Anti-Jacobin the Friend of Humanity and the Knife Grinder and Hannah More\'s Village Politics

¶ … difficult to find a time in which political ideals were not present in then-current writings. In the poems and papers presented for review, the writers key on the differences that exist between ideas. It does not seem to matter in which time period a person lives, there is always a difference in political opinion because there are always differing circumstances among people. Two poems and a weekly paper are the subject of this paper and they are examined regarding the dichotomies they seem to suggest.

In the present political landscape, the gap between wealthy and poor receives a great deal of press. As one would imagine, this is a common theme throughout history as demonstrated by the two poems -- The Friend of Humanity and the Knife Grinder and Village Politics. In the first poem, the questioner shows concern for the knife grinder. Apparently it was an occupation that was thought of as very lowly and given to those who were of the oppressed class (Frere). Village Politics shows a conversation between two people one who believes in the equality of all people and the other who refutes this with evidence from society and the Bible (More). It is interesting to examine these two writings with an eye toward current political discord. There remains the disparity between rich and poor, but the rights of the individual are less questioned now than they appear to have been then. An argument can be made that noting changes, at least as far as politics is concerned.

The Anti-Jacobin further illustrates this point. The paper was engendered to rail against a sect of society that had started in France but was seen to be infecting other European societies. The author of the paper was convinced that England could only survive if the revolutionary ideas of the Jacobins were stamped out (Canning). This can be seen in the vitriol that different political sides spew in modern political circles. Many believe that it has never been worse and the hate is intensified by websites that promote the evil of one political entity or another. The problem with that logic is that reading a sample of The Anti-Jacobin proves that people have exhibited the same amount of disgust (and possibly more) in times prior to this one.

It is easy to see that politics, and the language that follows the practice, has not changed over the centuries. It is likely that an examination of even more ancient writings would reveal the same thing. Politics breeds discontent and argument, and these writings are simply an affirmation of that statement.