Something I would like to include in this blog is an expression of my love for literature. It seems to me that the best way to do this is to show it at work.
Madness is a poem by Joyce Kilmer I came across the other day, which struck me with its intricacies and ambiguous messages. Firstly, I would recommend reading it:
The lonely farm, the crowded street,
The palace and the slum,
Give welcome to my silent feet
As, bearing gifts, I come.
Last night a beggar crouched alone,
A ragged helpless thing;
I set him on a moonbeam throne —
Today he is a king.
Last night a king in orb and crown
Held court with splendid cheer;
Today he tears his purple gown
And moans and shrieks in fear.
Not iron bars, nor flashing spears,
Not land, nor sky, nor sea,
Nor love’s artillery of tears
Can keep mine own from me.
Serene, unchanging, ever fair,
I smile with secret mirth
And in a net of mine own hair
I swing the captive earth.
I will not bore you with any in depth analysis, as this could take forever. However, I will make a few points about what I like about this poem.
Firstly, when I initially read this, what first caught my eye were the repeated pairs of opposites. These pairs work together, creating a juxtaposition which has the effect of conveying the nondiscriminatory nature of madness itself. The most noticeable pair of opposites is that of the beggar and the king who are both affected by madness in different ways. The poem seems to be a testament to the strength and power of madness, and how it can strike at any moment. The usage of opposites makes the role of madness seem more absolute and widespread. It is not something that acts merely in “the crowded street”, but just as equally on the “lonely farm”.
Secondly, what I find interesting about this poem is the presentation of madness as both a power for good and for bad. When reading the third stanza, we see how Kilmer has referenced “love’s artillery of tears”. It seems to me that this is suggesting that those who have lost loved ones to madness are intensely scared of madness and angry. The word “artillery”, coupled with the fact that the poem is written from the point of view of madness itself, show how people fear and hate madness wherever it goes.
This is an understandable fear, but perhaps the most interesting part of this poem is the presentation of madness as not an evil power, but rather a good, or at least indifferent one. The first evidence for this is the way the beggar is made a king. Naturally, this is meant only metaphorically, but it seems to me that Kilmer is trying to suggest that for some, madness is an escape from the terrors of the real world. Maybe more of us than we know could do with a “moonbeam throne”. This idea is emphasised later in the final stanza when we see Kilmer describe madness as “ever fair”. The final line that explains madness is swinging the earth backwards and forwards suggests that madness can work either way: it can turn a beggar into a king or a king into a beggar, and this is purely by chance. This, coupled with the fact that madness is “unchanging, ever fair”, showed me a side to madness which I had never thought of before.
I love how relatively commonplace concepts such as madness can be made so much more complex and intricate when they are displayed through literature. This poem made me think a lot about how we perceive sanity and what it really is.
Til next time,
Stay Hydrated.