The Angry Exile: Who is Cory Doctorow?

The Hangman

Into our town the Hangman came,
Smelling of gold and blood and flame.
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air,
And built his frame in the courthouse square.
The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.
And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
Who the criminal, what the crime
That the Hangman judged with the yellow twist
of knotted hemp in his busy fist.
And innocent though we were, with dread,
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead --
Till one cried: "Hangman, who is he
For whom you raised the gallows-tree?"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
"He who serves me best," said he,
"Shall earn the rope of the gallows-tree."
And he stepped down, and laid his hand
On a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another's grief
At the Hangman's hand was our relief
And the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawn
By tomorrow's sun would be struck and gone.
So we gave him way, and no one spoke,
Out of respect for his Hangman's cloak.
The next day's sun looked mildly down
On roof and street in our quiet town,
And stark and black in the morning air
Was the gallows-tree in the courthouse square.
And the Hangman stood at his usual stand
With the yellow hemp in his busy hand;
With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike
And his air so knowing and business-like.
And we cried, "Hangman, have you not done
Yesterday, with the foreign one?"
Then we fell silent, and stood amazed,
"Oh, not for him was the gallows raised."
He laughed a laugh as he looked at us:
"Did you think I'd gone to all this fuss
To hang one man? That's a thing I do
To stretch a rope when the rope is new."
Then one cried "Murder!" and one cried "Shame!"
And into our midst the Hangman came
To that man's place. "Do you hold," said he,
"with him that was meant for the gallows-tree?"
And he laid his hand on that one's arm.
And we shrank back in quick alarm!
And we gave him way, and no one spoke
Out of fear of his Hangman's cloak.
That night we saw with dread surprise
The Hangman's scaffold had grown in size.
Fed by the blood beneath the chute,
The gallows-tree had taken root;
Now as wide, or a little more,
Than the steps that led to the courthouse door,
As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall,
Halfway up on the courthouse wall.
The third he took -- we had all heard tell --
Was a usurer, and an infidel.
"What," said the Hangman "have you to do
With the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?"
And we cried out, "Is this one he
Who has served you well and faithfully?"
The Hangman smiled: "It's a clever scheme
to try the strength of the gallows-beam."
The fourth man's dark, accusing song
Had scratched our comfort hard and long;
"And what concern," he gave us back.
"Have you for the doomed -- the doomed and Black?"
The fifth. The sixth. And we cried again,
"Hangman, Hangman, is this the man?"
"It's a trick," he said. "that we hangmen know
For easing the trap when the trap springs slow."
And so we ceased, and asked no more,
As the Hangman tallied his bloody score.
And sun by sun, and night by night,
The gallows grew to monstrous height.
The wings of the scaffold opened wide
Till they covered the square from side to side;
And the monster cross-beam, looking down,
Cast its shadow across the town.
Then through the town the Hangman came,
Through the empty streets, and called my name --
And I looked at the gallows soaring tall,
And thought, "There is no one left at all
For hanging, and so he calls to me
To help pull down the gallows-tree."
So I went out with right good hope
To the Hangman's tree and the Hangman's rope.
He smiled at me as I came down
To the courthouse square through the silent town.
And supple and stretched in his busy hand
Was the yellow twist of the hempen strand.
And he whistled his tune as he tried the trap,
And it sprang down with a ready snap --
And then with a smile of awful command
He laid his hand upon my hand.
"You tricked me. Hangman!," I shouted then,
"That your scaffold was built for other men...
And I no henchman of yours," I cried,
"You lied to me, Hangman. Foully lied!"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
"Lied to you? Tricked you?" he said. "Not I.
For I answered straight and I told you true --
The scaffold was raised for none but you.
For who has served me more faithfully
Then you with your coward's hope?" said he,
"And where are the others who might have stood
Side by your side in the common good?"
"Dead," I whispered. And amiably
"Murdered," the Hangman corrected me:
"First the foreigner, then the Jew...
I did no more than you let me do."
Beneath the beam that blocked the sky
None had stood so alone as I.
The Hangman noosed me, and no voice there
Cried "Stop!" for me in the empty square.

Maurice Ogden

Via Bill Sticker, who writes like David Foster Wallace, Wlliam Gibson, James Joyce and Lovecraft, it seems from my longer rantings that mostly I write like Cory Doctorow. And since I have no idea who Cory Doctorow is I don't know whether to be pleased, embarrassed, offended, flattered or what.

'Earth Hour' on March 26 2009.

I write like
Arthur C. Clarke

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Hmmm, okay, not unhappy with that, even if I can't see what made it like Arthur C. Clarke. I'll dig out Rendezvous with Rama tomorrow and see if there's a whole chapter of venom and swearing that I've forgotten about.

'Aiming at the wrong targets' on March 18 2009.

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Again, not unhappy with that, though I'm still not sure why. I can't see anything in there about gun laws in R'lyeh or how control advocates are the tentacled spawn of Yog-Sothoth.

'Off with their heads' on May 24 2009.

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

'Spot the difference' on October 6 2009 produced my first Cory Doctorow...

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

... as did 'A response to David Davis' on October 23 2009.

However, 'Bilked of Rights' on January 4 2010 got me this badge.

I write like
Charles Dickens

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Charles Dickens? Seriously? "It was the best of times, and what cocksocket was responsible for fucking that up for everyone?" Er, no, sorry. Just can't see it.

'Living with the threat of terrorism - compare and contrast' on January 5 2010 got me back to Cory.

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

As did 'Voting for change' on February 12th, and 'Getting the vote out' on May 4th. Oddly they were the first and last of a three part rant, and the middle part, 'House of Frauds' on March 18th, had gone all Chthonian again.

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

More Enraged Pom than Mad Arab - that which is not absofuckinglutely furious can eternal lie, etc etc. But I'm still wondering about Cory Doctorow. I think I'll get Mrs Exile to Google him and see if she says he writes like me. Since I pasted a section from Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror and it said it was like James Joyce I probably shouldn't get my hopes up.

5 comments:

JuliaM said...: Heh! I got 'Stephen King' for a big chunk of one of my posts!; 22 July 2010 at 14:41
@untwining said...: Hey Angry, I am assuming you've found out a bit more about Cory Doctorow now. Being all for the freedom and suchlike, I'd count it as a compliment!

He does not advocate collectivist flapping, legislating and banning in order to protect children from predators, for example. He believes that children should be encouraged to assess the legitimacy of accepted authority of adults at all times, according to an objective moral framework. Something I am all for :-); 23 July 2010 at 09:10
Angry Exile said...: Julia, which one?

Lisa, yes, I've had a brief look and I do take it as a compliment. I haven't read enough to decide if I agree that the comparison is valid but certainly he seems like someone whose opinions I'll respect. It might turn out to be like a couple of the others - flattering but mystifying at the same time.; 23 July 2010 at 13:49
JuliaM said...: It was a big chunk of the Mayor of Colchester one (since it was the only one immediately to hand where I'd written a few paras between the excerpts).

Odd to get him as a result. I didn't mention Maine at all... ;); 23 July 2010 at 16:19
Angry Exile said...: Hahahahahahahaha.; 23 July 2010 at 18:24