07 June 2012

Rodin's "Thinker" reinterpreted


An excerpt of a poem by W. H. Auden offers a different viewpoint of Rodin's iconic work:
Lifted off the potty,
Infants from their mothers
Hear their first impartial
Words of worldly praise:
Hence, to start the morning
With a satisfactory
Dump is a good omen
All our adult days.

Revelation came to
Luther in a privy
(Crosswords have been solved there)
Rodin was no fool
When he cast his Thinker,
Cogitating deeply,
Crouched in the position
Of a man at stool. 
The full text of his The Geography of the House is here. And we can't resist adding that even the Wikipedia entry describes the figure as "a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle."

Via The Dish.

11 comments:

  1. When Rodin made his sculpture, weren't people squatting rather than sitting whilst taking a dump?

    ReplyDelete
  2. In 1902? Probably not.

    Wikipedia tells me that seated defecation became the European norm in the mid-19th century:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Plenty of France had squat toilets in the 60s and 70s, and you still find them today

      Delete
  3. Some come here to sit and think,
    others come to write on walls.
    Some come here to sh__ and stink,
    I came here to scratch my...

    Sorry - it just slipped out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many words of wisdom are written on toilet walls
      Wise men sit and stink and think
      While idiots roll their s>>> into little balls.

      Delete
  4. This is my usual posture while worshipping at (on?) the white throne, albeit with a Radica solitaire hand-held game in my hands.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can see how the right elbow on the left knee could productively affect the large intestine... I oscillate; alternatingly tapping my elbows on the wall behind me - works like a charm (may concern those nearby if you tap loudly).

    BTW, what is with all the scat stories lately?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm going to have to think on this a while.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think it was 'wealthy people sit, poor people squat' until a century or two ago. Romans sat on stone benches. Wooden stools were common enough by the 16th century that "stool" had also become a synonym for feces. Sitting really isn't a new thing...but it is an unhealthy position.

    I've always thought it looked like he was having a poo...I think every kid who sees this thinks it.

    ReplyDelete

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