Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Descent, Human Species, Evolution, Darwinism, Faith, Gender

    Urges on the poet Aubrey T De Vere the pettiness of tracing his noble ancestry to the time of King William I 'at most'. Thinks 'simple folk' may remain content with 'Adam's origin', but exhorts De Vere to learn from Charles R Darwin's Descent of Man to prize his 'high descent'. Ponders the status of the 'Crusader', now buried in rock containing the 'relics of a Lemur', and observes that the 'De Veres and all' derive from 'Sir Anthropoid Ape'. Notes that both Christians and Jews are descended, via marsupials, reptiles, and fishes, from ascidian larvae. Points out that 'no eye has ever seen' the birth or the transmutation of species and that men who are not 'fools' are puzzled by the argument that one species developed from another. Insists that faith helps to 'knit the break' in the reasoning behind the theory of the descent of man. Notes that 'Science tells no old woman's tale' and that man's descent from a female larva 'is not a fall'. Ponders the allegedly vast leap between 'Jackanapes' and 'man' and thinks De Vere's 'doubt' might stop the 'common British Rough to scan'. Considers that 'British Roughs' are much more closely related to the baboon than to De Vere.