NON-AFRICAN POETRY
Examine the case against astrologers in “Upon an Honest Man’s Fortune
Explanation
The primary purpose of the poet is to debunk the astrologers’ wild claim that they can read the positions and movements of the stars and use their observations to tell people’s fortunes. The poet reminds the astrologers that it, is fate and not the so-called starry influences that unalterably determine events in people’s lives. He argues that fate is God- ordained and is therefore above human knowledge. For this reason, nobody including the astrologers, can pretend to know the destiny of any other person. “And no man knows his treasures, no, not you!” He thus considers them as impostors for fraudulently using the so-called starry influences to fool and dupe such gullible people as are worried by issues of danger, position, love and the like.
The poet further argues that God, who made the stars which the astrologers daily read and fraudulently exploit to eke a living, does not reveal to anybody, not least the astrologers, His secret purpose of creating them. He reminds them of the helplessness of their Egyptian predecessors to save Pharaoh and his cohorts from the wrath of God in their futile confrontation with Moses. He sees them engaged in dubious calculations and permutations about the sacred purpose of the work of the creator which is beyond their limited comprehension. Accordingly, he dismisses them as charlatans who are as “blind” as their calculations and as “drunken” as their conjectures.
The poet accuses the astrologers of being presumptuous and holds out that man does not need their services, being favorably equipped by the Divine to achieve his set objectives. Accordingly, he condemns the fortunate tellers with their spurious claims as liars since it is only man and what he does that make or mar him.