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Popular Culture Review
“glozening” glossary to interpretation as some critics have suggested.2 Rather, in
examining his image, the drinker unwittingly applauds his transformation while
a fresh libation of wine conscripts him still further into the shadow of
intoxication. Here, in a superb illustration of alcoholic denial, we witness the
intoxicant’s fascination with the illumination, which he perceives as emanating
from his “liquid cynosure,” but it is apparent that the fantasy has little to do with
any kind of genuine, natural inspiration; and the “slow applause” must
ultimately be relegated to his opportunity to drink more wine and nothing more.
In this regard, it is becoming apparent that the intoxicant’s “cynosure” amounts
to little more than a self-created prison that has emanated from his alcoholic
penchant for self-indulgence.
In the next 7F