WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.530 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.530 --> 00:00:05.100 align:middle line:84%
I'll read another poem, which
is called "Johnson's Cabinet

00:00:05.100 --> 00:00:06.080 align:middle line:90%
Watched by Ants."

00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:08.640 align:middle line:90%


00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.940 align:middle line:90%
And this is a literary poem.

00:00:11.940 --> 00:00:15.240 align:middle line:84%
And it comes out
of the great story

00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:17.730 align:middle line:84%
by Hawthorn called
Young Goodman Brown.

00:00:17.730 --> 00:00:20.580 align:middle line:84%
That's a marvelous,
tremendous story.

00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:23.790 align:middle line:84%
And he describes a certain
uneasiness he felt,

00:00:23.790 --> 00:00:26.790 align:middle line:84%
or that was felt in the
early puritan settlements.

00:00:26.790 --> 00:00:28.710 align:middle line:84%
When the leading
men of the town--

00:00:28.710 --> 00:00:32.460 align:middle line:84%
at night he describes them
all dancing around trees,

00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:36.540 align:middle line:84%
and conversing, and signed
a pact with something.

00:00:36.540 --> 00:00:39.210 align:middle line:84%
Better not to investigate
it too carefully.

00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:42.180 align:middle line:84%
And then in the morning,
they're back in town again.

00:00:42.180 --> 00:00:44.610 align:middle line:84%
They're dressed in their
suits, the sun is shining.

00:00:44.610 --> 00:00:48.450 align:middle line:84%
They're the respected citizens,
they're going to church.

00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:52.210 align:middle line:84%
And the whole story lies
in this strange context.

00:00:52.210 --> 00:00:55.590 align:middle line:84%
So this poem takes place
there in the forest.

00:00:55.590 --> 00:00:57.960 align:middle line:84%
It is a clearing
deep in a forest.

00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:01.710 align:middle line:84%
Overhanging boughs
make a low place.

00:01:01.710 --> 00:01:05.730 align:middle line:84%
And here the citizens
we know during the day,

00:01:05.730 --> 00:01:10.650 align:middle line:84%
the ministers, the department
heads, appear differently.

00:01:10.650 --> 00:01:13.350 align:middle line:84%
The stockholders of
large steel companies

00:01:13.350 --> 00:01:16.020 align:middle line:90%
in small wooden shoes.

00:01:16.020 --> 00:01:21.160 align:middle line:84%
Here are the generals
dressed as gamboling lambs.

00:01:21.160 --> 00:01:24.340 align:middle line:84%
Tonight they burn
the rice supply.

00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:28.540 align:middle line:84%
Tomorrow they
lecture on Thoreau.

00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:31.360 align:middle line:84%
Tonight they move
around the trees.

00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:35.920 align:middle line:84%
Tomorrow they pick the
twigs from their clothes.

00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:39.400 align:middle line:90%
Tonight they throw the firebomb.

00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:44.050 align:middle line:84%
Tomorrow they read the
Declaration of Independence.

00:01:44.050 --> 00:01:46.225 align:middle line:90%
Tomorrow they are in church.

00:01:46.225 --> 00:01:48.960 align:middle line:90%


00:01:48.960 --> 00:01:53.580 align:middle line:84%
Ants are gathered
around an old tree.

00:01:53.580 --> 00:01:58.650 align:middle line:84%
In a choir they sing, in
harsh and gravelly voices,

00:01:58.650 --> 00:02:02.610 align:middle line:90%
old Etruscan songs on tyranny.

00:02:02.610 --> 00:02:06.900 align:middle line:84%
Toads nearby clap
their small hands,

00:02:06.900 --> 00:02:12.450 align:middle line:84%
and join the fiery songs,
their five long toes trembling

00:02:12.450 --> 00:02:14.501 align:middle line:90%
in the soaked earth.

00:02:14.501 --> 00:02:15.001 align:middle line:90%