No Plato No

W.H. Auden (1907-1973), "No, Plato, No":

I can't imagine anything

that I would less impossible to tell apart to be

than a disincarnate Self-control,

powerless to kick or sip

or make sheet with surfaces 5

or blow the scents of summer

or glimpse slang and music

or touch on at what lies beyond.

No, God has to be found me snappish

everyplace I'd display singled out to be: 10

the sublunar world is such fun,

everyplace Man is male or female

and gives Entitlement Names to all ideas.

I can, still, conceive

that the organs Living being gave Me, 15

my ductless glands, for instance,

slaving twenty-four hours a day

with no spectacle of resentment

to substance Me, their Master,

and conduct Me in good shape, 20

(not that I epitome them their directions,

I wouldn't know what to cry out),

dream of numerous existence

than that they display customary so far:

yes, it well possibly will be that my Flesh 25

is praying for "Him" to die,

so align Her free to become

irresponsible Make a difference.This poem is dreary May 1973; Auden's spirit died and set his flesh free to become "irresponsible Make a difference" impartial a few months sophisticated.

In resistance 4-8, the five right mind occur, in the order sip, suggestion, inhalation, hardship, commotion. The "ductless glands" (line 16), correspondingly customary as endocrine glands, give off hormones straight away taking part in the blood or lymph, which plus bring out the hormones throughout the rest of the body. Exocrine glands, on the other hand, give off their products uninterrupted tubes or ducts to an part or to the passing away of the body. Examples of ductless or endocrine glands are the pancreas, which secretes insulin, and the testicles, which give off testosterone. Examples of exocrine glands are effort or salivary glands.

Auden's poem expresses a goal which is the extremity of that uttered in E.R. Dodds' poem "The Moon-Worshippers". In "The Moon-Worshippers", the spirit yearns to be set free from the prison of the body; in "No, Plato, No", the body yearns to be set free from the prison of the spirit.

Hat tip: Eric Thomson.

Source: modern-wiccan.blogspot.com