Poetry of Dress..

The Poetry of Dress..................
whether poetry has gone out of dress,or dress has gone out of poetry,is a moot point.We still come across symbols of feminine pulchritude,but ,alas no longer such beauty in poetry ....

"  Whenas in silk my Julia goes,                                                  Then then me thinks how sweetly flows                                    That liquefaction of her clothes.                                                Next ,when I cast mine eyes and see                                         That brave vibration each way free;                                             O how that glittering taketh me!  "    R Herrick.

 It is obviously not about some scanty apparel.It is the gorgeous silk gown,so full of life,so vibrant.so full blown.The undulating movement of the the materiel so grandly depicted in so pedantic a word as" liquefaction " and "Whenas".Ample dress gracefully adorned modestly paraded inspires such beautiful poetry.
         
The other day it was it was a London school, banning skirts,now it is an appeal by the Shanghai Metro asking female passengers to dress up in a "dignified" manner. It says "scantily clad women attract molesters" .Is it asking for too much ... Attract poets and inspire poetry rather than molesters.
Flowing gowns ,long skirts, tastefully wrapped saries  make more lasting impression( even on the MCP). Let us try and revive the extinct tribe of  the Romantic poets.Leave nudity to the painter's niche. In the era of software ,skinware is not  all about feminity.Or did  TS Elliot,make heart only an object of angioplasty by comparing its throbbing to a early London taxi.
      "My heart is throbbing like a taxi parked" ...ofcourse with the engine running.

                      

         

 

If I and...

If I and every one else..............
Correct and polite English would perhaps be,Everyone else and I. But if  "I"  is the building block in the life of the social animal called man, some things  must start with "I".
If  I and everyone else stopped at the red light, if I and everyone else struck to our lanes,if i and everyone else accepted the ticket gracefully ,instead of arrogantly testing the integrity of  the policeman by offering him a bribe.If I and every one else resisted the temptation of boarding the train,without reservation,confident that the ticket collector has not the strength to refuse the money offered? If I and everyone else did not offer 'incentives' to the delivery boys ,to get  a gas cylinder out of turn? If I and every one else would rather wait  our turn than readily offer 'speed money ' to hasten our ration cards,driving licenses,caste certificates, police verification, false medical certificates? If  I and everyone else refused to lubricate  the  official machinery,from peons to secretaries,from village panchyat functionaries to revenue officials to get the right and wrong things done?If I and every one else refrained from destroying  the public property at the slightest provocation.If I and every one else did not wax patriotic and nationalistic ,only on the  Republic day and Independence day?If I and every one else did not............................................ 

" What is freedom of expression?Without the freedom to offend,it ceases to exist." thus spake Salman Rushdie.If intellectual  greatness is thrust upon pygmies with perverted world view,this is what freedom of expression ,and other freedoms would degenerate to.Freedom is an attribute of refined individuals and societies.Restraint is the bed rock of freedom,not offence.Causing offence in freedom of expression is either inability to express oneself effectively,or total lack of refinement and elementary civilized behavior. Unrestrained behavior  described the behaviour of the cave man,a crude stone weapon in one hand and the other hand dragging the female of the species  by its hair. Streaking,undressing in public to attract attention to make the point is absurd enough though once novel ,attempting to disrobe respectable humans to attract attention in abusive language ,is the methodology of sub human intelligence  to get noticed.If his language is magical,it is the gibberish preceding the magic,not magic.The rickshawalas ,street urchins,the dregs of society can match him word for word and  expression for expression.    .  

Dressing down

A London Girls School has prohibited the wearing of skirts by the girls.They may wear jeans.The reason,given is "over sexualisation" of the females of the species.What a step for societies claiming to be liberated and emancipated.Is it the beginning of a return to better clothed times,or just the beginning of a new cycle. Do  most human activities follow cycles.Or the yearning to return to more conventional values.Values that evolved over centuries by the social animal for self preservation.From the caveman's hirsute,to the victorian  top to toe respectability in dress to today's scanty wraps.Will the west come precariously close to the their bete noire ,the Islamic sobriety in dress,which is very visible in the non Islamic east.That is ,when we are not aping the west.