Comrade Napoleon
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Comrade Napoleon is a poem written by Minimus in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. The poem glorified Napoleon, calling him the "friend of the fatherless" and the "fountain of happiness". Many of the successes on the farm, even though they had no relationship at all to Napoleon, were attributed to Napoleon. The poem marked the general happy feeling towards the rule of Napoleon at the time in the book.
Napoleon approved of this poem and had it written on the wall of the big barn at the opposite end of where the Seven Commandments were listed. It was surrounded by a portrait of Napoleon drawn by Squealer in white paint.
[edit] Allegory
Just as Napoleon supplanted "Beasts of England" with "Comrade Napoleon," Joseph Stalin replaced The Internationale with the Hymn of the Soviet Union as that nation's national anthem in 1943. Both the Internationale and Beasts of England reflected the principals of Marxism and Animalism respectively and contrasted how these ideologies were being distorted by Stalin and Napoleon and thus had to be replaced and, eventually, suppressed.
[edit] Lyrics
- Friend of the fatherless!
- Fountain of happiness!
- Lord of the swill-bucket! Oh, how my soul is on
- Fire when I gaze at thy
- Calm and commanding eye,
- Like the sun in the sky,
- Comrade Napoleon!
- Thou art the giver of
- All that thy creatures love,
- Full belly twice a day, clean straw to roll upon;
- Every beast great or small
- Sleeps at peace in his stall,
- Thou watchest over all,
- Comrade Napoleon!
- Had I a suckling-pig
- Ere he had grown as big
- Even as a pint bottle or as a rolling pin,
- He should have learned to be
- Faithful and true to thee,
- Yes, his first squeal should be
- 'Comrade Napoleon!'
A different song called Beloved Leader Napoleon, was sung in the 1999 film version to the tune of the Russian song 'Soldaty V Pohod':
- Beloved leader Napoleon,
- fearless faithful guardian!
- Proud and strong,
- protect us from the wrong,
- you will defend us
- with your lofty trotter.
- Our pigs, our pigs, our pigs:
- there is no beast that’s braver!
- They will not ever waver!
- They face the fight…
- for right…with might!
- Glorious, great and triumphant,
- gallant hero resilient!
- Proud and strong,
- protect us from the wrong,
- you will defend us
- with your lofty trotter
- Our pigs, our pigs, our pigs…
[edit] See also
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