Thursday, April 8, 2010

Get Drunk

I thought this piece was fantastically light hearted and full of spirit. The author takes what is relatable and pulls it to the next level, paralleling a state of drunken bliss with the immense vastness of the human imagination. It begins very straightforward and realistic, stating simply that "one should always be drunk" because you don't feel "the horrible burden of Time weight on your shoulders...you should be drunk without respite". Just from viewing this first stanza, the poem seems as though it will maintain this sense of simplicity, but instead Baudelaire twists the concept and pulls us into to abstract realm, urging us not only to get drunk on wine, but also to get drunk "with poetry, or with virtue" which are much larger ideas that previously introduced. He then pulls the third stanza into an otherworldly scenario, in which, if you are drunk, you may "awake, on the stairs of a palace...and find that your drunkenness is ebbing or has vanished, ask the wind and wave, ask star, bird, or clock...ask them the time" and they will reply "'It is Time to get drunk!". By pulling the reader into the realm of the absurd, Baudelaire successfully get across the need for imagination and a good dose of poetry. We are meant to drink in and absorb the words, finding ourselves in great palaces and other places of such excitement. This was definitely a successful piece of writing.

1 comment:

  1. I love the way you put that first sentence. As young college students we tend to see alcohol as a gateway into a good time, and you point out the connection between that thought process and Get Drunk rather well.

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