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

----------
>From: Brennen Lukas <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Rom. Pound
>Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2003, 12:22 PM
>

> "...Is that despotism
>      or absolute power...unlimited sovereignty,
>      is the same in a majority of a popular assembly,
>      an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto,
> and a single emperor, equally arbitrary, bloody,
> and in every respect diabolical. Wherever it has resided
> 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....."
>
> 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. But as I stare harder, I see the complex rhyming:
> soverignty/assembly/arbitrary; aristocratical/oligarchical/diabolical. The
> oddly positioned ellipse adds the interesting complication of at least one
> unfinished thought.
>
> Furthermore, I think the passsage is a thought-provoking statement in purely
> philosophical terms, although the phrasing makes it very, very difficult to
> unravel the "message." My interpretation is that that "unlimited
> sovereignty," or total power, is a terrible thing in all of the many forms
> in which it is manifested.  Maybe that isn't very original idea, but it's
> certainly presented in a unique way.
>
> Just my two (or three) cents,
> Brennen Lukas
>
> http://members.cox.net/blukas/frames_index.html
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
> http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus