“In vain, in vain - the all-composing hour resistless falls; the Muse obeys the power” – Dunciad. The Dunciad, Alexander Pope’s epic poem, depicts the literary culture of 18th-century London.

The central character, Dullness, is depicted by hack writers and poets who are lauded and promoted by vain patrons and money-minded publishers. These traits are satirically shown to be in London’s political class too where rule has morphed into misrule. Merit and legitimacy has taken a back seat to the opposite being grotesquely rewarded and patronized.

The poem also portrays a scathing parody of Virgil’s games in the Aeneid. These are performed before the goddess of Dullness in her relentless London power bid. One event has contestants diving into the Fleet Ditch, London’s largest open sewer. The winner is the one who dives deepest and flings the most filth. The tickling contest has contestants tickle and flatter potential investors. No wonder, the winner is the most spineless at the craft.

Democracy is a self-regulating system to run a social order. Here, it could well be Dullness that has kept us hostage to its pitfalls and manipulative whims. Instead of pursuing people-centric agendas, our ruling dispensations have used public offices to evade judicial oversight and to pummel the Constitution for personal gains. Hobbes lamented that men heap together the mistakes of their lives and create a monster they call destiny. The self-centered agendas of........

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