I can remember a time in the sixties and seventies when there was a culture of suicide in poetry. Poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton wrote about it first, then did it. I can't remember whether John Berryman was part of all that, but he did take his own life when he jumped off a bridge in Minneapolis in 1972. Some people are fragile and just not made for the harsh realities of this world - and they can be very harsh sometimes.
I haven't read Randall Jarrell, or seen a poem by him for years. But I do have a volume of his poetry somewhere. I must go and look for it in a while. Would I be right in thinking that his poems were full of compassion for the world and for others who were suffering?
My impression of Jarrell is that he was more likely to paint a starkly realistic picture than to express compassion, although I can only remember a few poems of his. A good example is his best-known poem:
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The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
by Randall Jarrell
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From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
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Randall Jarrell worked as a control tower operator during World War II, an experience which influenced and provided material for his poetry.
I can remember a time in the sixties and seventies when there was a culture of suicide in poetry. Poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton wrote about it first, then did it. I can't remember whether John Berryman was part of all that, but he did take his own life when he jumped off a bridge in Minneapolis in 1972. Some people are fragile and just not made for the harsh realities of this world - and they can be very harsh sometimes.
Yes, and there were others such as Randall Jarrell, a former poet laureate who committed suicide in 1965. He was born in Nashville, where I live.
I haven't read Randall Jarrell, or seen a poem by him for years. But I do have a volume of his poetry somewhere. I must go and look for it in a while. Would I be right in thinking that his poems were full of compassion for the world and for others who were suffering?
My impression of Jarrell is that he was more likely to paint a starkly realistic picture than to express compassion, although I can only remember a few poems of his. A good example is his best-known poem:
***********************************
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
by Randall Jarrell
***********************************
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
************************************************
Randall Jarrell worked as a control tower operator during World War II, an experience which influenced and provided material for his poetry.