Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something (All The King's Men)
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the inherent flaws and deterioration of human existence, emphasizing a cycle of sin and decay.
Robert Penn Warren's quote from 'All The King's Men' delves into the concept of original sin and the inevitable corruption that accompanies human life. It suggests that from the moment of conception, humanity is tainted by immoral influences, leading to a continual struggle against its own failings, culminating in death and the decay associated with it. The metaphor of moving from one foul state to another highlights the grim reality of human existence and implies a deeper commentary on the nature of life and the human condition.
In practice
In a philosophy class discussing the nature of humanity.
...the air so still it aches like the place where the tooth was on the morning after you’ve been to the dentist or aches like your heart in the bosom when you stand on the street corner waiting for the light to change and happen to recollect how things once were and how they might have been yet if what happened had not happened.
The poem is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful.
And what we students of history always learn is that the human being is a very complicated contraption and that they are not good or bad but are good and bad and the good comes out of the bad and the bad out of the good, and the devil take the hindmost.
Yet the definition we have made of ourselves is ourselves. To break out of it, we must make a new self. But how can the self make a new self when the selflessness which it is, is the only substance from which the new self can be made?
So little time we live in Time,_x000D_ _x000D_ And we learn all so painfully,_x000D_ _x000D_ That we may spare this hour's term_x000D_ _x000D_ To practice for Eternity.
For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.
Man marks the earth with ruin - his control stops with the shore.
As described in 'The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,' the cyclical rebirth of caste in America is a recurring racial nightmare.
Blacks have traditionally had to operate in a situation where whites have set themselves up as the custodians of the black experience.
Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.
What on earth prompted you to take a hand in this?" "I don't know. My… my code of morals, perhaps." "Your code of morals. What code, if I may ask?" "Comprehension.
...his job was the very least important part of his life, never to be mentioned except in irony.
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