23 January 2016

Rud Hud Hooray!

In my literary wanderings I recently came across a poem named "Hudibras" written by Samuel Butler in the 1660's. The name of his poem was taken from the name of "Rud Hud Hudibras", a legendary king of the ancient Britons who came to power after a period of great turmoil and "made his country great again". Samuel Butler's poem was written as a satire on the various religious and political factions involved in the the English civil war of the mid-17th century. In general, Hudibras is directed against religious sectarianism.

The epic poem relates the story of Sir Hudibras, an English knight who values his own esteem so highly that his conceit and arrogance readily shine through to reveal a shameless self-promoter beneath. The following lines describe his religion which sounds uncannily like that of one of our current political candidates for U.S. president.

"For his Religion, it was fit
To match his learning and his wit;
'Twas Presbyterian true blue;
For he was of that stubborn crew
Of errant saints, whom all men grant
To be the true Church Militant;
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun;
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery;
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks;
Call fire and sword and desolation,
A godly thorough reformation,
Which always must be carried on,
And still be doing, never done;
As if religion were intended
For nothing else but to be mended." 

.

3 comments:

Don Cuevas said...

Interesting. The word, "Hudibras" came up in my blog recently. Apparently no one, including me, knew the source ofthe word.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

Bob Mrotek said...

Don Cuevas, Happy New Year! Thanks for the shout :)

Unknown said...

Hi Bob,

I finally decided to become a Mexico Bob blog member. I am little Mexico Bob from the Greater Toronto Area. I have written to you privately (different email address). I have friends in Irapuato and they sometimes refer to me as Mexico Bob but I must bow to your blog-ship and remain sincerely, Little Mexico Bob. They sometimes call me Bob Lennon because I play guitar.

I am planning a trip soon to Irapuato and there are many things I have learned from your blog that I am going to investigate when I'm there. Hopefully, we can meet up and have a little chat about this and that.

Thanks for all your incredible writing.

BV

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.