1.03.2009

Dorothy Parker

Whose love is given over-well
Shall look on Helen's face in hell
Whilst they whose love is thin and wise
May view John Knox in paradise

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This poem is certainly in agreement with popular sentiment.

Those who love too much, whose lives are consumed with love, will see true beauty (albeit in hell); however, those who are more concerned with righteousness, and a wisdom that leads them to eschew such an all-consuming passion, will be rewarded with harps and clouds (albeit they miss out on pleasure in the process).

This poem then, does a wonderful job of summarizing, succinctly and accurately (not to mention poetically) many popular thoughts surrounding ideas of holiness and depravity, beauty and truth, divine punishment and reward, wisdom and pleasure, love, and perhaps others:

Love is here defined in terms of physical/sexual desire and pleasure (hence the allusion to Helen).

Wisdom is here defined in terms of a deliberate denial of that sort of love.

Righteousness is defined in terms of avoiding certain pleasurable activities out of compliance to divine fiat.

Depravity is defined in terms of pursuing pleasure.

Truth is set in opposition to beauty; what is wise and true is not compatible with what is enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing.

God punishes those who enjoy themselves, and rewards those who live ascetic lives.

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So what do you think:


Do people who 'love' flamboyantly and deeply end up in hell? Is hell the place where real pleasure is, and the end result of a life of pleasure?



More to come...

1 comment:

Caleb said...

NO, when I think of Christ I think of Love. The word 'flamboyantly' is a hard one for me here. Is it being used in an extravagant type of way or a flashy on the surface type of way? I'll go with the first due to my optimistic nature. In that case I see Christ love as extravagant and deep and I pray that I could love like that. That Love leads to a life of pleasure.