The Censor
The Censor sits behind his desk,
And smiles a censored smile;
His great, blue pencil hovers o'er
Some masterpiece awhile,
Then swoops - oh, child of whose poor ravished brain?
Coldly another innnocent is slain!
The Censor is a murderer.
None knows his secret lair,
Nor all the dark and awful deeds
He does in ambush there.
No eye has seen his charnel-house - it's floor
With literary corpses littered o'er.
The Censor is a crocodile.
Beneath that slimy flood,
The Waters of Oblivion,
He seeks his livelihood.
His gloating eye marks children of my pen;
He draws them under from the sight of men.
The Censor is a nibbling mouse.
The fair cheese of my mind
He rifles till there's nothing left
But atmosphere and rind.
That fair, round cheese, formed lovingly by me,
From milk of thought and curds of poesy.
The Censor is an elephant.
With large, ungainly feet
He dances on the glad, green fields
I sowed in toil and heat,
Till all the fairest flow'rs of thought are slain,
And only unaesthetic weeds remain.
The Censor is the Fiend of Storms.
Upon the Inky Sea,
In fear, my poor, frail craft I launch;
Then, with unholy glee,
He makes the winds tear howling through the shrouds,
And sends fork'd death and shipwreck from the clouds.
The Censor is a sorceror.
Above rare fruits that grow
Upon the tree of genius
His hand waves to and fro.
Hey, Presto! And their lusciousness is slain -
Apples of Sodom, Dead Sea Fruit remain.
The Censor is a hooded snake
That lurks within the grass,
And rears to sink his poison-fangs
In heedless babes that pass
Dear Children of my brain; wee, tender things,
That sink and swoon and perish when he stings.
And still he is a gentleman;
This much I will admit.
In 'Correspondence Columns' he
Seeks not to air his wit;
On shrinking backs he lays no caustic stripe,
Nor stoops to call our Masterpieces 'tripe'!
poem by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Why to censor
The world is one.
One can go anywhere
as per sweetwill.
Why to censor?
It is the right of
everybody to express
views and news.
Why to censor?
One can eat drink
walk sleep as per
his conveniences
Why to censor?
poem by Gajanan Mishra
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A censor is an expert in cutting remarks. A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.
quote by Laurence J. Peter
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there.
quote by Spike Lee
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The Thought Police: To censor and protect.
quote by Craig Bruce
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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They can't censor the gleam in my eye.
quote by Charles Laughton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.
quote by Granville Hicks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I mean, they censor your work when they're scared of it.
quote by Kathy Acker
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It's incredible that they censor films. It's sad.
quote by Dario Argento
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You can't censor people's dreams.
quote by Robyn Hitchcock
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Freedom, Or Slavery!
what we face...
is the ignorance of the gun!
the censor's immoral judgements,
the greed that takes
at the expense of need.
the patriotic drunkenness
that justifies without thought.
the violent fear that brutalizes
different skin color, different views!
the stink of the power
that crushes the voices
of our own children....
the final choice....
freedom, or slavery!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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In Italy the censor is very old and there are many judges and psychiatrists who analyse you.
quote by Dario Argento
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I find it very offensive when the government tells me what I can and cannot watch. Censor yourself.
quote by Michael Badnarik
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Literature should not be suppressed merely because it offends the moral code of the censor.
quote by William O. Douglas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Church doesn't censor. It tries to guide its faithful through catechism.
quote by Claudio Hummes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you'll do yourself a service.
quote by Stephen Sondheim
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The stated mission at the time was simply to use the influence of the entertainment industry to do an accurate portrayal of drug and alcohol abuse. We all admit that we're not trying to censor anybody.
quote by Gerald McRaney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Literature should not be surpressed merely because it affects the moral code of the censor.
quote by William Orville Douglas
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The censor's sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression.
quote by Earl Warren
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A performance art piece is unprecedented. It is difficult to censor since it has a good possibility of never being done before.
quote by Jack Bowman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I think what we have in this country is a little more dangerous in a way because it can't be seen fully. It's sorta internal censorship. We censor each other.
quote by Kathy Acker
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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