On Today's Word

I thought, considering some of the debate I've read of late, it would be a good idea to post the Did you know? section from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary listing for bardolater as word of the day:

George Bernard Shaw once described a Shakespeare play as "stagy trash." Another time, Shaw said he'd like to dig Shakespeare from the grave and throw stones at him. Shaw could be equally scathing toward Shakespeare's adoring fans. He called them "foolish Bardolaters," wrote of "Bardolatrous" ignoramuses, and called blind Shakespeare worship "Bardolatry." Oddly enough, Shaw didn't despise Shakespeare or his work (on the contrary, he was, by his own admission, an admirer), but he disdained those who placed the man beyond reproach. The word "bardolater," which Shaw coined by blending Shakespeare's epithet — "the Bard" — with an affix that calls to mind "idolater," has stuck with us to this day, though it has lost some of its original critical sting.

It's too bad it has lost that sting. Even though I probably could be classified as one of those "bardolatrous ignoramuses", I do believe that the idolotry of any particular work or writer/artist should be questioned. If the work/artist/writer withstands questioning over time, well, bully. And the dismissal of past works should be questioned as well. After all, perhaps those who lived at the time when the work was created and dismissed it could not see the significance that particular work might have on future generations, as the world changed.

Look at me, being all pontificky. How unpleasant.