Classic and Contemporary Poetry
COMPARATIVE CRIMINALS, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Marion strode, my friend, a chanting voice Last Line: We shook the hand of ott and turned away! | ||||||||
Marion Strode, my friend, a chanting voice For heaven's kingdom on this earth, a hand Ready to open prisons, heal the bruised, Bring liberty to men, was wrought to fire Over the martyrdom of Ott. He called it A martyrdom, and said: "Come go with me And comfort Ott in prison." So he went. And on the train I read what Ott had said, For which he suffered prison. Jail for words Is older than Saint Paul; as old as cities, And fear that dreads the change that words may bring. I also saw a picture of this Ott: Head like a billiard ball, a little cracked, Warped egg-like too. A homeless cat made furtive By missive cans and frightful hoots. A ragged Gabriel shut from heaven's bliss. A porter Of righteousness compelled to open the gate Of paradise for Mark Hanna, but himself Debarred an entrance. Asking nothing either, Yet facing God to sift him, find him pure As those who enter. Here's a man who never To eighty years loses from brightening eyes Flames from the stake reflected, or the shadows Of prison for the sake of conscience. Thinks No one who has soft raiment ever reads "The Ancient Lowly," or the "Martyrdom Of Labor," history, science; none are wise But radicals. And then I read in full What Ott had said for which they prisoned him. They charged him with obstructing the enlistment. But in his speech there isn't a single word Advising a resistance to the draft, By just so many words concretely. Quite Adroit this speech, quite foxy. Yet it's true If you knew you could get a man to act On what was in his mind, long brooded on By giving him a shot of alcohol; And if you gave it and he did the deed You would be an inciter, principal And doer of the deed. Now take this speech Which glorifies the socialistic cause; Lauds divers martyrs tried, already jailed For words against the draft; denounces Prussia, Oh, yes! but in such words as hit the home Of the brave, the free America! Ouch! Quit! Says that the master class has always made The wars in which the subject class was used, Which never had a voice in making war: Affirmative universal! What's the answer? He means this war, this holy war, the traitor! Denounces capital, exhorts the crowd To strive for something better than to be Fodder for cannon. What? The prize of death In battle called a foddering of the cannon! What better thing to strive for? Throw him out! The price of coal is due to plutocrats; They're bleeding you, and say it's for the war. They lie! What's treason? Not disloyal To those you work for, but disloyalty To truth, your better self. If you believe this Would you become a soldier, or say no, I will not fight for such a cause or country? ... I see, said Voltaire, three times one are one. A man in heat might flout the trinity; But when he studies out some persiflage With which to flout it -- well -- here's Ott who has Contempt aforethought for the war and draft, And squirts his venom through closed teeth, the better To shoot it further, make it hit. I said: "Your Mr. Ott is guilty of the charge. No use to talk of constitutions. No. He loves the Lovejoys, Garrisons and Paines, The Brunos, martyrs, let him stand his ground." And Marion Strode replied: "Yes, Ott is guilty. But did he speak the truth? Yes? Very well. It must have been the time and place that made The penitentiary for twenty years A fitting penalty. But when's the time To talk against war's horror? When there's war, And words are vivid, or when war is not, And talks against it sound like when you say 'Look out for bears' to children? "War-lords talk In peace and war to be prepared. May I Prepare for peace in war time, when my words Have demonstrations in the events of war? You think not? The majority has spoken! Well, has it? Point me out a plebiscite That asked for war. But take your point at full The majority has spoken: why forbid The back-hall, soap-box rostrum; what will come? The majority will stick and go ahead; Or else the soap box will persuade it back And end the war. Is there another term? The great majority annoyed, obstructed, Delayed, distracted, harried! Well, you know The Tories did that to George Washington. And Lincoln! Why, the people at the polls Returned a critical congress. And if trials Strengthen the character of a man, why not Obstructions for majorities howling war To clarify and strengthen them? God works In ways mysterious, but in every way; Whatever is is true. "Ott, as I see it, Was jailed for twenty years for speaking truth At the wrong time and place. A heavy fine For wrong aesthetics, etiquette. "I go deeper, I pass the law that jailed him, all aesthetics, All etiquette, all wrong of time and place. Let's enter in a realm of realer things. What does Ott stand for in a war or peace? Is it not freedom, equal rights, the end Of poverty, disease? Has he not held The torch of science up, the torch of thought Interpreting the greatest minds to win Attention to them and adherence to them? If he did this, has not his life been given To making America a brighter light, A sounder realm, her breed a stronger breed? If he be not a light himself, but only A humble trimmer of the wick, let's say The wick of Socrates, or Franklin, Paine, Or Jesus as the prophet in the work Of freeing for the truth, then what of that? Who gets the judgment in the years to come, A parlor lamp of yellow flame, that smells Of coal oil, or your Ott? "Let's take a type: He woos the average man, appeals to him; The average man whose morals, art and books Are just victrola records, microscopic Echoes of small realities of the past. He sees what he can do with this America Of the average man, the common people called. He follows them and gives them vapid stuff Of morals, laws and politics. His aim? Talk which will win the very largest nod Of ignorant assent. Result? Why look, He is a daily of a million sale, He coins the money lecturing, uses too His following to keep America Upon the level of the common man In morals, freedom, thought, virility. He scoffs at science and the noodles giggle. Music? Why, who's Beethoven? Let me hear 'Lead Kindly Light.' The drama? Well, Ben Hur Is moral and historical. Sculpture? Look At those bronze figures by the mantel clock -- That's Faith and Hope. Freedom of speech and press? Within the limits of the law! And war? I loathe it, I opposed it, but when war Is by the law decreed, I enter too And howl for what I hissed, for what I called An evil and a wrong. "Now hear me out: Suppose he could persuade America To take his books, and music, sculpture, ethics -- That is his purpose, to persuade us all To take them, as it was the aim of Ott To stay enlistment and so stop the war -- What of our civilization? It would fall. If so who should be jailed, this orator Or Ott? "Now we've arrived, can test these souls. Ott fights the war and sticks, your orator Opposes the war and quotes the Nazarene. But does he stick? Why no! The truth remains. He changes, lifts his nose for noting when The noses of the majority are lifted. Our Mr. Ott winters behind the bars. Our orator retires to Florida; Emerges slick and strong when April comes To lecture, get the money. "Now suppose Ott by his talk had balked the war, that crime Is nothing by the side of the other crime Of keeping common followers commoner; Corrupting thought. The war is over now. With Ott in prison and the orator out. Let's test them on the whole, and wholly freed From war tests; Ott's a trimmer of great wicks; Your orator a parlor lamp that smells Of coal oil. And the larger truth would open The prison doors for Ott, and push the orator Behind the doors and lock them." Marion Strode Went on till we arrived. And there was Ott Serene and smiling in his prison clothes. "We mean To get a pardon for you," Marion Strode Spoke out at once, "and give this prison cell To a certain orator of the commonplace." Ott laughed and said, "What for? You'd break his puerile And shifty heart. This is a place for men Who stand their ground. I may not have much brains, But what I have I use as Socrates Devoted his. I want to share the greatness Of the great with what brains I possess. I like This cell because it helps me do this." Then We shook the hand of Ott and turned away! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: FLETCHER MCGEE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: GEORGE GRAY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MINERVA JONES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: DAVIS MATLOCK by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: DORA WILLIAMS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: EMILY SPARKS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: LAMBERT HUTCHINS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: LYMAN KING by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MRS. KESSLER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: SARAH BROWN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: STATE'S ATTORNEY FALLAS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |
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