Theoretikos
Theoretikos - meaning Summary
Art as Refuge from Decay
The speaker laments the moral and political decay of a once-noble empire and the loss of a voice that once championed freedom. He condemns the marketlike sale of wisdom and reverence and the mob’s crude denunciations of inherited culture. Alienated and distressed, he resolves to withdraw inwardly into dreams of Art and high culture as a deliberate refuge, neither in devotion to God nor to his foes.
Read Complete AnalysesTHIS mighty empire hath but feet of clay: Of all its ancient chivalry and might Our little island is forsaken quite: Some enemy hath stolen its crown of bay, And from its hills that voice hath passed away Which spake of Freedom: O come out of it, Come out of it, my Soul, thou art not fit. For this vile traffic-house, where day by day Wisdom and reverence are sold at mart, And the rude people rage with ignorant cries Against an heritage of centuries. It mars my calm: wherefore in dreams of Art And loftiest culture I would stand apart, Neither for God, nor for his enemies.
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