Flowers For Socrates

by NONA BLYTH CLOUD

What is one to make of Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)?

A man of so many contradictions he seems like a human whirligig. Anti-German and Anti-Semitic. Combative and intolerant in his philosophical and political writings, but whimsical and amusing in his verses for children. An avowed monarchist and ardent admirer of the French Revolution, even its excesses. Admired Mussolini, detested Hitler. Advocate for returning Europe to an ‘ideal’ Roman Catholic theocracy such as he believed existed in the Middle Ages, ignoring all evidence to the contrary, while with equal fervor opposing British colonialism and imperialism, and elsewhere calling Christ a “milksop.” It is entirely possible when reading Hilaire Belloc to revile him on one page and admire him on the next.

Hilaire Belloc was born near Paris just a few days before the Franco-Prussian War began. He was the son of a well-to-do French lawyer and an English mother, Elizabeth Rayner Parkes, who was a writer. His older sister, Marie Adelaide, also grew up to be a writer.

The Belloc family fled to England in 1870 when news came of the French army’s collapse, returning after the war’s end to discover that their home had been looted and vandalized by Prussian soldiers. Belloc grew up disdaining everything German as ‘Prussian.’

In 1872, his father died, after most of the family fortune was wiped out in a stock-market crash. The young English widow brought her children back to England. Hilaire was sent to Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove. In the summer of 1890, he met Elodie Hogan, an American daughter of Irish parents visiting from California, and they fell in love. At 20, his mother considered Hilaire too young for marriage, while Elodie’s mother opposed the match, having high hopes that her daughter would become a nun, and not thinking much of Belloc’s financial prospects either. They carried on a long-distance correspondence during an on-again-off-again relationship for the next several years. Belloc sold most of his belongings to pay for a trip to see her in 1891.

In 1892, he joined the French Artillery Service in France for a year.  Returning to England, Belloc became a student at Baillol College, Oxford. Boisterous and opinionated, he fueled long discussions with his peers but worked diligently on his studies.

Through his sister Marie’s influence, he began writing for London newspapers and magazines. Hilaire Belloc and Elodie Hogan were married at last in 1896. His first book, Verses and Sonnets, appeared the same year, followed by The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts, which satirized moralistic verse for children and was immensely popular, greatly improving their financial situation.

__________________________________________________

from The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts:

Introduction

I call you bad, my little child,
Upon the title page
Because a manner rude and wild
Is common at your age.

The Moral of this priceless work
(If rightly understood)
Will make you – from a little Turk –
Unnaturally good.

Do not as evil children do,
Who on the slightest grounds
Will imitate the Kangaroo
With wild unmeaning bounds.

Do not as children badly bred,
Who eat like little Hogs,
And when they have to go to bed
Will whine like Puppy Dogs:

Who take their manners from the Ape,
Their habits from the Bear,
Indulge the loud unseemly jape,
And never brush their hair.

But so control your actions that
Your friends may all repeat.
‘This child is dainty as the Cat,
And as the Owl discreet.’

The Polar Bear

The Polar Bear is unaware
Of cold that cuts me through:
For why? He has a coat of hair.
I wish I had one too!

__________________________________________________

Continue reading →