One of the boring truisms observed by everyone at one point or another is that
everything changes. The only thing you can be certain of is that nothing
stays the same. When the thought first hits us, we feel we've struck upon
one of the great liberating truths of the ages, but we soon figure out that all
we have stumbled upon is another cliché. Today is the first day of the
rest of your life.
When you look at the number of variables that go into any presidential election, for example, like the one just past where Pres. Barack Obama ran against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, you might recall the unknown quantities: the Christian right vote; the black vote, the women vote, the Latino vote, the white male vote, the young vote, the old vote, the Mormon vote, and probably a dozen others. It was a handicapper's nightmare.
Then there were the issues: the economy, the wars, Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, taxes, the real estate collapse, the loss of jobs to China and other countries. Who was "right" or "righter" and how often? The entire mix of variables that make up the present and that will combine into an unpredictable future that will in turn become a future present (and so on dizzyingly ad infinitum)--all somehow sort themselves out through time, and, in this case, on November 6, 2012, Pres. Obama handily defeated Gov. Romney.
And suddenly, just like that, the shimmering, never-certain future becomes part of the solid, never-changing past. What's more, the constancy of history is a blessed relief after long and tiresome question marks about the future. One of the ways this has been expressed, the best way in my reading, was by the Roman poet Horace (first-century BCE), who wrote "Happy the Man":
Happy he, and happy he alone,
is the man who can call today his own,
the man who, secure within, can say:
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Whether fair or foul or rain or shine,
all my days, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not even Heaven upon the past has power:
What has been, has been, and I have had my hour.
Those last two lines are magnificent, proud and humble and brave all at the same time, "I have had my hour." Nothing will ever change that--or the implied obligation to use each one wisely.
When you look at the number of variables that go into any presidential election, for example, like the one just past where Pres. Barack Obama ran against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, you might recall the unknown quantities: the Christian right vote; the black vote, the women vote, the Latino vote, the white male vote, the young vote, the old vote, the Mormon vote, and probably a dozen others. It was a handicapper's nightmare.
Then there were the issues: the economy, the wars, Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, taxes, the real estate collapse, the loss of jobs to China and other countries. Who was "right" or "righter" and how often? The entire mix of variables that make up the present and that will combine into an unpredictable future that will in turn become a future present (and so on dizzyingly ad infinitum)--all somehow sort themselves out through time, and, in this case, on November 6, 2012, Pres. Obama handily defeated Gov. Romney.
And suddenly, just like that, the shimmering, never-certain future becomes part of the solid, never-changing past. What's more, the constancy of history is a blessed relief after long and tiresome question marks about the future. One of the ways this has been expressed, the best way in my reading, was by the Roman poet Horace (first-century BCE), who wrote "Happy the Man":
Happy he, and happy he alone,
is the man who can call today his own,
the man who, secure within, can say:
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Whether fair or foul or rain or shine,
all my days, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not even Heaven upon the past has power:
What has been, has been, and I have had my hour.
Those last two lines are magnificent, proud and humble and brave all at the same time, "I have had my hour." Nothing will ever change that--or the implied obligation to use each one wisely.
Dear Prof. Cifelli,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Rob MacAdie and I am a master's student at the VU University in Amsterdam. I am writing to you in the hope that you might be able to help regarding the American poet, John Ciardi.
In brief, I am interested in ekphrastic war poetry. I have read with interest Ciard's poem, "On a Photo of Sgt. Ciardi a Year Later" but wondered if the photograph that the poem refers to, still exists? In addition to this, you mention in your book John Ciardi: A Biography that Ciardi said that "The sergeant does not participate himself in the deception he has been posed for" (page 112).I was wondering if there is any other reference to this quote?
I hope you don't mind me troubling you via your blog. I am aware that you have now retired from teaching but if you were able to help me regarding this photo and Ciardi, I would be most grateful.
Kind regards,
Rob MacAdie
PS Before i realized that you wrote your own blog, I also sent you a message via your publishing house.
Rob, Sorry to be so long replying, but I didn't notice your question until just this very moment. Unfortunately, I don't think I can be much help. Ciardi's memoir, "Saipan: The War Diary of John Ciardi," has a few pictures (especially the one on the third page of the picture section) that might have been the one he had in mind. On page 111 of the biography I seem to be saying that there was indeed an actual picture Ciardi had in hand when he wrote the poem, but I don't remember any more how I got there. My feeling right now is that the poem was suggested by a photograph he stumbled on, but that the poem was almost entirely imagined into existence.
DeleteI haven't kept up with books and articles on Ciardi over the past decade, but I know Library of America has a volume of WW II poetry that may shed light, and a couple of others on the same topic have also come out. One is called "Ways to Measure a War: Nine Poets of WW II" by David K. Vaughan. He has a couple of pages on the poem.
Most of Ciardi's papers are at the Library of Congress, and there is very large archive of Ciardiana at SUNY Stoney Brook. Both libraries have a published description of their holdings.
Hope that helps a little. Best wishes to you and good luck with your work.
Ed
PS. I never received the query you sent to UAP.
Dear Ed,
DeleteMany thanks for your reply. It is much appreciated.
I will follow up your suggestions.
Kind regards,
Rob