Poem: How beastly the bourgeois is - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#197045
My Lit teacher in class gave us this rather interesting poem... well, it doesn't really fit in the other topics so...

Ahem. Here goes:

How beastly the bourgeois is

Nicely groomed, like a mushroom
standing there so sleek and erect and eyeable -
and like a fungus, living on the remains of bygone life
sucking his life out of the dead leaves of greater life than his own.

And even so, he's stale, he's been there too long.
Touch him, and you'll find he's all gone inside
just like an old mushroom all wormy inside and hollow
under a smooth skin and an upright appearance
Full of seething, wormy, hollow feelings
rather nasty ---

D.H.Lawrence

Comments. :)
By sokath
#197121
That's actually only about half the poem. There's a whole bunch more... here it is in it's entirety.

How beastly the bourgeois is
especially the male of the species--

Presentable, eminently presentable--
shall I make you a present of him?

Isn't he handsome? Isn't he healthy? Isn't he a fine specimen?
Doesn't he look the fresh clean Englishman, outside?
Isn't it God's own image? tramping his thirty miles a day
after partridges, or a little rubber ball?
wouldn't you like to be like that, well off, and quite the
thing

Oh, but wait!
Let him meet a new emotion, let him be faced with another
man's need,
let him come home to a bit of moral difficulty, let life
face him with a new demand on his understanding
and then watch him go soggy, like a wet meringue.
Watch him turn into a mess, either a fool or a bully.
Just watch the display of him, confronted with a new
demand on his intelligence,
a new life-demand.

How beastly the bourgeois is
especially the male of the species--

Nicely groomed, like a mushroom
standing there so sleek and erect and eyeable--
and like a fungus, living on the remains of a bygone life
sucking his life out of the dead leaves of greater life
than his own.

And even so, he's stale, he's been there too long.
Touch him, and you'll find he's all gone inside
just like an old mushroom, all wormy inside, and hollow
under a smooth skin and an upright appearance.

Full of seething, wormy, hollow feelings
rather nasty--
How beastly the bourgeois is!

Standing in their thousands, these appearances, in damp
England
what a pity they can't all be kicked over
like sickening toadstools, and left to melt back, swiftly
into the soil of England.


Coming from someone who just finished my english Independent Study on DH Lawrence it pains me to say that he really wasn't much of a marxist. In fact, he was rather apolitical. He certainly didn't like the working conditions of the late 19th early 20th centuries, and he certainly HATED upperclass british snobbery, but he certainly wasn't a marxist. If anything he was a passive socialist. It's got some great imagery though: "soggy like a wet meringue"!! gold! :lol:

Sorry to disappoint; this isn't a piece of revolutionary poetry, it's just a harsh stab at the type of people Lawrence hated. But communists hate 'em too, so it's all good, we can hate together. :lol:

Cheers,

S./
By CeTeRiS
#197224
Hey thanks... at least I'll have something interesting to add on in the Lit discussions in class. :)
By sokath
#197264
Good luck with that bud. :) Where you from?

S./
By the SovieT
#197268
the best communist poet is Portuguese...

his name is Ary Dos Santos.....

these are some of his poems..
(his poems almost always rhyme but i have to translate them so they wount rhyme now..... plus dont be surprised if the english used in them is lammy... its my home made translations as usual :D)

The Burguase

The fiber Tie like rope
tied to the barely suet shirt
a old stomach that only stretches
burping acumulated richness

A specie of octupus with Açorda
of food a thousand times chewed
of small and fat arm chair
of (cant translate this part)

A Box of sillyness. A pain in the ass
a smile covered with (cant translate this)
and eyes of (some anymal) looking down on you

To say who it is what i said is enough
its a human beats that ruminates
its a motherfucker its a burguase

(Açorda is a typical portuguese food, it is soaked bread and it looks really disgusting like it has been alredy chewed)


and my ALL time favorite is this poem:


THE COMMUNIST FLAG

Its like it wasnt enough
all they did to us
like if it wasnt enough for them
all the blood they drinked
like if hatred only bothers
those who suffered
like if the class war
wasnt from those who made it
it was like if the broken hands
and teared finger nails
were so many other lifes
once again burned.

At the voice of the anti-communist
the boss came again
and with misery at sight
tryed to divide the people
And spoke to the crowd
using without right
the fake idea of Christ
Because when the people is christian
it fights along us too
we divide the bread
we dont have it stored
so when the burguase
want to destroy us
they will find the Portuguese
that knew how to resist

And at every new attack
at every fascist assault
higher and higher shall rise
THE COMMUNIST FLAG!



there is always the

they shall not pass! (or NO PASSARAN in spanish anyone that knows spomething about the spanish civil war should know what this eloquent phrase means)

In the name of our arms
in the name of our hands
in the name of how many footsteps
our brothers gave.
in the name of the tools
that hurted our fingers
of the tortures of the torments
of the (cant translate this word) of the decay
in the name of that name
that we gain from our fathers
in the name of theyr hunger
we say: THEY SHALL NOT PASS!

And in the name of the mileniuns
of added prision
in the name of somany genious
with theyr voices shuted
in the name of the peasents
with theyr lands confiscated
in the name of the Portuguese
with the flesh dilacerated
in the name of those names
spited in the courts
we say there are other names
that shall not pass
(this is a allusion of the fascist times where PIDE, the political police hunted down any democratic,socialist communist or any oponent to the regym, the tortures were constant and many died for refusing to denounce theyr comrades)

In the name of what we have
in the name of what we were
revolution we made
democracy we are
in the name of unity
beatiful flower of the working class
in the name of freedom
imense flower and proletariat
in the name of this will
of being all equal
lets say the truth
saying: THEY SHALL NOT PASS!

In the nbame of how many bodies
were our sons made
in the name of how many deads
live in our rights
in the name of how many alive
taht give life to our voice
we shall not be captive:
We are the work.


And in the name of the conquests
came from the winds of April (socialist revolution)
agrarian reform Proletarian
control of the factorys
Corporations run by the state
because its owner is the people
in the name of side by side
we made a new country
in the name of our front
and our ideals
in front of everybody
we say: THEY SHALL NOT PASS

In the name of all we suffered
we shall not let pass
the boss we passed
and wants to trick us.
And were the people passes
we shall spread the word:
Every street any plaza
its the land that the people plows.
we shall pass
with firm and secure steps.
the past is enough
let pass the future.
By CeTeRiS
#197352
I'm from Singapore, a tiny island near (but not that near) China. :) Was from SE, (joined late) but since just about everyone moved here...
What about you? :)
By sokath
#197353
Canada my friend, Canada. I was just checking to see where else people can take Lit. Very rarely does it ever come up as a (I presume, in your case) high-school course.

Cheers,

S./
By CeTeRiS
#197394
High school = ?
Hm, I suppose that's school for, 16-18yr olds?

Anyway it isn't uncommon to find lit students in Singapore, a healthy percentage of the population take it as one of their 3 or 4 'A' Level subjects. :)
By the SovieT
#197436
no highschool is a chamber of propagandistic tortures where you leave wither to study even more and serve your country, or you leave right after it and start working and contribuiting to the great burguase state of yours...

yes it IS hell...
By Ixa
#197438
The Bourgeois of such gallant nations as 19th century England are not that bad at all. This man did not know what he was talking about.
Last edited by Ixa on 06 Feb 2006 17:35, edited 1 time in total.
By Proctor
#197890
Supernius wrote:The Bourgeois of such gallant nations as 19th century England are not that bad at all. This man did not know what he was talking about.
Are you being sarcastic? The working class of the industrial revolution (particularly in Britain) faced the worst conditions in history.

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