THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS

When I was in college more than a half century ago, I started reading the works of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, a well known English Catholic whose essays mesmerized me at the time. After college occasionally I would recall something GKC wrote but could not find it because I had no time to research the works of this prolific writer.

Not too long ago I remembered a ballad he wrote that particularly intrigued me. It was about his breaking a precious goblet and writing a ballad to commemorate the occasion. So, thanks to the modern technology of the Internet, I “googled” in the words “chesterton and breaking goblet” and found what had eluded me for decades. In his autobiography I discovered what motivated him to write the poem:

“I once smashed an ordinary tumbler at Herbert's table, and an ever-blossoming tradition sprang up that it had been a vessel of inconceivable artistic and monetary value, its price perpetually mounting into millions and its form and colour taking on the glories of the Arabian Nights. From this incident (and from the joyful manner in which Baring trampled like an elephant among the fragments of the crystal) arose a catchword used by many of us in many subsequent controversies, in defence of romantic and revolutionary things; the expression: "I like the noise of breaking glass." I made it the refrain of a ballad which began:

Prince, when I took your goblet tall
And smashed it with inebriate care,
I knew not how from Rome and Gaul
You gained it; I was unaware
It stood by Charlemagne's great chair
And served St. Peter at High Mass.
I'm sorry if the thing was rare;
I like the noise of breaking glass.

[From the Autobiography of Gilbert Keith Chesterton]

I am reading once again the essays of Chesterton because he can teach me a lot about writing. I thought perhaps you’d like to enjoy the “breaking glass” poem with me.

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