For your list--D. H. Lawrence's poem "Self-Pity" was used in the movie GI Jane.
Self-Pity
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
Thanks for remembering!
(I also snagged the two poems from IN THE BEDROOM for my list.)
I've been fretting over that Lawrence one. Reminds me of the red wheel barrow and white chickens verse of Williams, for some reason. Might not be a whole poem in the both.
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
No rhymes (itself/itself? nuh-uh), no meter. They have lines, I guess.
Both authors more than competent to write whatever they want to convey, but the wheel barrow observation seems to have no discernable message, and the frozen bird comparison falls short in logic - surely it is better to feel sorry for oneself than to drop frozen from a bough!
Anyone else bothered by this?
I like the crisp image in the Williams poem, though why so much depends on the wheelbarrow and chickens is beyond me. I actually checked twice to be sure it was really, really D. H. Lawrence who had written the frozen bird poem!
Here's another itty, bitty poem with a bough in it, this by Ezra Pound.
In the Station at the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The three poems have SHORTNESS in common, but not a lot more that I can see.
In the Station at the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
This is like a Haiku (or maybe it IS a Haiku, I won't
argue the point): One image drawn to another.
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
This looks like an EPIGRAM to me: message
plus illusration. I think it would be better
without the first two lines.
======= =
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
This is either the best or the worst poem ever--
so much depends on who you ask.
Either way, it's capturing a moment of life
(seeing something, feeling something) without
"message"or comparison.
Hugh, if you figure out what it was in the Lawrence that reminded you of the red wheelbarrow, do post again. Maybe just the poultry?
Just having re-read them again close together in time, likely triggered the comparison. Famous writers, both poems odd but often remembered by those who have seen them.
I heard an unconfirmed rumor that Wallace wrote his verse while visiting someone on the death bed. Where and who this was might have a bearing (on a farm for example, perhaps at an artist's house) that might help the interpretation.
Hi,
I always ascribed my own meaning to the Lawrence poem. Would be glad if you can tell me how sensible it sounds...
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
'A wild thing' is free, independent and beholden to none. Exactly the opposite of the bird in the gilded cage.
The bird in the gilded cage may fret and frown over many things...The poet cannot recall ever seeing a wild/free thing being sorry for itself in anyway...I guess being master of one's own fate wipes away the sense of helpless and frustration.. Being sorry is more often than not a situation where you are mourning about things beyond your control...
A small bird, out in the cold forest, in the middle of winter, will gladly drop frozen to the ground, without ever having felt 'I could have been better off in the gilded cage, warm and snug'....A bit like the stray dog who wont even think of bartering his dark alleys and uncomfortable existence for the leash and the muzzle....
Let me know your thoughts.
Makes sense to me that way. And the converse is attractive as well: if you are feeling sorry for yourself, you are likely in a cage.
Williams WAS a rural doctor, so it's quite reasonable to think he visited dying patients in their homes. It would be possible to guess at some connection between that deadbed experience and his connection to the wheelbarrow outside... but I have no strong hunch about it.
Williams, of course. Wallace? I must be dixlesic.
But where to go to look? If we had the publication date and a biography, we might be able to solve a mystery that is yet unanswered. Worth a shot, surely, but I have not been able to uncover more about it since I first heard the rumor.
Hugh, the point to the poem about the self pity, in particular the frozen bird is not that it would be better to feel sorry for yourself than to freeze to death. Rather that instead of sitting, feeling sorry for yourself, you have the ability to change your situation. If you freeze to death, sitting on the bough it is because you have chosen to do so. Like the bird that could fly away if it wanted to but chooses not to. At the same time it does not feel sorry for itself, because it is free. It is a wild thing and is not bound to the branch, it chooses to stay. If you find yourself in a situation in your life where things have gone wrong, you have a choice. You can either stay or go, leave things the way they are or make that change. Either way, you have the choice because you as well are free but if you choose to stay there in the situation that causes you grief, pain or anxiety then you shouldn't feel sorry for yourself because it was your choice. Sometimes poetry isn't meant to picked apart in such a fastidious way. Whether or not it has rhyme, or time or logic to you, but rather how it touches those that understand the underlying message, hidden in subtlety and simple grace. The perfect example of the meaning behind this poem was perfectly evident in it's use in the movie G.I. Jane. In the movie those soldiers were there by their own choice. They suffered greatly, in constant pain and exhaustion and had no one to blame but themselves. At any time they could have rang the bell, gone home and be done with it. They chose to be there and therefore should not feel sorry for themselves, should not have or show, self pity or for that matter have pity upon those around them.
Sorry GM, but Hugh hasn't been here for years.
Les
I completely approve of what you said. The underlying concept is about freedom. Every door that opens is an opportunity to warm yourself by the fire, to be content with everday, and be chained through complacency to a lack of liberty. A bird on a bough will fall dead before losing its freedom. It will die free rather than feel it suffered to be warm. If you never enter to be tamed, you never misunderstand what it means to be on that bough. This is the value of freedom. Liberty comes without self-pity but not without pain or sacrifice.
That is why it is ironically actually sometimes read to U.S. Seals during training.
That is why it is ironically actually sometimes read to U.S. Seals during training
slm, when you say "ironically", is your point that a U.S. Seal in training is not someone who has any liberty to enjoy?
Ian
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2022 10:50PM by IanAKB.
Dylan Thomas' poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" was in Back To School with Rodney Dangerfield....