By coincidence — but some say there are no coincidences — I've just found out that today is the feast of Saint Agnes. I wasn't familiar with her story, but when I was in France, last December, I saw a medieval painting in a museum in Montpellier that called my attention. It was an anonymous painting telling the story of her martyrdom, with different scenes of her life displayed almost in the form of a comic book.
The legend of St Agnes has resonance w/ the later one of Lady Godiva. Both went naked in public view but were initially protected by their long hair and additionally by God striking the voyeurs blind. Agnes was under persecution by a pagan emperor and martyred by his licentious minions. A millennium later Godiva took a much more active role in her shameful ordeal at the hands of secular authorities, but being under God's protection because of her righteous mission remained unscathed and w/ her reputation intact. Peeping Tom, the perverted tailor, not so lucky.
The idea of a dream from heaven, which Keats recalls, has been embedded in the Left's worship of secular saint MLK. He had a Dream. And all good lefties are encouraged to have a little, ambitious personal dream, but to partake in the larger secular dream: a revolutionary dream - to crush White supremacy and establish a world of equality - the Marxist dream. Imagine there's no heaven, but become a dreamer.
The legend of St Agnes has resonance w/ the later one of Lady Godiva. Both went naked in public view but were initially protected by their long hair and additionally by God striking the voyeurs blind. Agnes was under persecution by a pagan emperor and martyred by his licentious minions. A millennium later Godiva took a much more active role in her shameful ordeal at the hands of secular authorities, but being under God's protection because of her righteous mission remained unscathed and w/ her reputation intact. Peeping Tom, the perverted tailor, not so lucky.
The idea of a dream from heaven, which Keats recalls, has been embedded in the Left's worship of secular saint MLK. He had a Dream. And all good lefties are encouraged to have a little, ambitious personal dream, but to partake in the larger secular dream: a revolutionary dream - to crush White supremacy and establish a world of equality - the Marxist dream. Imagine there's no heaven, but become a dreamer.