ps - my last observation, therefore, should have been:

10. The monologue is an expression of this angst.

CR

--- On Tue, 2/23/10, Chokh Raj <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Ken,
>  
> Thanks. As for "time span", what a
> coincidence, it struck me this morning when I was
> contemplating this very point that the human predicament
> depicted in this monologue has a timeless dimension to
> it.
>  
> Thanks again & regards,
>  
> CR
>
> --- On Tue, 2/23/10, Ken Armstrong
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> My work schedule has asserted itself
> so I've just scanned recent
> developments in this thread, but I like your list.
> Question: what span
> of time does the poem cover?
>
> Ken
>
> Chokh Raj wrote:
> > Dear Listers,
> >
> > Here are some (tentative?) observations I'd like
> to share with you. To me:
> >
> > 1. The protagonist looks at the world through a
> Christian lens --
> >
> > 2. He is critical of the prevailing social scenario
> which to him is antagonistic to the values he cherishes --
> >
> > 3. To him there is no forgiveness for the impudent
> crimes perpetrated through human history by human vanity and
> greed -- our sins, however, pave the way for our virtues,
> the hard way, though --
> >
> > 4. He likes to believe that death is not the end of
> all -- even if life has been to him a saga of dismal
> failures --
> >
> > 5. He has not been able to escape the corruptions of
> life
> -- despite his faith in the Incarnation of the Word and
> his detestation of the world's departure from the Word
> --
> >
> > 6. BUT, Death & destruction await all -- those who
> sin in ignorance and those who sin in knowledge --
> >
> > 7. The Trades -- trade winds, winds of flux &
> change, or whatever -- bring about an end to life -- bring
> death among mankind, as they say --
> >
> > 8. The Trades drives G to a sleepy corner --
> >
> > 9. And whatever view one may take of G's final
> state -- call it utter vacancy of thought -- or cynical
> disillusion -- it remains an existential trauma/tragedy --
> >
> > 10. The monologue is an expression of this angst of a
> modern man --
> >
> > We may call it a tragedy of inaction -- to me it is a
> counterpart of the classical tragedy of action  --
> it's not drama proper -- it is poetry --
> > but it follows a certain curve of thought indicated by
> the phrases that
> punctuate the monologue.
>
>
>
>