Skelton’s parrot is a bird of paradise. But he mustn’t go on too long. If he has truth to tell in our storm, and wants to be heard, he has to be strategic. His cage is also his sanctuary.
In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk
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Parrot Speaks of Community and Dust
The three Parrot sayings going up this morning come more from Skelton’s original “Speak, Parrot” text than the two that went up yesterday. You can find at least some of the original poem on the home page of this blog (see right hand side). Obviously I’ve changed a great deal. But though the roots are centuries old, I feel close to that other excitable brain at this far later, though equally tumultuous and difficult time…
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Parrot Speaks of Law and Dust
The caged parrot keeps talking and seems to have quite a lot to say. His original author John Skelton was alive during the Reformation, another time in which England broke away from Europe in various ways. For the Reformation was not just a matter of religious upheavals and a royal divorce. There was also a power grab and a land grab. Some of the language applicable then is applicable now…
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Parrot speaks of The People’s Will
Does May really mean what she is doing here ? There is a dog whistle sounding whenever she intones this dreadful phrase “I am delivering the “People’s Will.” In the latest examples of it, she is setting herself up as the “People’s” friend and ally – against and as opposed to their own parliament and democratic system. It is a wicked misuse of language and her role, astonishingly irresponsible and dangerous.
And of course the “People” her dog whistle is signalling to is not the nation’s people at all. It is her own extremely questionable and wavery support. It is the readers of the Daily Mail. It is Dacre and his mercenaries.
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Parrot speaks of a Pit Bull
Paul Dacre, longtime editor of the Daily Mail, a frantic and irresponsible source of Brexit propaganda, who used his right to free speech and his platform for delivering it, much less for the truth and the public good than for a chance just to bully and abuse and sell a demagogic line, will be stepping down in November. The Mail’s owner is Lord Rothermere.
Elsewhere on this site, is a modern version of a poem called “Speak, Parrot” by John Skelton, who lived during the reign of Henry 8th. The poem attacks various evils which Skelton perceived around him. But a central theme and question throughout the poem is free speech and what is truth. The parrot has imbibed every language under the sun, but is he free to speak the heart’s truth ? “I pray you, let parrot have liberty to speak.” Why is the parrot caged ? Is his cage his prison, or his castle ? What will be the repercussions if the parrot comes out with the truth ?
The short poem above is in the form of a single rhyme royal stanza. This was a medieval verse form which Chaucer made popular. Most of “Speak, Parrot” is written in rhyme royal.
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