The laughing heart

[taezer]

can someone give me a review of "the laughing heart" i have trouble understanding some of it

 

[Onions]

I think it's fairly self explanitory.......

The Laughing Heart


your life is your life
don't let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can't beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.



Which parts do you have problems with?

 

[taezer]

you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

and

you can't beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.

those two parts

 

[Onions]

you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

This I would interperet as meaning you live your life to the full. You are a human being and have every right to enjoy life and when you 'pass over' you will be greeted with even more happiness and joy etc

you can't beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.

those two parts

The 'can beat death in life' is refering to again, living life to the full. Don't be a couch potato or a nobody. A 'living dead' or Zombie-esque character lives a life of death. A nothing life. You will see more light the more you accomplish in life I guess and by doing these things, whatever it is that brings you personal reward, you are beating away the 'death life'.

The thing with poetry is it is how you interperet it as an individual. The author of the verse may hold a completely different interperetation as many other readers may. You should just read the words and enjoy. Feel what you want to feel from it.

Others on this forum may have a completely different idea of what the verse means to them and it will be interesting to see what their interperetations are.
Hope this helps

Jack

 

[taezer]

thanks

 

[mjp]

The thing with poetry is it is how you interperet it as an individual. The author of the verse may hold a completely different interperetation as many other readers may. You should just read the words and enjoy. Feel what you want to feel from it.

Well, that's the point, isn't it. There have been other threads on the meaning of specific poems, and at the end of the day there is no meaning other than the meaning you take from it.

 

[adrian]

A brilliant one. I believe this was one of his later poems and it shows glimpses of how in his later stuff he could hit the nail on the head with a short sharp burst