POEM AND PLAY

English Literature Poem and Play

English Literature Poem and Play

Introduction

This study is based on the analysis of a poem and a play “Constantly Risking Absurdity” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. Both poem and a play examine the role of the poet in society, the risks a poet must take, the relationship of the poet to the reader, the qualities of perception a poet must possess, and the relationship of poetry to beauty and truth. Therefore, this study explains how writers of “Constantly Risking Absurdity and “The Importance of Being Earnest” are highlighting the meaning and importance of relationships in our society with reference to truth.

Constantly Risking Absurdity

“Constantly Risking Absurdity” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a very famous poem. Lawrence Ferlinghetti's “Constantly Risking Absurdity” is a free-verse poem consisting of thirty-three lines, broken into three progressively shorter sections of eighteen, nine, and six lines (Skau, 1989). The poem examines the role of the poet in society, the risks a poet must take, the relationship of the poet to the reader, the qualities of perception a poet must possess, and the relationship of poetry to beauty and truth.

This poem is one of twenty-nine poems grouped together under the title “A Coney Island of the Mind,” one of three sections in the collection of the same name. In an author's note preceding these poems, Ferlinghetti says he felt “as if they were, taken together…a kind of circus of the soul,” suggesting their variety and vitality. “Constantly Risking Absurdity,” one of two poems in the group that actually uses circus imagery, is untitled in the book, appearing only as poem Number 15 and subsequently taking its name from its first line. (Diyanni, 2001)

The core of the poem is the assertion in line 6 that the poet is “like an acrobat,” with the entire poem taking the form of an extended comparison between poetry and acrobatics, both of which (as the opening lines suggest) are performances risking “absurdity/ and death.” The poem develops this comparison by portraying the poet as a tightrope walker performing on a “high wire of his own making,” risking his life, dependent not only upon his own skill but also upon the audience, because he is “balancing on eyebeams.” (Skau, 1989) Poetry needs an audience, Ferlinghetti suggests, to complete and sustain the creative act of the poet.

At the end of the first section of the poem, Ferlinghetti introduces the idea that as the poet-acrobat performs his tricks, he depends upon clarity of perception, not “mistaking/ any thing/ for what it may not be.” This idea is further developed in the second section, with the assertion that a poet is a “super realist” whose success and whose very life are contingent upon perceiving “taut truth.” Just as high-wire artists must place their feet carefully upon the wire, poets must keep their eyes on the truth they wish to convey in their poems. Poets not only are concerned with truth but also attempt to capture beauty ...