Analysis of If The Emperor Wears No Clothes
Karl Constantine FOLKES 1935 (Portland)
Marcusian stripes returned to haunt.
Syllogistic neologisms.
In a one-dimensional world.
Where is the logic of it all?
Aristotle’s fame befuddled.
Pride and Prejudice discovered.
It’s Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four.
Returned to us this Century.
“Big Brother “ looming everywhere.
Propositioned to what is false.
The world indeed is upside down.
With the truth fallen on its side.
“Toy Soldiers” fallen on their sides.
Unimportant, disposable.
Figures of subjects, all to deceive.
Slain by deductive reasoning.
Falsely asserted to be true.
The wherewithal to crown a lie.
Conclusions made nonsensical.
Inferences patently false.
“Matter-of-fact” cynical world.
This our world inhabited now.
Where blatant lies reverse the truth.
With “Newspeak” becoming the vogue.
A web of domination rules.
With all of us entangled souls.
Spawned as one-dimensional man.
This then is now a charge I give:
“If the emperor is nudely clothed.
Be brave; reveal his nakedness!”
| Scheme | XAB XXX XXX AXX ACX XXX CAB XXX AAX XXA |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
| Metre | 110111 11 00101001 11010111 11010 10100010 1111101 01111100 1101010 0101111 01011111 10110111 11010111 00100100 101101101 11010100 10010111 0101101 01010100 1001001 10111001 110101001 11010101 1101001 0110101 11110101 11101001 11110111 10100111 110111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 990 |
| Words | 185 |
| Sentences | 30 |
| Stanzas | 10 |
| Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
| Lines Amount | 30 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
| Words per line (avg) | 5 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 76 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 15 |
About this poem
Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) was a German-American philosopher, sociologist, and political theorist. As an undergraduate major of sociology and languages, I became a little familiar with his Frankfurt School philosophy, anchored in my mind by his use of the phrase, “One-Dimensional Man.” Some of his strident philosophical propositions and commentaries seem so relevant today where, because of the prevalence and even dominance of “alternative truths” operating in the halls of government, many of us conclude, either falsely or correctly, that we have come to inhabit a world informed by “matter-of-fact-cynicism” and with many of us as citizens, not confronting falsity, but instead, choosing to look the other way when the emperor, be he president or prime minister, in all his haughtiness, is exposed to be stark naked before his subjects and wearing no ironclad clothing. An historical background to the poem is in order. Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author and a prolific writer of many plays, novels, and poems. This poem, “If the Emperor Wears No Clothes,” adapts its title from Andersen’s 1837 story, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a literary folktale composed by Andersen about a vainglorious emperor who stands literally and metaphorically exposed before his loyal subjects. With the scales of ignorance eventually removed from their eyes, they finally see him for what he really is; a tyrant, empty of substance, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing of moral value. more »
Written on January 23, 2022
Submitted by karlcfolkes on January 23, 2022
Modified by karlcfolkes on September 19, 2022
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"If The Emperor Wears No Clothes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/118366/if-the-emperor-wears-no-clothes>.
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