 years ago
Sounds more like a horoscope
David Wolfson Premium Member over 4 years ago
You want poetry that’s relevant to today, read poetry that’s being written today.
Breadboard over 4 years ago
Dam the Poetry ! Full speed ahead ! Fire up the grill and start burning Burgers and Dogs tis the 4th don’t you know. Happy 4th of July ! … Croc Power !
Little Caesar over 4 years ago
“T’was brilling…….”
walstib Premium Member over 4 years ago
The only poetry I’ve unconsciously memorized is old rock song lyrics and that one about the man from Nantucket.
Aviatrexx Premium Member over 4 years ago
For an artist who can pull off a humorous, yet timely, thoughtful, and erudite strip like this, why does Pastis resort to so many gags based on third-grade puns?
Ignatz Premium Member over 4 years ago
Dammit, Pastis, I just wasted time trying to figure out a pun using “Yeats” and there wasn’t one.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” – Shakespeare
Markov Da Robot over 4 years ago
WEAR MASKS, YOU TWO
Ellis97 over 4 years ago
That’s real deep, Goat.
Thomas R. Williams over 4 years ago
All manner of rough beasts slouching towards a Bethlehem of the mind. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Coney_Island_of_the_Mind
Reader over 4 years ago
Unless anarchy is the goal….
Ralph Newbill over 4 years ago
Nothing changes; it was true of Athens, it was true of Rome, and so it goes…
Keno21 over 4 years ago
The world has been ending for, like, ever. We’ll be fine, folks.
vics_machine Premium Member over 4 years ago
Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003 (Who knew the U.S. had a Poet Laureate?):
“The Blue”
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9a/04/12/9a0412efe36d13ec52d098a552815523.jpg
VICTOR PROULX over 4 years ago
“The Second Coming,” those lines have come to me too, of late.
Radish... over 4 years ago
If you can keep your head while everyone else is losing theirs, you’ll be a Rat.
Olddog1 over 4 years ago
“The best lack all conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity.” It seems that we are hearing a lot from the worst.
Zebrastripes over 4 years ago
We, too, shall overcome….
Agapostemon over 4 years ago
For those who think they don’t like poetry, try Billy Collins.
Introduction to Poetry
By Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
Packratjohn Premium Member over 4 years ago
Care for us! True, indeed !
They ne’er cared for us yet; suffer us to famish and their store-houses crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich and provide more piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there’s all the love they bear us.
- Coriolanus
kcsch over 4 years ago
“I saw Tom Jefferson drop his copy of the Declaration of Independence and when he went to pick it up, his pants split…Oh my God! ROFLMAO” – Alexander Hamilton
LeonStauffer over 4 years ago
I’ve been quoting that to myself a lot lately.
zeexenon over 4 years ago
I like Percy Bysshe Shelley, myself, but his Frankenstein inventing wife even more.
DCBakerEsq over 4 years ago
#VoteAnarchy2020 Use the mail-in ballot.
wirepunchr over 4 years ago
There once was a lady of Nantucket……. Oh never mind.
everett_r0 over 4 years ago
The recurring prophecy of every seventh generation that always begins but is never quite fulfilled…
marilynnbyerly over 4 years ago
TS Eliot’s poetry is in the same vein.
saintian over 4 years ago
There is nothing new in this world, just history you don’t know.
Lou over 4 years ago
I couldn’t quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats‘Cause it’s all been said before
Clare Kelm Premium Member over 4 years ago
Your 9th grade English teacher loves it when you reach out to your fans with real poetry.
Otis Rufus Driftwood over 4 years ago
The best poetry is good for any occasion. Back in April, I reflected on the opening line of T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’: ‘April is the cruelest month’. We’re now into our fourth cruel month. In the last panel, we see Rat developing an appreciation for poetry.
Lou over 4 years ago
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,And towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hootsOf gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumblingFitting the clumsy helmets just in time,But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in,And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.
Wilfred Owen
willie_mctell over 4 years ago
Yeats, Eliot, and Auden—the best part of high school English. “What rough beast…”
Mlcorrad Premium Member over 4 years ago
Thank you for this, Stephan Pastis!
NWdryad over 4 years ago
Hey Rat, ever read Dante?
WCraft Premium Member over 4 years ago
“And they will hate one another and provoke one another to fight. And the despised will rule over the honorable, and the unworthy will raise themselves over the illustrious.And many will be delivered to the few …and the impious will exalt themselves over the brave. The wise will be silent, and the foolish will speak.”
A chilling prophecy from the Apocrypha – part of the Catholic Bible. How is that for “poetry?”
codedaddy over 4 years ago
I visit the rat and pig for my daily dose of humor. Can we please return to it?
delennwen over 4 years ago
And beautifully quoted by one of my favorite characters, G’Kar, on Babylon 5. Even hundreds of years later, things are still the same.
rwh2 over 4 years ago
Some say the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice. / From what I’ve tasted of desire /I hold with those who favor fire. /But if it had to perish twice, /I think I know enough of hate /To say that for destruction ice /Is also great / And would suffice. // “Fire and Ice” — Robert Frost
Johnny Q Premium Member over 4 years ago
Some poems feel TOO relevant…
Sisyphos over 4 years ago
Awesome stuff, ehh, Rat?!
How did that mnemonic go? “Bryon, Kelly, and Sheets”? Meh. T.S., Eliot.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension,
And dissension have begun.
PuppyPapa over 4 years ago
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
’My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
asrialfeeple over 4 years ago
There is nothing new under the sun.
praesodynium over 4 years ago
Aye, the falconer should get a new falcon and in the meantime get the falcon’s hearing tested, lest it come to a bad end, or something. A relatable lesson for our time indeed. /s
flyingfysh Premium Member over 4 years ago
Shakespeare didn’t say it, Yeats did. The whole thing can be found at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming
j.l.farmer over 4 years ago
an hour ago.
Call me Ishmael over 4 years ago
“The best lose all conviction”/ Yeats’ poem is a sad depiction/ of the state of this nation/ on this celebration/ of our fumbled founding fiction. (i.e. “all men are created equal”)
JamesEdwinPendergast over 4 years ago
How wonderful to encounter a quotation from Yeats’s “The Second Coming” in my favorite comic strip!
jtt over 4 years ago
Somehow, “The Second Coming” seems entirely apropos.
Quabaculta over 4 years ago
a little dated but same sentiment, end of the world. “Two thousand zero zero party’s over, oops, out of time. Tonight I’m going to party like it’s Nineteen ninety nine.” Prince, or the Artist once known as Prince, or the Glyph. Who cares, some of my favorite ’90’s music are his.
John Jorgensen over 4 years ago
The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are filled with passionate intensity.
ibbysaeed123 almost 3 years ago
deep