03-06-2014, 11:52 PM
When I looked at the first line my heart sunk, God, science and a question mark... since the convention is that God loses, science is triumphant.... though inevitably the premise on which case is built is either false, misunderstood, or a straw man. I swear if I hear someone misuse the work of James Usher again, I will pull my beard out.... grrrrrrr.....
But I am pleased I stayed with the poem.
The 2nd stanza for me is the standout. Particularly the word 'loaf' which has the double meaning, of the bread and also 'to use you loaf', i.e. think. Which plays nicely into the theme, as faith requires no thought, just belief.
Plus,
"because of infinite inherit frailty,
we think ourselves more than wheat?"
Is nice as it gently savages the inherited notion of the natural order which science borrowed from religion, and perpetuates without acknowledging the irony. Personally. I'd drop the question mark, since you are using rhetoric, the question is explicit within the statement.
The last stanza for me falls down on the rhyme of 'chant' and 'rants'. You perform a nice twist on the one minute to midnight history of the human race, and carry it into the sounding bell, but 'chant' drops the ball, and forces 'rants', which is not what you have done within the poem, and is not really what people do when considering these questions - serious minded people anyway.
But I am pleased I stayed with the poem.
The 2nd stanza for me is the standout. Particularly the word 'loaf' which has the double meaning, of the bread and also 'to use you loaf', i.e. think. Which plays nicely into the theme, as faith requires no thought, just belief.
Plus,
"because of infinite inherit frailty,
we think ourselves more than wheat?"
Is nice as it gently savages the inherited notion of the natural order which science borrowed from religion, and perpetuates without acknowledging the irony. Personally. I'd drop the question mark, since you are using rhetoric, the question is explicit within the statement.
The last stanza for me falls down on the rhyme of 'chant' and 'rants'. You perform a nice twist on the one minute to midnight history of the human race, and carry it into the sounding bell, but 'chant' drops the ball, and forces 'rants', which is not what you have done within the poem, and is not really what people do when considering these questions - serious minded people anyway.