I assume the author got out of favor with the powers that be, due to "dissent," i.e. objecting to the powers' imposed programs and approaches most likely. The poem seems to warn that disagreement comes with a price--which indeed it does, especially when the opposition is virtually universal and thus holds all the cards. The closing is funny, saying that those who think the poet's tale proves the poet needs a shrink, should keep living in their dreamworld as they will anyway (with or without the additional stardust). Cutting sharply against the common grain is bound to narrow your fanclub to nearly zero. One is expected to echo the common assumptions and viewpoints and never take exception to absurdity, which of course always rules.
Was "smother dissent" intended?
I assume the author got out of favor with the powers that be, due to "dissent," i.e. objecting to the powers' imposed programs and approaches most likely. The poem seems to warn that disagreement comes with a price--which indeed it does, especially when the opposition is virtually universal and thus holds all the cards. The closing is funny, saying that those who think the poet's tale proves the poet needs a shrink, should keep living in their dreamworld as they will anyway (with or without the additional stardust). Cutting sharply against the common grain is bound to narrow your fanclub to nearly zero. One is expected to echo the common assumptions and viewpoints and never take exception to absurdity, which of course always rules.