1901: Lola Ridge
October 7, 2018
By AHNZ
Lola Ridge: A New Zealand Anarchist, but the wrong sort. These lines remind me of nothing so much as Pink Floyd’s lyrics about, and called, ‘Mother’…
“When you tell mama
You are going to do something great
She looks at you
As though you were a window
She were trying to see through,
And say she hopes you will be good
Instead of great.”
– Lola Ridge, poet, who grew up and came of age in New Zealand (c.1878-1903)
Contrast that with Pink Floyd..
“Mama’s gonna keep you right here under her wing
She won’t let you fly but she might let you sing
Mama’s gonna keep baby cozy and warm”
Come to that, it also resembles another great song by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This time, the mother implores her son to suppress his greatness and be mediocre for her. ‘Simple Man’….
“And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can”
All three of these are one to me. Got to watch out for undue influence from the maternal spirit! To children, fathers are the accelerators but mothers are the brakes!
Oh yeah, and don’t forget this; Despicable Me – Gru’s Mom
“Mother, did it need to be so high?”
—
Note: Ridge had been publishing her writing in New Zealand since she was 19 but the first record of using the name ‘Lola’ was October 1901 with ‘A Deserted Diggings, Maoriland’
Note: After 6 years of marriage, Ridge literally deserted the Maoriland diggings, and her husband, for Australia. She took her surviving son to Sydney where she lied about being 23 (she was 33) and rebooted her life as “Lola.” Probably under the controlling influence of her mother. (Watch out for those social conformist mothers, they’ll make an anarchist out of you!)
Ref. Michele Leggott; NZEPC
2 thoughts on "1901: Lola Ridge"
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What a dire brain dump of misogyny. Also, you meant brakes, not breaks.
Thanks for helping me improve this post and I hope you will say more.