W. H. Auden Quotes
The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach,
The Ogre cannot master Speech:
About a subjugated plain,
Among its desperate and slain,
The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
While drivel gushes from his lips.
Auden, W. H. "August 1968." City Without Walls and Other Poems. Faber & Faber, 1969.
He was ironically observing that most animals and primitive humans, there is fighting among the species but rarely do the fight to the death. One usually gives up, and the other will let him retire from the fight. The fighter who is getting the worst of it, will retire from the battle. However, “civilized” humans will fight for principles and ideas often to the death. “Civilized humans” also think ahead and will strive to exterminate an enemy and kill even after surrender or submission.
A privately produced anti-Muslim video was used by Muslim activists throughout the world to whip up violent protests of the United States, Many people were killed. The President was explaining to world leaders the Western view of the importance of protecting free speech, even that which is blasphemous or hateful. One problem of course is that the Islamic holy scripture, The Koran, requires that a blasphemer be put to death. The Jewish and Christian Old Testament proscribes the SAME punishment, and there have been American Christians who have called for a return to literal Mosaic Law. Also ultra-orthodox Jews in America and Israel. The difference of the West is that literal interpretation of the Bible has been given up and the various Biblical Death penalties (including disobedient children and adulterers) and much of the Muslim world has not. For most of the West, democracy has tempered literal religion. For the Islamic world, literal religion has inhibited and obstructed democracy.
Ignorant political opposition to new scientific findings has been characteristic of some of the politicians in most governments in most eras.
Wystan Hugh Auden was an Anglo-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form, and content. Some of his best known poems are about love, such as "Funeral Blues"; on political and social themes, such as "September 1, 1939" and "The Shield of Achilles"; on cultural and psychological themes, such as The Age of Anxiety; and on religious themes such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae".
