Poetry · Chapter
Exoneration explained
A brief poetic reflection on how men who do not conspire during candidacy can be exonerated by their friends, with their unused teeth and nails displayed as relics of their restraint.
What happens
A brief poetic reflection on how men who do not conspire during candidacy can be exonerated by their friends, with their unused teeth and nails displayed as relics of their restraint.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Corruption
The poem satirizes political candidacy and the suspicion of connivance, suggesting that even innocence is treated as a curiosity.
Key passages
“When men at candidacy don’t connive, From that suspicion if their friends would free ’em, The teeth and nails with which they do not strive Should be exhibited in a museum.”
If a candidate refrains from scheming and his friends want to clear him of suspicion, the claws and fangs he never used should be put on display.
The narrator uses a satirical metaphor to comment on the rarity of political integrity.