The so-called prose of several centuries is concerned with--or at least
your teachers will recommend it for --"sentence structure".  (ABC of
Reading, ch. 8, "Basis").

The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or
unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a
popular assembly, an aristocratic council, an oligarchical junto, and a
single emperor.
-- John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson [November 13, 1815]

Carrol, 'the majority of a popular assembly' can be another form of despotism.
Tim Romano

At 11:21 PM 8/3/03, Carrol Cox wrote:
>charles moyer wrote:
> >
> > blukas,
> >     For that two cents you'll get no change. But I must be surprised as any
> > to hear what a fine poetic ear John Adams had since the lines quoted here
> > are from him and not Pound.
> >     Now ain't you just a little embarrased to have said that one of our
> > founding fathers wrote in "boring socio-political jargon"?
> >
> >     "presented in an unique way" - I like that. Maybe that is the reason no
> > one will ever write anything quite like the Cantos.
> >     At least you answered. What happened to the other "Hotmail" persona wha
> > would all eager be ta discuss Pahund, an activity largely foreign to this
> > list?
> >
> > Charles
> >
>
>John Adams wrote an awful lot -- Pound was rather selective in what he
>quoted. I've never compared any of the Adams Cantos to the original text
>in Adams, but I've always assumed that the Cantos resulted from a bit
>more complex a procedure than merely copying out Adams. At a (not so)
>simple level, Pound provides the line breaks. And in the present
>instance, the "ear" was certainly Pound's, not Adams: That is, it was
>Pound's 'ear' that detected the cadence he wanted in these lines.
>
>The Adams Cantos, I think, are a metrical triumph. I doubt very much
>that that triumph was (for the most part) to be found in the "undedited"
>original.
>
>
>...Is that despotism
>      or absolute power...unlimited sovereignty,
>      is the same in a majority of a popular assembly,
>      an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto,
>
>What omission does the ellipsis here mark? (I haven't checked the text,
>but should that "of a popular" be "or a popular"?) And Pound provides
>the hanging indentation here.
>
>and a single emperor, equally arbitrary, bloody,
>and in every respect diabolical. Wherever it has resided
>
>Pound not Adams breaks the lines before "and."
>
>has never failed to destroy all records, memorials,
>all histories which it did not like, and to corrupt
>those it was cunning enough to preserve.....
>
>Pound provides the line break between verb and object in the last two
>lines.
>
> > > I really like how the sound of the words sneaks up on me in this
> passage. On
> > > the first quick read, the first five lines seem like a boring list of
> > > socio-political jargon.
>
>I don't see what is wrong with this as a characterization of a "first
>quick read." It is socio-political jargon, and part of the triumph of
>the passage is giving that jargon life.
>
>Carrol
>
>
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