A blog dedicated to providing quotes by and posts relating to one of the most influential (and quotable!) authors of the twentieth century, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936). If you do not know much about GKC, I suggest visiting the webpage of the American Chesterton Society as well as this wonderful Chesterton Facebook Page by a fellow Chestertonian

I also have created a list detailing examples of the influence of Chesterton if you are interested, that I work on from time to time.

(Moreover, for a list of short GKC quotes, I have created one here, citing the sources)

"...Stevenson had found that the secret of life lies in laughter and humility."

-Heretics (1905)
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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Mumford and Sons' "The Cave" and GKC's "Saint Francis of Assisi"

Given that Marcus Mumford has recommended reading GKC in the "book club" on their website (see here), and referenced him elsewhere as well (see here), I find it interesting to come across a message board post that points out there is an allusion to Chesterton's Saint Francis of Assisi in the song "The Cave".

First, from Mumford and Son's "The Cave"

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the Maker's hand

Now, the passage from Chesterton's Saint Francis of Assissi:
Francis, at the time or somewhere about the time when he disappeared into the prison or the dark cavern, underwent a reversal of a certain psychological kind...The man who went into the cave was not the man who came out again...He looked at the world as differently from other men as if he had come out of that dark hole walking on his hands...This state can only be represented in symbol; but the symbol of inversion is true in another way. If a man saw the world upside down, with all the trees and towers hanging head downwards as in a pool, one effect would be to emphasise the idea of dependence. There is a Latin and literal connection; for the very word dependence only means hanging. It would make vivid the Scriptural text which says that God has hung the world upon nothing.
-Saint Francis of Assisi (1923)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

This is great, I never noticed this parallel. Awesome!

L'Uomo Vivo said...

Dear friend, I saw this post and I'm very happy to meet your blog. Good job! I'm the chairman of Italian Chesterton Society and I invite you to visit our blog. I took this post and I put it in our blog. I appreciate your blog and your catholic commitment.

Let's keep in touch,

Marco Sermarini

Mike said...

Thank-you! :-) It is wonderful to meet you. I just visited your blog. I cannot, unfortunately, read Italian, but I am now following your blog. It looks likes a great one! God bless!

Anonymous said...

There's also an allusion to James 1:27 in the widows and orphans line: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

Mike said...

Interesting. Thanks for letting me know! :-)

Inklings and Notions said...

I knew I liked this song for a reason! Thanks for connecting the dots for me.;)
And, I'm glad to have found your blog! I don't do much on here, like I used to on LJ, but I do have a blog.:D

Mike said...

Awesome...In fact, I see you have two blogs. Which I am now following. :-)

Anonymous said...

This is so great! I love Authors like G.K. Chesterton & C.S.Lewis& Tolkien who incorporate catholicism into their works! Plus, I love Mumford&Sons,so this is a great blog post! thanks!

Mike said...

You're welcome!