On the Failure of Violence

So I really enjoyed the On Being this week which interviewed a composer named Mohammed Fairouz and his newest album is called Follow, Poet which is a line from an Auden poem, but the whole thing begins with Kennedy speaking to a college a year or so before his death saying: 

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

In that characteristic Kennedy voice that is so recognizable even though I have never heard the speech before. In the interview they are discussing how Kennedy and Anwar Sadat are heros and guiding lights for Mohammed and he makes this point:

These figures, who appear to the people of their generation as tragic figures, become guiding lights to the people of the next generations and the generations to come. And you know, Krista, it absolutely proves the violence that some people espouse, the violence that some people believe is the solution doesn't work. It's absolute proof of the fact that this violence simply does not work. John F. Kennedy's words that open Follow, Poet — his voice is one of the most recognizable voices in the history of the 20th century. It's really interesting to note that the people who attempted to silence him, the minority of people — I

mean, he had a nation behind him. He had the support of much of the world. And yet, there were a few people who decided that violence was the way to silence him, I mean, that he must be assassinated. And those people who attempted to make that point are forgotten. I don't — I would not recognize their voice if I heard it on an album. And yet, John F. Kennedy's voice still resonates. And then of course it drives the point home that this is a minority of people. I mean, Sadat — it took, what, five, six people who eventually end up to be associated with al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood who wanted to silence him by assassinating him at the military parade. And yet, his voice becomes the guiding light, as you say, for a new generation of people who believe in peace.

Because of this interview and because one of the pieces is written around a poem by Auden called “In Memory of WB Yeats” I got Auden today and was reading and came across this shot poem that connected to this idea … the idea that the kind of violence that killed Kennedy or Sadat cannot speak and so can only terrorize in one generation, but cannot speak in a lasting way. 

August 1968

The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach,
The Ogre cannot master Speech:
About a subjugated plain,
Among its desperate and slain,
The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
While drivel gushes from his lips. 

WH Auden