{"id":123,"date":"2006-12-09T01:06:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-09T07:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/?p=123"},"modified":"2006-12-09T01:06:00","modified_gmt":"2006-12-09T07:06:00","slug":"vocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/2006\/12\/vocation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vocation"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s the weekend, so forgive a digression. Although poems about journalism <\/span>are few, there are some out there who might catch their reflection in this sonnet from Auden<\/span>‘s series The Quest<\/span>:<\/p>\n

XII<\/span><\/p>\n

Incredulous, he stared at the amused
Official writing down his name among
Those whose request to suffer was refused.<\/p>\n

The pen ceased scratching: though he came too late
To join the martyrs, there was still a place
Among the tempters for a caustic tongue<\/p>\n

To test the resolution of the young
With tales of the small failings of the great,
And shame the eager with ironic praise.<\/p>\n

Though mirrors might be hateful for a while,
Women and books would teach his middle age
The fencing wit of an informal style,
To keep the silences at bay and cage
His pacing manias in a worldly smile.<\/span><\/p>\n

In case that seems a little harsh, then the end of Wystan’s 1 September 1939 <\/span>might redress the balance:<\/p>\n
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.<\/p>\n

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Worthier sentiments, lousier poetry.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s the weekend, so forgive a digression. Although poems about journalism are few, there are some out there who might catch their reflection in this sonnet from Auden‘s series The Quest: XII Incredulous, he stared at the amusedOfficial writing down his name amongThose whose request to suffer was refused. The pen ceased scratching: though he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,50,81,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journalism","category-journalists","category-media","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}