Introduction to the poem Like an Old Proud King in a Parable
Introduction
to the poem
Like an Old Proud King in a Parable
A.J.M.
Smith was a Canadian poet, anthologist and critic. He pursued his UG degree at
Mc Gill University in Montreal. His anthologies include The Blasted Pine
(1957), The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English (1960).
Smith’s poem Like an Old Proud
King in a Parable is one of his famous poems. This poem got published
in New Provinces. The poem got published in New Provinces. The
poem was originally published in the Mc Gill Fortnightly reviews in 1928. It is
a metaphysical poem with highly figurative language.
In this poem a king renounces his throne to become a poet
to sing “difficult lonely music”. The inner meaning conveyed through this poem
is the poet is frustrated and despaired to give up romantic qualities in him to
modernist principles.
while reading this poem at the first time, i could recall the the most world famous poem of Tennysons Ulysses in which the king of Ithaka never wanted to go and mingle and rule the savages.
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