The poem is both acrostic (the first letter of each line, taken together, spells something, in this case: “ad populum”) and a reverse nonet, each line containing one more syllable than the last line until nine syllables are reached in the final line. I thought the reversal of the traditional nonet, starting with the nine syllable line and ending with one syllable in the last line, makes a stark symbol of how the play of evil, very subtly, works in the opposite direction or “reverse” of the truth. An “ad populum” is a false argument. What is the devil good at but making false arguments! The great deceiver would have you believe that our current culture’s fixation with sex is overplayed, especially by religious institutions with their “antiquated lore of morals and judgements”.
The poem is both acrostic (the first letter of each line, taken together, spells something, in this case: “ad populum”) and a reverse nonet, each line containing one more syllable than the last line until nine syllables are reached in the final line. I thought the reversal of the traditional nonet, starting with the nine syllable line and ending with one syllable in the last line, makes a stark symbol of how the play of evil, very subtly, works in the opposite direction or “reverse” of the truth. An “ad populum” is a false argument. What is the devil good at but making false arguments! The great deceiver would have you believe that our current culture’s fixation with sex is overplayed, especially by religious institutions with their “antiquated lore of morals and judgements”.
ReplyDelete“Ad Populum” an example: “everyone is doing it so it must be the truth.”
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