While I would question this statement in general (people definitely can still write formal and poetical content without mocking, eg recently eulogy here on HN e

While I would question this statement in general (people definitely can still write formal and poetical content without mocking, eg recently eulogy here on HN even), but on the other hand it also seems this piece itself is mocking to some extend? > America is thus a nation rapidly drifting towards a state of things in which no man of science or letters will be accounted respectable unless some kind of badge or diploma is stamped upon him, and in which bare personality will be a mark of outcast estate.