Many poems, although very unique, share important features that help us as the audience better understand what people go through in their lifetime. There are instances where the reader can feel what the poet is feeling and that is what makes a great poet differ from an ordinary poet. As in anything, poetry is subjective to each individual and one person might look at a piece of poetry one way or experience it another way. In the poem, “Alone”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the speaker of the poem who is Poe, shows his true self to the reader and is not ashamed to hide anything.
He is interpreting his life and wants the reader to understand him. This is similar to the poem in Spanish, “El Poeta” by Pablo Neruda. Another important poem is the French poem, “Il Pleure dans mon Coeur” by Paul Verlaine. All of the lives of the poets are similar and this relates their poems to one another. In order to understand the beauty and emotion in poems, and writing in general, it is important to look back at the life of these brilliant poets in order to better understand their work. The American poet Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 and died in 1849.
He was a major figure in world literature due to his unique and profound works, whether it was his critical theories, short stories, or poems. He was a leading person during the Art for Art’s sake movement in the nineteenth-century literature. He understood and demonstrated a great understanding of the use of technique and language as well as made his own unique spin on literature by using his imagination. His writing inspired and influence the French Symbolists, like Paul Verlaine, which altered the course of modern literature.
Because of this, Poe is a significant person in literary history. His theory of literary creation has two important points. A work needs to create a major effect on the reader to be considered a success. Also, this effect should occur due to the smallest detail of style and subject matter purposely. Especially in poetry, this needs to show the reader beauty, which Poe for the most part related to themes of sadness, loss, and bizarreness (Poetry Foundation). The French poet Paul Verlaine was born in 1844 and died in 1896.
He was very admired by many people by the time that he died, however he had a very complicated relationship with the public his entire life. He had a reputation as “The Master” for most of his life until his final years. The reason for this was mostly because of his disreputable behavior, even though he had major influence on the symbolist movement. This was a late nineteenth-century art movement in poetry and other types of arts. He was also an important contributor to the Decadent Movement also during the same time period.
Although he was a brilliant literary figure, he was most known for his relationship with Arthur Rimbaud, who was another poet (Poetry Foundation). The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was born in 1904 and died in 1973. Many critics consider Neruda to be the greatest poet in the Spanish language during his life. His writing was considered very difficult to translate. He was known for his writings such as historical epics, passionate poems about love, and a prose autobiography. He became friends with Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.
Together they founded the literary review called Caballo verde para la poesia. During his lifetime he also was in many diplomatic positions such as serving as Senator for the Chilean Communist Party (Poetry Foundation). All of these poets had different backgrounds, which greatly influenced their writing. However, they all had difficult lives and lived through many hardships and most importantly they all shared a love for writing and wanted to discuss life in order to better connect their message to the reader.
Not only were these three poets’ stories similar, but they all had themes in their poetry of loss and reflection. In these three poems the authors discuss their own lives and this is really important when connecting with readers and to feel what they have felt. For instance, in the poem, “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe discussed his lonely childhood and how from the start he was very different from others and everything he did or loved was by him and only him. The life he had as a child affected him as an adult and this all shows his loneliness.
He says “And all I lov’d — I lov’d alone” (Poe, line 8). This is said bluntly and he did not want to hide from others. He showed honesty and in a way analyzed himself to show the loss of his youth and the affect it had on the rest of his life. The tone of the poem is sad and shows his traumatic experience. He understands that he did have a difficult childhood, but has somewhat accepted it for what it was and that his life was not meant to be easy or happy, which made the poem that much more tragic and solemn. Poe’s main purpose is to show people his inner houghts.
Similarly in the poem, “Il Pleure dans mon Coeur” by Paul Verlaine, the speaker of the poem, who is Verlaine, is very honest with himself and the reader in discussing the troubles of love and how much it hurts when it is a toxic relationship, such as the one he had with Rimbaud. Verlaine says, “Mon coeur a tant de peine” or the translation of “Mine heart is desolate” which shows his feeling of complete loss in his life (Dowson, line 16). Throughout the poem he describes his sadness and how it connects with the sad feeling of the rain.
His tone, is more miserable sounding than Poe’s, because although he had felt the heartbreak, he did not understand why he suffered the way he did. Because of this he was not fully able to accept this time of his life, like Poe. This makes the reader feel more sorry for Verlaine, because of his suffering. In the poem, “El Poeta” by Pablo Neruda, he discusses himself wandering through life and not knowing what his purpose was until he became a poet, although he is inspired by the darkness around him he is welcomed by them and even says at the end of the poem, “La muerte abriendo puertas y caminos.
La muerte deslizandose en los muros” or the translation of “Death opening doors and roads. Death gliding along the walls”(Schmit, lines 27-28). Similarly to Poe, Neruda is not ashamed to discuss the darkness in life and how it can actually be an inspiration to writers such as himself and Poe and Verlaine. It may not be great for the person at the time, but looking back at it, pain and loss are significant to people in life. Defining a person by how they react to pain shows something about them.