Vulnerability in Happiness

Drop whatever is on your mind right now and picture something for me. Think back to the last time you saw someone get blindsided, in any situation really, a car accident, a quarterback getting nailed, or some kid getting sucker punched. Now, put yourself in that person's position and try to capture exactly how they felt when they happened. Now, for some of us that's an easy feeling to absorb, I mean a lot of people have had something done to them when their guard was down. However, for others I would imagine it is not as easy for them to capture the exact feeling that people go through when this happens. They would obviously find some negativity in it, but, chances are, that they would neglect how horrible this feeling really is. It's something that happens at your most vulnerable point and it just changes how you feel in an instant, and it's really quite unpleasant. However, for those of you who can't a time when they were physically blindsided, I can almost guarantee that you have been emotionally blindsided at some point in your life, and, believe it or not, the feeling that you get is incredibly similar.

I'm sure a lot more people realize this now, since it has been referenced in a few pop culture and media situations, but I didn't know for the longest time that the popular nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie" was actually based off of the Bubonic Plague. For anyone who is hearing this for the first time, I'm sure you're thinking back to yourself and realizing how horribly depressing the reference actually is. It really does make it that much worse as well that they sort of hide it behind this happy little song, and when you find out that it has such a negative underlying context, you almost want to scold yourself for thinking positively about something with such a negative context.

That aside, a lot of poets over the years have taken advantage of this concept to evoke more critical emotions from their readers. Dorothy Parker had a very dark sense of humor that involved both satire and cynicism, and she used this in much of her poetry. Granted, she personally probably found a lot of depressing references to be humorous. Quite frankly, I do agree with her, but only because some of my humor is rather similar, but when I think about the true meaning of the poem, it completely wipes away that humor and gets me depressed.

However, out of all of the poetry and art I have ever encountered, the poem that captures this feeling most to me is "Incident" by Countee Cullen. Through the whole first stanza you get this great feeling reading about a happy little kid probably just visiting Baltimore, and he goes through this horrific experience that ruined his entire trip and probably scars him for a long time. You just feel horrible after you read this because of how badly this little kid gets blindsided. The emotional morbidness of this poem, in my mind precisely captures the feeling of being blindsided, and, after reading it, if you haven't truly experienced how it feels to be blindsided, this poem will definitely do it for you.

It's The Same Old Windy City

This week in poetry class we talked about a great poem called "Chicago," by Carl Sandburg. Sandburg describes the city as a new city where people need to work to maintain it and to earn a living. He talks about how the city of chicago is the city of the slugger, and the strong tall man. He also talks about how the man flings magnetic curses so when someone insults you it sticks.

He describes the city as the city of the winner, and he says the city doesn't know what losing is like. He glorifies the working class man and says the benefit of the society should go to people who work the hardest. At the same time he says Chicago is a city of corruption. He goes so far as to say "And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again."

Sandburg describes Chicago in 1916 as the city of the worker, the strong man, the slugger, and the city of corruption, and I think it is not even a stretch to call it that today.

When I read "Chicago" it really reminded me of the politics of Chicago today. Chicago is known around the country as a very liberal city. It constantly elects hard core liberals such as Mayor Richard Daley, Rahm Emanuel, and now President Barack Obama (although I would not label him as a hardcore liberal). These politicians often run on the platform of supporting the average working class citizen. They often make this their top agenda when in office. The funny thing is that in the poem Chicago, Sandburg says that you have to work hard to advance yourself in Chicago, and all three men have done just that. All had to work their way to the top on their own because in Chicago you are not born into anything. Even though Mayor Daley's father was mayor for such a long time, he had to overcome obstacles as well because he was born into a working class family. In Chicago there is no sense of entitlement. If you want to rise to the top you must work hard.

When I read about "flinging magnetic curses," and how citizens of Chicago are not used to losing, I thought about Rahm Emanuel. (How could you not?) Rahm Emanuel is the current White House Chief of Staff to Barack Obama, but before his current job he used to be a Congressman representing the city of Chicago. Rahm is a rough, and tough guy who is famous for swearing excessively, being extremely competitive and strong arming people. There are a few really funny, but really representational episodes involving Rahm Emanuel, which also reflect back upon the city of Chicago as a whole.

Example #1: Rahm Emanuel has been known to mail dead fish to people who get on his nerves. Once a pollster made Emanuel furious by delivering poll results to him after they were expected to be delivered, so Rahm sent him a dead fish in the mail.

Example #2: Back in March of 2010, Congressman Eric Massa who was under investigation for ethical dilemmas involving the harassment of male staffers came forward and revealed that while trying to garner enough votes for President Obama's stimulus package, Rahm Emanuel actually approached Massa in the shower completely naked and started poking Massa trying to strong arm him to vote for the bill.

Massa calls Rahm Emanuel "The son of the Devil's Spawn." He goes on to say that Rahm Emanuel "is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive."

WATCH Massa Explain the Ordeal:

I think that Rahm Emanuel is a prime example of the fighting man Carl Sandburg was talking about in his poem "Chicago."

The comparisons of Chicago today compared to the vision of Chicago that Sandburg depicted could go on forever. I will further elaborate on one more point, which I think is important, and that is corruption in Chicago. A recent example of corruption in Chicago that gained national attention was a conspiracy on the part of former Governor Rod Blagojevich. After Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, his U.S. Senate seat was left vacant. Under state law, the governor of the state of Illinois is required to appoint an interim senator to fill out the rest of the term of the vacant seat. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who had been wiretapping Governor Blagojevich's phone for a separate issue, claims that he overheard that Governor Blagojevich was planning on selling the senate seat to the highest bidder. "Blago" as he is known for short, was caught on tape saying "I've got this thing [The Senate Seat], and it's f*****g golden. I'm just not giving it up for f*****g nothing.^{" Blagojevich wanted to get people to pay him to put them in the United States Senate. He vehemently denied these claims, but was impeached and convicted in the state legislature and subsequently removed from office. Tapes show that Blagojevich was very interesting in profiting from this position he was in to appoint the next senator by acquiring money, or other political favors. He also thought about appointing himself.}

LISTEN to the tapes of Rod Blagojevich talking about the senate seat. Notice he is not interested in pleasing President Obama, he only wants self gratification from this appointment.

It's funny how the description of Chicago by Carl Sandburg from so many decades ago is still so applicable to the city as it is today.

Only The Strong Survive

Everyone in the world has problems: sex, drugs, suicide, affairs, and even power. This week every poet we read about had the same tensions in their lives. Their poems help express their feelings and the way they respond to their troubles. One of the poets we learned about was Dorothy Parker. Growing up was not easy because she was considering committing suicide, and her poem “Resume”, proves this statement.

Dorothy Parker

In the poem “Resume” Parker talks about the possibilities of trying to commits suicide, but in the end it’s too much work and effort to even try. In the poem she talks about razors, acid, guns, nooses, and even gas. “You might as well Live”, is what Parker ends her poem with, giving the reader something positive to leave with after saying several different options to ending ones life. Parker is known for her sarcasm in this poem, and in my opinion I agree with this statement. Her sarcasm doesn’t make you think about the negativity of suicide, but instead think about the title, “Resume”. What is a resume? Now that you have thought about that, read the poem again, that is what I love about the sarcasm in the poem, “Resume.” Her use of fulcrums in her poem, “The Lady’s Reward”, shows her optimistic point of view upon women. Her message in this poem is for women to be strong and powerful in this world of controlling men. Also, for women to not show their feelings, so the husky men don’t overpower them. Like Parker, Carl Sandburg uses strong spoken verses to offer a greater insight through the poem.

           

"Chicago Skyline"

Sandburg’s poem, “Chicago”, shows how sturdy the city is and how nobody can tell the people of Chicago what to do because they are hard workers and tough people. In the second stanza he talks about how poor Chicago is at the time, “painted women”, meaning prostitutes. People in Chicago at the time had no other options, but to be prostitutes. “And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.”, in this sentence Sandburg is talking more about the negativities of Chicago, about the killings and crime and they don’t even go to jail and they walk free. Throughout the second stanza Sandburg make use of, anaphora, which is the repetition of words. Sandburg uses, “And they tell me”, to create a strong effect on the poem. Like Parker, Sandburg uses a fulcrum to change his perspective in the poem. After saying all of the negatives about Chicago, he goes on to talk about the positives. Saying how Chicago building, wealthy, and a “fierce of a dog.” Saying how strong and powerful this city is amongst others. All these poets use a certain style to portray their messages to their readers, and tell a story or message that will forever be known. Problems don’t always have to be in your way, you can take those negatives and turn them into positives.

Carl Sandburg

Honoring the Working Man

Until about the Mid-19th Century, almost all poetry followed a rather specific structure that covered rhyme, rhythm, meter, and form. While all traditional poets threw in their small variations of this structure, they were all fairly limited to what they were able to write. It's actually a little odd that structure such as this was followed for so long in that it was based primarily off of precedent. There were never any legal disputes regarding poetic form, so it just seems a bit surprising that not one person had successfully gone against this method until American poetry came into the picture. That being said, one of the greatest American poets, Walt Whitman, was really the first to successfully pioneer a poetic form known as free verse. Free verse is basically poetry without guidelines or form of any kind. A great example of free verse through Whitman is his poem, "America", which is fairly well known. He is able to describe exactly how he feels by just explicitly stating his point without implying a message through rhymes and rhythm, which would later prove to be an incredibly important concept that would shape the way a lot of both poetry and music would be written in the future. Since Whitman commonly used this brand new style of poetry to express his opinion, he was able to get his point across really easily and state exactly how he felt.
Therefore, not only did Whitman pioneer an entirely new poetic structure, but, by doing so, he also introduced a number of themes by really putting himself into the picture. He did this, of course, by removing the narrative from traditional poetry and replacing it with pure opinion. One of the main themes that Whitman often used was his glorification of the working class individual. Whitman, himself, belonged to the lower-middle class, so it isn't hard to see why he felt the way that he did. He had the idea that, while high class may think negatively of lower class citizens, they would not be where they were without the support of the lower class. It's an easy concept to take in, and it is really quite philosophical. While this theme had broken out in history before (the French Revolution), but was surprisingly nonexistent as a theme in poetry. However, his inclusion of this theme didn't end up stopping at that point. In fact, a lot of artists still use this theme today, in songs, books, and poems. Most of these are just intended to connect with the consumer by telling to overcome being at, or near, the bottom of society. However, none of these artists were quite as humanitarian as Whitman, so they didn't really convey the same message of a mutual relationship between upper and lower classes.
It wasn't until the late 1990's that this feeling was captured as well in a pop cultural manner. Although, it may not have been the band's intention, the popular metal group, Slipknot, used their entire fan base off of an idea really to close to what Whitman was saying over two hundred years beforehand. Slipknot refers to their fans as "maggots", which they basically use as a derogatory term for people at the bottom of society. This term, however, isn't meant to insult their fans at all, it's really just a sarcastic of describing themselves as others might. Regardless, the message that Slipknot pushes through with the whole idea of "maggots", is that the world is driven by "The Pulse of the Maggots", and the world would be nowhere without the working classes supporting the bottom of the structure. They have the most work, but get the least payout, and that, in my opinion, is why so many artists, honor the image of the working class.

Equal Poetry, Equal Music

This week was a rough week. Projects, tests, and homework. I can't say that I forgot all that I learned, but I can tell you what I enjoyed and actually helped me write lyrics to my first single of my album. Well, enough with what I did, now to what I enjoyed in poetry class this week. Frost and Whitman are two of the four poets we have learned about this year.

In my opinion, Frost use of sound of sense helped me understand the meaning of what his poem was truly about. The everyday language helps not only the meaning of the poem, but also you can have a connection to the poet and what he is truly trying to say. Frost's poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", was one of my favorite poems of the year. Why you may ask? Well duh, because its Frost! My teacher, Mrs. Lewis, gave us assignments to do about his poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", and I can honestly say that Frost gave me an easy assignment because as I said before his use of the everyday language, sound of sense.

I love music, and the first two artist that came into my head while reading Frost was, Mike Posner, and John Mayer. I thought of them because they produce songs that help the listening connect with them, just like Frost and his poems. In Mike Posner's song, "Please Don't Go",

"Baby please don't go
If I wake up tomorrow, will you still be here?
I don't know if you feel the way I do
If you leave I'm gonna find you"

Simple lyrics, to a simple song. That's what got me to love Frost's poems so much. His stories connected with me, and I put on his shoes and ran away.

The second poet we learned about this week was, Walt Whitman. Whitman uses a technique not used by Frost called, Parallelismus Membrorum. Using this technique gave Whitman' s poem, "America", much more feeling and meaning. "America" is all about Whitman' s view upon this lovely country. He is very anti- slavery and believes that there are "equal daughters, and equal sons", saying that people should not be judged by how "grown, ungrown, young or old" doesn't matter, everyone is equal and should be accepted. He also goes on to to talk about the, "seated mother". There is always be someone looking over us through the bad and the good. In the end, I think Whitman is trying to tell us that we should not view people by their class, or their age. But, by the way they act and they way they treat you. I love both poets we have learned about and cannot wait to learn more about their lives and how I can connect to their lives through their poems.

Death is Not the End

This week, in my poetry class I particularly liked when we talked about Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." What I liked about this poem is that it is so relatable due to Frost's use of sound of sense, a literary device which uses everyday language and speech rhythms to make poetry. This style helps you feel like you could be the one speaking these words, not just reading them as a form of poetic language.

In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost includes an underlying message of the temptations of death. In the poem, Frost is standing in the middle of the woods, and he realizes that people may think that it's weird especially "To stop without a farmhouse near / Between the woods and frozen lake /The darkest evening of the year." He even refers to his horse questioning his judgement about being in the woods, yet he acknowledges "The woods are lovely, dark and deep." The woods are Frost's metaphor for death. It is such a strong metaphor for death because they represent something far from society, and away from a person's problems. They almost represent sort of like a deep sleep that the author may want in order to get away.

The reason that Frost is even thinking about death, is because of his financial situation. He is stopping by these woods on Christmas eve, and he knows that because he has no money, he can't buy Christmas gifts for his children. He thinks about the humiliation that he will have to endure when he wakes up the next morning to his teary eyed children without presents. He thinks of the possibilities as to how he can get out of this. He dreads the next morning and the days that will follow. He comes down hard upon himself for not being able to provide for his family, and thinks he can't handle his emotions or problems anymore. But in the end Frost reminds himself " But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep." He realizes that even though it will be hard, he must go on for the good of his family and for the good of himself. He realizes that even though he cannot provide for his family now, he must continue to try to because they are counting on him.

When I heard the true meaning of this poem, it reminded me of a song written by Bob Dylan called "Death is Not the End." Dylan sings about all the bad things that can happen to a person in his or her life. He reaches out to all of those who may be thinking about death, and helps them realize that while death may be tempting, it is not the end. One section of the song that reminds me of Frost's poem is when Dylan says:

"When you're standing on the cross-roads

That you cannot comprehend

Just remember that death is not the end

And all your dreams have vanished

And you don't know what's up the bend

Just remember that death is not the end."

Frost, in his poem, is standing at the cross roads, cannot understand why he can't provide for his family, and he is uncertain about his future. He thinks of death as a means of escape from this hellish world, but Frost realizes that death is not the end because he must continue to try his best to provide for his family.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is very relatable in my opinion because at a certain point in everyone's life things just get crazy, and things are hard to understand, and a person just wants to get away from it all through death. I'm not saying I've ever considered suicide, but I think that everyone always thinks about the possibility of escaping from their duties and obligations through death when the going gets tough. In the end I think we realize that death is the easy way out, but because we are strong, we commit to sticking it out, and persisting through things that are hard in our lives.

Iron Maiden - The Trooper

One of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time, Iron Maiden’s 1983 classic from the album Piece of Mind, written by bassist Steve Harris draws direct influence from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Charge of The Light Brigade. Both are based upon an infamous British charge on Russian forces which ended disastrously. This event took place during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25th 1854 in the Crimean War.

Both works capture the essence of war at its most tragic and most courageous.  A prominent feature of both the song and the poem feature a sort of sound of horses galloping, the poem using the meter, and the song using the rhythm of the guitars, drums, and bass.

Iron Maiden's take on the charge is bleaker than the poem, as the lyrics are written as a first person account of one of the troopers involved in the suicidal charge, whereas Tennyson's retelling is from a more strategic overall view, more like what the commanders who ordered the disastrous charge would have seen. Iron Maiden's version is more emotionally involving because of this first person take.

At 4 minutes, 12 seconds, the song is actually longer than the charge upon which it was based. The Trooper is one of Iron Maiden's most popular songs, and a crowd favorite at concerts. During a live show, before the song begins, singer Bruce Dickinson usually quotes one of the lines from the poem, "Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volleyed and thundered." Often, Dickinson will wear an army jacket and wave an enormous Union Jack to represent the British forces

The Trooper is an excellent take on a classic poem, and can link a younger generation to the Charge of The Light Brigade, both the historical event, and Tennyson's magnum opus.

Full Text- The Charge of The Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!

"Charge for the guns!" he said:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air,

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd:

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Someone had blunder'd:

Their's not to make reply,

Their's not to reason why,

Their's but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

When can their glory fade? o the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made,

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

Lyrics- The Trooper

You'll take my life but I'll take yours too

You'll fire you musket but I'll run you through

So when your waiting for the next attack

You'd better stand there's no turning back

The bugle sounds as the charge begins

But on this battlefield no one wins

The smell of acrid smoke and horses' breath

As you plunge into a certain death

The horse he sweats with fear we break to run

The mighty roar of the Russian guns

And as we race towards the human wall

The screams of pain as my comrades fall

We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground

And the Russians fire another round

We get so near yet so far away

We won't live to fight another day

We get so close near enough to fight

When a Russian gets me in his sights

He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow

A burst of rounds take my horse below

And as I lay there gazing at the sky

My body's numb and my throat is dry

And as I lay forgotten and alone

Without a tear I draw my parting groan

Youtube - Iron Maiden - The Trooper :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3Ak78uo0UA

References:

http://blog.warrennet.org/wordpress1/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Poem-Light-Brigade-and-Trooper.pdf

www.ironmaiden.com/

http://www.maidenfans.com/ 

www.online-literature.com/tennyson/

 

Poetry... A Dish Best Served at a Funeral

I'm sure mostly everyone reading this post has had the trouble of going through the death of some significant person in their lifetime. It's a very painful and emotional experience, and it raises many questions about our own mortality. Death brings out such deep emotion that it's nearly impossible for even the most apathetic and antisocial person to keep their true emotions completely hidden. It is, of course, then easy to see how death can bring about incredibly deep and intricate poetry, or just art in general.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, for example, experienced the death of his best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam (also a writer) when he was only in his 20's. Tennyson was stricken with grief over the whole idea, but was inspired by his death, enough to dedicate at least two fairly long poems to Hallam. One of these poems In Memoriam A.H.H is regarded by some critics to be the best of Tennyson's work, mainly because of its deep emotional insight.

Of course, Tennyson obviously wasn't the only artist to produce great artwork in the wake of a loved one's death. In fact, nearly every artist has a breakthrough of some in the passing of a significant person in their life. From painters to sculptors... From poets and writers to musicians, death has brought about some of the best of artists everywhere.

Take, for example, Maynard James Keenan (lead singer of the bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer). Keenan lost his mother at a young age and later went to dedicate an entire album to her with the group, Tool. The album was titled "10,000 Days" for the time period that his mother fought cancer before finally losing that battle. Many regard this work as Maynard's most emotional work and it represented a really emotional insight into his life, which made his work much more interesting to listen to.

Death is an unexpected and unfortunate thing, but as horrible as it sounds, it does have an upside, at least artistically. So, the next time any of you go through the emotional stress of the death of a close friend, don't hesitate to let those emotions flow freely in some form of art. Write down some thoughts, write a song, or just paint freely on a canvas with all that emotion... It might just get you somewhere.

No Limit to Writing a Story

I came into poetry class with the background of writing lyrics for songs and knowing the “no limit” rule that you have with writing poetry. I learned a lot from how poets were inspired from their lives to write such memorable poems. One poem I loved reading this first week was Browning’s How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix. Poets have a remarkable way of telling a story that makes the reader think about each line and stanza. What I love the most is that they can tell a whole story in just a few lines. For example in How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix, “…and no voice but was praising this Roland of mine…” Browing sums up the whole story with this one line. He [the main character] congratulates and awards him with wine from the town and the love from his heart. The way poetry is written I love because it not only gives a reader a great read, and a great story, but some give life lessons to people that some would never think about. Already, poetry class is teaching me things I never knew, and I’m wanting to learn more and more everyday.

Poets: Inspired by Pain

I started taking a poetry class at Wyoming Seminary two weeks ago taught by Mrs. Courtney Lewis. One of the things I've learned, and one of the things I've been fascinated about is that many of the famous poets we've been learning about wrote such great poetry not because they just thought of it, but rather they were inspired by something deep inside of them: pain. I found that poetry can be used to express the complexities of the pain a person may be feeling.

We started off the week talking about Alfred Lloyd Tennyson. Tennyson lived a troubled life. His father was gentrified, and therefore did not inherit any money. His family also suffered genetically from epilepsy, which at the time was thought to be a mental illness. In fact Tennyson's brother was institutionalized because of his epilepsy. Tennyson was horrified at the prospect of becoming institutionalized. Tennyson himself suffered some hardships including the death of his best friend, a person who had a profound effect on his life, Arthur Henry Hallam. He also was plagued by the fact that he could not marry his fiance because of his financial situation.

Tennyson wrote poems such as "The Lady of Shalott", and "In Memoriam A.H.H," that can relate to some of the tough things he had to deal with in his life. "In Memoriam A.H.H.," was written by Tennyson in an effort to gain understanding and healing over his personal grief of his best friend's death. It is a very long poem written in iambic pentameter with and ABBA rhyme scheme, linking the death of Hallam to many different emotional subjects in life as well as Tennyson's struggle to cope with his death. Some of the most famous, as well as the most quoted lines of this poem are:

"I hold it true, whate'er befall;

I feel it when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all."

While I was writing the last paragraph, Tennyson's poem, though far superior, sort of reminded me of a more modern song dedicated to a young artist's coping with his favorite signer Buddy Holly's death called "American Pie," by Don McLean. In the song McLean talks about some of the same emotional subjects touched on by Tennyson, such as nostalgia, shock, fantasy and speculation. All of this is linked with his personal as well as the public's struggle with the death of such an icon, and the change brought about due to this man's death.

Similarly Tennyson writes his poem "The Lady of Shallot," which arguably can be related to he and his wife's situation. Because he is an up and coming poet he cannot afford to marry her and she must wait for him. In the poem, The Lady of Shallot is locked in her tower and must not leave, if she leaves she will be cursed and will soon die. This can be compared to the situation of Tennyson and his fiance because on the one hand both Tennyson as well as his fiance are isolated and must go without each other for a long time, and on the other hand if they stray away from their commitment to one another, they will lose the love that they have, which is as good as being dead.

Tennyson is just one example of the pain that can be laced throughout poetry. We also talked about Robert Browning this week who also had examples of poetry inspired by pain, yet I will not go into depth about him. Poetry has no rules, no regulations, and no circumstances, which can help an author cope with something that is almost too hard for anyone including poet to comprehend. Poetry can help a poet express himself as well as help him cope with the complexities of a hardship. Readers of such poetry can also relate to an author's hardship. For Example Queen Victoria read "In Memoriam A.H.H." in order to cope with the death of her husband Prince Albert. Poetry inspired by pain can turn into some of the best poetry around as exemplified by Tennyson's two poems mentioned in this post.