I went to class today and was asked to do a textual analysis of a poem. I have never knowingly done a textual analysis - although I have written book reviews. I don't normally do poetry either. I'm not a huge fan. The poem is called Tarantella, and it's by Hilaire Belloc. I have heard of him. He was a Liberal Party MP from 1906-1910. He was a supporter and ideologist of the economic system of 'distributism', otherwise known as reciprocity. This ideology has its roots in Aristotelianism, Thomism and the social-Catholicism of Pope Leo XIII. It opposes both capitalism and socialism, and calls itself the 'third way'. It is also called corporatism, which in its social-Catholic form is very reactionary. The two people who put a form of this into practice were Salazar and Franco. The dictators of Portugal and Spain respectively. Belloc was also a devout orthodox Catholic. The professor seems to think that Tarantella is about the Spanish Civil War. About a republican militiaman thinking back to the eve of the battle in which his comrades were killed. I doubt this very much. The poem seems to be set in a part of Spain that was deep within Nationalist held territory (in the mountains on the banks of the River Aragon). In 1939 Belloc met and praised both Iberian dictators, and visited the Nationalist front line in Aragon. I think it is about loss of innocence, and not about fallen comrades. That's my interpretation anyway... now I need to decide if I am supposed to think for myself or just repeat what the professor tells me... even if I don't think she is correct.

[Edit 15/09/06: It would appear that the poem predates the outbreak of the civil war by seven years]