I like Murray's work very much, but it depends on his persona, that of a
shrewd querulous clown. The ideas - especially the doctrinal ones -
wouldn't stand on their own, without the persona. The major issue, I think,
is whether there is a poetry of moral seriousness and metaphysical
speculation that is non-religious, atheistic, or anti-religious. Here's a
poem of Kenneth Rexroth, American, which is one of my favorites. It's the
second part of his "They Say This Isn't A Poem."
The order of the universe
Is only a reflection
Of the human will and reason.
All being is contingent,
No being is self-subsistent.
All objects are moved by others.
No object moves itself.
All beings are caused by others.
No being is its own cause.
There is no perfect being.
Being has no economy.
Entities are multiplied
Without necessity. They
Have no sufficient reason.
The only order of nature
Is the orderly relation
Of one person to another.
Non-personal relations
Are by nature chaotic.
Personal relations are
The pattern through which we see
Nature as systematic.
Homer, and all sensible
Men since, have told us again
And again, the universe -
The great principles and forces
That move the world - have order
Only as a reflection
Of the courage, loyalty,
Love, and honesty of men.
By themselves they are cruel
And utterly frivolous.
The man who yields to them goes mad,
Kills his child, his wife or firend
And dies in the bloody dust,
Having destroyed the treasured
Labor of other men's hands.
He who outwits them survives
To grow old in his own home.
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