Pessimism in the poetry of Clough, Thomson, and Fitzgerald

Pessimism in Poetry

Pessimism in the Poems of Arthur Clough

Arthur Clough was a British poet who spent some of his a few of his formative years in the United States. He was considered a genius from a young age, but his consequent stint at Oxford was not fruitful. His poems are mostly pessimistic; but as an explication of his poems which follows showd that most of his pessimism came from a deep sense of uncertainty. This is perhaps a reflection of his entire life with its foibles and failings. Arthur was solitary as a child; the death of his father did not allow him to enjoy is youth as he had to look after his mother and sister. He had a failed marriage. He was disillusioned with religion and sought different denominations of Christianity without much success. He was also disillusioned by the academic life, despite his time spent at Oxford. He also struggled with finding a theme for his poems, once again without much success. He attempted to follow the stylings of other poets, and quickly rejected them. At his death, at a relatively young age, he left behind a tremendous body of work in several languages, including Latin, French and Italian. Though an assessment of all his works are beyond the scope of this work, certainly 23 of his poems written in English will be probed to find the reasons behind his pessimistic approach to writing poetry, perhaps a reflection to the sadness in his life and the quest of something that he could never find, despite all his efforts.

The best way to start with identifying pessimism in Clough's poems is to highlight a poem that finds dankness and despair even in the midst of light. Consider the poem, "In the Depths." Clough indicates that thought there despite strong positives in the world around us, life soon turns sour.

It is not sweet content, be sure,

That moves the nobler Muse to song,

Yet when could truth come whole and pure

From hearts that inly writhe with wrong?

In fact, he criticizes those who go through life as if on a cloud, not knowing that behind every situation filled with brightness and happiness, lurks deep and dark secrets to which there is no solution.

Our ills are worse than at their ease

These blameless happy souls suspect,

They only study the disease,

One might sing a good song celebrating life, but the truth soon stills any optimism.

This poem is almost a celebration of pessimism.

Consider another poem, which might superficially seem to be the very antithesis of pessimism, "All Is Well." Here, like most of Clough's poems, pessimism comes for uncertainty. He asks people to sleep on their worries, that when they wake up their worries won't go away, but because there is so much uncertainty in life that worrying too much will not do people any good; here again, though he pretends optimism, there's a deep undercurrent of uncertainty. There are so many uncontrollable aspects of life that there is no point worrying about them. But the underlying fear of the unknown in this poem is so palpable that it would seem that the author has failed to yield to his own advice.

In spite of dreams, in spite of thought,

Tis not in vain, and not for nought,

The wind it blows, the ship it goes,

Though where and whither, no one knows.

A few of Clough's poems come from perhaps his disillusionment with religion. In the poem, "Along the Sea, Along the Shore," the poet puts himself in the place of an onlooker in the area surrounding Jerusalem around the time of Christ's ministry. The poet is aware (retrospectively) that this is Christ -- the redeemer, the savior of the world and the inspiration for Christianity. There is no indication that despite his problems with religion, that Clough was an atheist. but, in this poem, he questions the people of Jerusalem as to why they flock to "see," "hear" and "note" this man who was a teacher and preached from a boat.

The valley through, the mountain down,

What was it ye went out to see,

Ye silly folk Galilee?

A young man preaching in a boat.

What was it ye went out to hear

What is it came ye here to note?

A young man preaching in a boat.

The poet castigates these people, the Jews of that time, for having ignored the laws of Moses (that set the stage for Judaism). He wonders as to what drives these people to this person who talks about things that the scribes and Pharisees -- the learned members of the time did not teach or speak about. Here, perhaps, Clough is feeling depressed because of his own failing to recognize a denomination of Christianity with which he can be satisfied. He perhaps is mirroring his disillusionment and lack of fulfillment from his own religion by blaming those who blindly follow a faith without making the attempt to understand what religion is all about and how to apply Christianity all around them. As in most of Clough's poems, discussed in this part of the dissertation, his pessimism comes from uncertainty. The uncertainty comes from the fear of whether Christ is the Messiah; therefore, the poet begins to question where Jesus came from; Jesus certainly seems to speak in ways that are atypical. To have faith is one thing; but to have faith means to forget and forgo all that is tried and tested and comfortable; Clough's fears stem from the fact that Jesus is a rebel and seeks to overturn conventional wisdom.

Clough revisits the issue of Christianity once again in the poem, "Ah! Yet Consider it Again.! There is no immediate clue as to what aspect of humanity he is criticizing or that this poem is indeed about Christianity. But one clue arises in the following line:

The souls of now two thousand years

This poem is about it is about waiting for the Messiah, starting from the part when Christ died. Here Clough asks the reader for his or her raison d' tre. What have they accomplished in waiting for the Messiah? Christ promised, through (or the Apostle John credited with writing) the book of Revelations, that the Messiah would come back; this means that the "two thousand" years after Christ's death people are still waiting for the revelation -- people are afraid that this might not come about as was prophesied. He is critical of those that spend the time in waiting and not knowing. The world goes on its merry way, and people who are waiting inactively do so in the hope that the Messianic prophecy might be fulfilled, but that it might never happen in their lifetime.

Alas! The great world goes its way,

And takes its truth from each new day;

They do not quit, nor can retain,

Far less consider it again.

At the same time, Clough shows steadfastness in his faith in God. For instance, in the poem "With Whom is no Variableness, Neither Shadow of Turning," he acknowledges the helping hand of God, at the same time declaring his pessimism in the abilities of Man. He acknowledges, at the same time as he does the immutable power of God, the frailty of Man.

That, thought I perish, Truth is so:

That, howsoe'er I stray and range,

Whate'er I do, Thou dost not change

Clough spent a large part of his life struggling with religion. Indeed, in his own life, he changed several denominations, seeking perhaps a form of Christianity that he could be happy with, or one that was in line with his personality. Once again, in "Perche Pensa? Pensando s'Invecchia," thought it is not immediately obvious; he puts himself in the place of a believing and faithful Christian. There is no reference in this poem to the Jesus of Christianity. The poet bemoans his Christianity; he believes that the doctrine tells us that all suffering is acceptable, that sinless behavior and one that does not seek hedonism is good. This is because we can wait for the Second Coming of Christ, where those in poverty or self-denial will be given the glories of heaven.

Upon the mind to hold them clear,

And, knowing more may yet appear,

Unto one's latest breath to fear

The premature result to draw

Is this the object, end and law,

And purpose of our being here?

The poet is tired of waiting and he is sympathetic to Christians everywhere who, the poet is afraid, might put their faith in something that may not occur -- we have seen this before. The last line of the poem also challenges the notion of the meaning of life. Clough pessimistically believes that this sort of a life is hardly worth living.

In a veiled fashion, the poet believes that while people are expected to live out their lives in a certain way that God has not kept to his promised.

Another poem of Clough's is the very epitome of pessimism -- is in the title "Through a Glass, Darkly." The point made by the poet is similar to the poem above. The reference to John,

The Father of our souls, shall be,

John tells us, doth not yet appear;

is a reference to the Book of Revelations, at the end of the Bible.

That despite the promises of an Eternal life for those who eschew sin, we are still frail and have the faults of people. We are still besought by sin and temptations and there's really no escape. People are people. No matter what we say or do, we find that life is not so simple. Consider this reference, which really refers to a person's frame of reference or "way of seeing."

Wise men are bad -- and good are fools,

This is a paradoxical statement: there is large gap between spirituality and reality. Those we consider wise or bad, might make decisions that are globally profound, but might harm specific people, yet these people are considered wise. Sometimes people who are considered good, might in their goodness not realize that they are doing harm. Here, the poet is confused. Life is not as simple as one might imagine or as the Bible admonishes us to believe. And yet, there is still a glimmer of hope for each of us, according to Clough. He begs that we continue to believe. That despite the pessimism and failure to find the Messiah, he believes that what was prophesied might yet come to pass.

He echoes these sentiments in "The Last Decalogue," which is another way of referring to the Ten Commandments. It is interesting to see why he calls it the Last Decalogue; there has been only one, and according to Christianity, this is immutable, as it bears the finality of the word of God. There is no point here, in attempting to rewrite the poem, because most are aware of the Ten Commandments. But the poet portrays the commandments as a way for the Israelites to repay God by obeying these commandments as recompense for being brought out of slavery.

Approves all forms of competition

God on the other hand, makes no commitments to his people, according to the poet who views this issue pessimistically, considering that Judaism arose out of that Exodus from slavery in Egypt to freedom in Israel.

Clough's relationship with God was not only contentious, it was confusing, perhaps mirroring the confusion in his own demeanor towards God and religion. While he is largely complaining about God, who the poet believes does not keeps his own promises to God's people, but at the same time, he is critical of people who only turn to God in times of need. The entire poem, "There Is No God, the Wicked Sayeth" is filled with instances of people who while enjoying well-being turn to themselves, but to God in times of trouble. The following is one among many excerpts.

There is no God," the wicked saith,

And truly it's a blessing,

For what He might have done with us

It's better only guessing."

And almost everyone when age,

Disease, or sorrows strike him,

Inclines to think there is a God,

or something very like Him

The poem, "Noli Amuelari" is a fantastically fatalistic poem, not to mention pessimistic. Here the poet does not see light anywhere. Surrounding mankind is complete misery. Consider the opening lines for each of the four stanzas in the poem.

What though in blood their souls embruing

No violence--perverse -- persistent

In controversial foul impureness

By curses, by denunciation

And in all this, the poet sees neither a glimmer of hope nor redemption. In fact, he cautions that struggling against the downhill slide of the scheme of things is fruitless. He cautions, pessimistically, that there is no saving grace to all of this, that fighting against what one has not control over -- all off life, is a fool's choice. He advises that people should merely go with the flow because there is no redemption. We will see similar arguments made by Umar Khayyam towards the end of this essay.

From Clough's struggle with his Christianity, one must turn to poems with threads of pessimism because of his struggles with fear and uncertainty. There is no immediate evidence that Clough lived a life on the sea, or whether he had any bad experiences while sailing or traveling by sea. One is not sure if he was in a war. But he uses the Sea as the metaphor for his uncertainties. What comes immediately to mind is that Clough associates uncertainty with the Sea vs. The stability of firm ground. You have some recourse when facing a storm on land, but none whatsoever if a calamity of this kind would befall people at Sea.

In "Qua Cursum Ventus" he compares life's journey to a voyage, more importantly a journey through life with a friend. This friend is personified by another ship. Interestingly enough, in this journey, the ships are static, or in a holding pattern, or in the status quo during sunlight. But the ships and the winds and the sails come to life in the night.

When fell the night, upsprung the breeze,

And all the darkling hours they plied,

There is revelry after darkness falls, and this is when the crewmen feel alive, even in the face of a storm.

At dead of night their sails were fill'd,

And onward each rejoicing steer'd

Ah, neither blame, for neither will'd,

One is not sure then whether the darkness is a metaphor for the difficulties of life and that a friend is there during life's travails. One might also see the other ship as God who wills us onwards in the darkness of our lives. One parallel to this might be seen in the modern parable "Footprints in the Sand." To briefly provide a synopsis of this parable: a man dreams that he sees his entire life as footprints on the beach. Some times there's one set of prints, at other times there are two sets, the second set belonging to God. And the man realizes, in his dream that the two sets of prints are at good times in his life and during the difficult times, there is only one set of prints. Of this, he complains to God, who retorts, that God has been with him all his life, in good times and in bad. He saw only one set of prints during the difficult times, because that was when God carried him.

In this poem however, the poet shows a sense of uncertainty to the dawn of day or new horizons, he believes that things might seem not what they are. He is probably afraid that he will perceive his friend for who he is and find out that he is not really his friend.

To veer, how vain! on, onward strain,

Brave barks! In light, in darkness too,

Through winds and tides one compass guides

To that, and your own selves, be true.

The last line is something we hear quite often. Therefore, with this uncertainty in friendship, the poet admonishes that one should look out for one self first, without additional reliance on the other. Like two ships passing each other in the night, friendships might not last forever. This is an interestingly pessimistic view, for a poem that starts out glorifying the notion of friendship, togetherness and unity.

One will see in the coming paragraph how the uncertainty of the Sea becomes for the poet a source of pessimism. In "How in All Wonder," the poet is talking about the world being round; that he is of wonder how Columbus and other explorers like Drake and Bacon could look to undertake these journeys.

How in all wonder Columbus got over,

That is a marvel to me, I protest,

Cabot, and Raleigh too, that well-read rover,

Frobisher, Dampier, Drake and the rest.

Bad enough all the same,

For them that after came,

To explore.

There is a legitimate fear that they would fall off the face of the earth. From his pessimistic perch, the poet wonders how it would be possible that these people could summon up the strength and motivate themselves to undertake these journeys.

These voyagers and adventurers had no way of knowing that they would reach somewhere, and yet they undertook the journeys anyway. Clough is critical but at the same time grudgingly admires the optimism of these voyagers. But once again the pessimist in Clough wins over. He believes that even if the philosophers of old did believe that the earth was as round "as an orange." They would not have had to undertake such a journey: simply, because there is no "Ed Dorado" or "Fountain of Youth" to be found. It would be a thankless journey.

Sail to the West, and the East will be found.'

Many a day before Ever they'd touched the shore

Of the San Salvador,

Sadder and wiser men

They'd have turned back again;

Here, the poet uses El Salvador to indicate that they would find a world that was less civilized and that these journeys might bespeak escapism, but there was no escaping the realities of life.

In the poem "Where Lies the Land to Which the Ship Would Go?" The protagonist is enjoying the life at sea, the camaraderie of the good weather while sailing; and there is also the fun of fighting the foul weather though they may wish it past.

Where lies the land to which the ship would go?

Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.

And where the land she travels from? Away,

Far, far behind, is all that they can say.

But under it all there is a deep-set uncertainty; this is because though they are sailing, they are not sure exactly where they are going to go. There is certainly a longing for the land, but there is also a paradoxical compromise: there is an exultation from life at sea but there is a need to be on land; there is also the uncertainty which much like life means one is not sure what is in store for them; at least the sea despite its ranges of weather is predictable. Again, this could also be a metaphor for life's long journeys. One is happy to put the past behind us and would rather not retroactively live any of the difficulties of the past; at the same time, the future is uncertain, and in keeping with a theme, both the difficulties of the past and the uncertainties of the future, from a sailor's perspective are represented by land. The sailor is more certain of his sea-legs and the problems associated with sailing than deal with something he is unsure about.

Interestingly also, the poet immediately associates the sea with uncertainty, difficulties, war and even death. In the "Flags of Piccadilly," Clough proposes the opposite of what he did in "Where lies the land to which the Ship would Go?" He considers the sea to be the uncertainty -- but that's because if represents war. The flags actually represent the flagstones that were used to pave the roads of London and most of Europe in the nineteenth century. The protagonist, who probably was one of many entrusted with the task of paving the streets of the popular Piccadilly in London hated the work, because it was hard work -- monotonous and backbreaking. And he would give anything to get away from doing this work.

Ye flags of Piccadilly,

Where I posted up and down,

And wished myself so often

Well away from you and town

But now he addresses the flagstones as if they were people. He misses his hometown. He recalls the buntings around those streets (to this day Piccadilly Circus is representative of a festive side of London, just as Fleet Street is where the journalists and writers work) and the various stores and the children who play in the parks and the people who walk up and down the streets.

But now the protagonist is at war. He faces the uncertainty of life; and the future of peace and democracy is at stake.

This squally wild northwester

With which our vessel fights,

Does it merely serve with you to Carry up some paper kites?

He is so afraid of what is undergoing right now -- as a sailor during war time facing the dangers from man and nature. He would love to be back feeling the solidity and familiarity of the flagstones of his home town, something he had loathed not too long ago.

There is pessimism in Clough about the futility of war. The poem "Say Not the Strength Not Availeth" is a metaphor for war. Despite the poet and his comrade's best efforts, there is a sense of resignation. The will to win has been lost; the enemy is unrelenting and there is nothing to be gained in fighting.

The enemy faints not, nor faileth,

And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;

It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,

Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,

And, but for you, possess the field.

War is such a difficult time that there is no end in sight. Respite is slow in coming while difficulties come in hordes

But the feelings of security of home are soon forgotten in a "London Square," Clough bemoans the weather, while celebrating the arrival of spring and the anticipation of summer. This is about the enjoyment of spring.

Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane,

East wind and frost are safely gone;

With zephyr mild and balmy rain

The summer comes serenly on;

Earth, air, and sun and skies combine

To promise all that's kind and fair:

But Clough's overall pessimistic demeanor comes through when he belabors the suffering of winter too much. And he also fears the return to spring; he cautions his heart not to celebrate too much. This is seen in the ending couplets of the two stanzas of the poems, though the first parts of each stanza are about celebrating spring.

But thou, O human heart of mine,

Be still, contain thyself, and bear.

And thou, O human heart of mine,

Be still, refrain thyself, and wait.

Clough is even pessimistic about education. He does not believe that there is much to be gained from sitting in a class. He bemoans the fact that the student has to learn philosophy, which is dense and perplexing and has no bearing on reality.

Thou vain Philosophy!

Little hast thou bestead,

Save to perplex the head,

And leave the spirit dead.

He believes the education can be gained through nature, which is seen as a dynamic force, which is ever evolving. Much can be learned by merely attempting to recognize what nature is.

Clough wrote a novel in verse in five Cantos, "Amours de Voyages," which literally translated means "loves of the voyage or journey." The protagonist, Claude is motivated to go traveling, he wants to remove himself from the rut in which he finds himself. The First Canto involves him getting ready to go to traveling with his dog.

Tis but to prove limitation, and measure a cord, that we travel;

Let who would 'scape and be free go to his chamber and think;

Tis but to change idle fancies for memories wilfully falser;

Tis but to go and have been.' -- Come, little bark! let us go.

But he has significant problems with the places that he might go. For most people today, Rome would be among the top ten places to travel. But Claude despises Rome, for its weather and lack of places of sightseeing. He does not want to go to the Vatican (St. Peter's) and there are few other places to see, Claude moans. He does not like the fact that Rome celebrates its older treasures, which he believes mock the works of modern times and the future. He goes far as to wish that the Visitgoths ("Goths") when they sacked Rome should have destroyed everything.

Rome disappoints me much, -- St. Peter's, perhaps, in especial;

Only the Arch of Titus and view from the Lateran please me:

This, however, perhaps is the weather, which truly is horrid.

Seem to be treasured up here to make fools of present and future.

Would to Heaven the old Goths had made a cleaner sweep of it!

But such is Claude's pessimism and his bleak outlook on life and he believes that Rome is preferable to London (presumably, where he lives as he writes this missive to Eustace), in only that it is not London. Clearly he hates London even more. One might guess by this time that London or Rome or ever Athens has nothing to do with his dislike of these places.

He does mention somewhere in this letter that he would prefer going to Athens, because there were better things to see; however, he does not appear terribly excited about it. Most people, even from ancient times, undertook travel for pleasure, to get away from the daily grind and for respite. But Claude sees nothing exciting around the places where he might travel. Claude finally tells Eustace why he feels about potential destinations the way he does (he does decide to go to Rome). This is because his heart is heavy and he is transfers the fact that he is not happy onto these must-visit places.

Somehow a tyrannous sense of a superincumbent oppression

Still, wherever I go, accompanies ever, and makes me

Feel like a tree (shall I say?) buried under a ruin of brickwork.

In the second Canto, Claude finds himself in Rome. And he cannot seem to understand what it is about the place that people find attractive. He finds the bricks of the Roman ruins and other aspect of the city that people like ugly and disheartening. He is inclined to believe that the only reason why so many travelers come to such a miserable place is because their is a spirit in the place that entices people.

Does there a spirit we know not, though seek, though we find, comprehend not,

Here to entice and confuse, tempt and evade us, abide?

Lives in the exquisite grace of the column disjointed and single,

Haunts the rude masses of brick garlanded gaily with vine,

He goes on to bemoan the fact that the travelers are no more than the invaders from the rest of Europe who have conspired to destroy the cities of Italy. Clearly he is not happy with his travel arrangements.

Right on the Place de la Concorde, -- I, nevertheless, let me say it,

Could in my soul of souls, this day, with the Gaul at the gates shed

One true tear for thee, thou poor little Roman Republic;

What, with the German restored, with Sicily safe to the Bourbon,

Not leave one poor corner for native Italian exertion?

In one of the earlier poems, we have seen how the poet prefers nature to philosophy. It turns out that he prefers bucolic surroundings to urban life. For him, despite the majesty of St. Peter's Basilica and staring at the large cupola, he is not too happy.

Yet to the wondrous St. Peter's, and yet to the solemn Rotunda,

Mingling with heroes and gods, yet to the Vatican Walls,

Yet may we go, and recline, while a whole mighty world seems above us,

He prefers to walk with his beloved up and down the Apennine Mountains, where he can smell the fresh air and take in the beauty and bounty of nature.

Ah, that I were far away from the crowd and the streets of the city,

Under the vine-trellis laid, O my beloved, with thee!

Where, upon Apennine slope, with the chestnut the oak-trees immingle,

Where, amid odorous copse bridle-paths wander and wind,

Where, under mulberry-branches, the diligent rivulet sparkles,

He eschews what tourists typically do and goes his own way, taking the scenic route, much to the discomfiture of his travelling companions as Mary Travellyn complains to Miss Roper.

In Canto IV, we realize that one member of the party that he abandoned in Rome was the woman, in whom he was in love. Desperately, he seeks her throughout Italy. He wonders where she is and seeks her in Italy.

Whitherward hasten to seek her? Ye daughters of Italy, tell me,

Graceful and tender and dark, is she consorting with you?

Thou that out-climbest the torrent, that tendest thy goats to the summit,

Call to me, child of the Alp, has she been seen on the heights?

Italy, farewell I bid thee! For whither she leads me, I follow.

The party also seems one step ahead of him. They leave message for him. Claude writes two letters to Eustace: the first is from Florence. He reaches Florence, just as they leave for Milan. He announces the must go to Milan. He hopes to catch up with them because he believes that he can travel faster. His pessimism is rife. He is sick of all the monuments.

Statues and churches? Alack, I am sick of the statues and pictures!

Once again, we realize that Claude would much rather be in nature than be among things man-made. In fact, while he pines for his beloved, he seeks information about her in nature, not the people on the street. Even the reference to the "daughters of Italy" is merely a symbolism. But they are always one step ahead of him. When he travels to Bellagio, he finds that they have already left the place and are headed to Como. Claude's despair causes him to tell Eustace that he would follow them anywhere across Italy and even to other parts or Europe.

Gone to Como, they said; and I have posted to Como.

There was a letter left; but the cameriere had lost it.

Could it have been for me?

In the fifth Canto, we find that Miss Roper has stayed in Florence. It is not clear whether she hopes to meet Claude there or to evade him. We realize that Claude is in love with Miss. Roper. Mary Travellyn, perhaps with the traveling party that includes the Roper family has gone to Lucerne, which is in Switzerland.

You are quite sure, you say, he asked you about our intentions;

You had not heard as yet of Lucerne, but told him of Como.

Well, perhaps he will come; however, I will not expect it.

However, Claude's letter to Eustace indicates to him that he could not meet the Ropers as they had left.

Ah! But this wrong, you see -- but I do not know that it matters.

Eustace, the Ropers are gone, and no one can tell me about them.

When he writes his final missive to Eustace from Pisa, he inquires from people, but cannot find Miss Roper; indeed, he complains that he has tried to contact some of Eustace's friends who he thought might help him, but to no avail.

I am ashamed, I declare, of asking people about it.

Who are your friends? You said you had friends who would certainly know them.

Clearly, one can see that Claude's vacation was not quite that. He, in a sense, has himself to blame for his discomfiture. He was not in a right frame of mind to travel. His pessimism followed him through all his journeys. He abandoned his traveling companions, one with whom he was in love. And when they went on their way without him, he realized the folly of his ways. He realized the folly of his ways without him. Thus, we see that he enthusiasm with which he felt he wanted to travel ended up in him traveling through more places than he wanted to, missing all of the sights that others enjoy, becoming fatigued and frustrated along the way.

Pessimism in the works of James Thomson

James B.V. Thomson was considered by most as the bleakest poets of the Victorian Age. He had several difficulties in his life and this is what probably showed in his poems. His was raised as an orphan and aligned himself with people who were atheists and considered radicals of the time. It is not that his works are pessimistic, but he was drawn to people he thought this way. He admired and translated the works of the pessimistic Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi. Towards the end of his life he became deeply depressed and an alcoholic. He became estranged from society and lived as an outcast. And though some of his works garnered critical acclaim and he finally got the rewards he thought he was due, it did not halt is downward slide to his death in 1882.

As opposed to Clough's pessimism that came from uncertainty and futility that seemed to generate from within, Thomson's pessimism seems to come from without. It is as if Thomson has been ill-fated to suffer circumstances that come together to induce pessimism in him. In "A Song of Sighing," one cannot be sure the cause for the poet's affliction. However, it seems to have afflicted only him. He believes that his unhappiness does not mirror what is happening in the outside world. Perhaps, we will see a theme here as other poems are explored. The world outside is bright and happy. The poet does not revel in his misery but longs for some reprieve. He implores a butterfly to flutter into his dark and sad household and stir the air with whatever good and happy is outside.

With the luster of its wings

Lighting dreams of happy things,

He longs for the butterfly to bring a message from outside. He wants someone or something to let him know that all is well with the world, which enjoys a spring-like newness. It is possible that one of the reasons for his pessimistic outlook on life is because he is longing for love, or as he claims in the poem, "Art" that he has been estranged from the lady that he loves, and his love burns with a passionate zeal that threatens to set everything a fire. He is so lonely without his love that he believes that he can package his love, ensuring that it does not spill out, with an intricate pattern of silken string, so that it reaches the one he loves safe and sound. At the same time, he is afraid that the passion of his love would burn so strongly that it would cause the strings to burn away and his avowal of love for his lady would never get to its intended.

But in vain, in vain, would I make it fast

With countless subtle twines;

For ever its fire breaks out at last,

And shrivels all the lines

He hopes that he can find a dove that will carry his message to his lady-love in a golden cage. He is afraid that the dove will not have the strength to fly without ceasing or that the dove might not be focused enough to make haste and deliver his message of love.

or will you fling your dove:

Fly, darling, without rest,

Over land and sea to my Love,

And fold your wings in her breast"?

It is possible that while he pines for his love, he has done something to push her away. It might not be an act, but his pessimism does not permit him to enjoy love. The need to hurt himself could have caused him to say or do something that might have forced her to leave him. Though he wishes to package his love and send it to her, it is possible that she does not live far away, but the distance is merely symbolic.

We see some of the same in the poem "Four points in a Life." This poem is divided into two parts: the Dawn of Love and Marriage. The poet firsts revels in the love that he has found. He is completed besotted and feels as if he cannot live without the one he loves. Indeed, he basks in the love of his lady, and also is ecstatic about the state he is in.

The dreamtime, the hushed stillness of the night, see them shining pure and earnest light;

And here, all lonely, may I not avow

The thrill with which I ever meet their glance?

At first they gazed a calm abstracted gaze,

But even while he is in this state of love, something or someone, or his inner conflicts cause him to be wary of her. It is possible that his pessimistic demeanor creates obstacles in the way of happiness. The ups and downs within the relationship cause the reader to believe that the poet is could be bipolar. There are elements of guilt as well as neurosis. The poet has done something, perhaps from lust, cheated on his lover. Or it is possible that this is his way of destroying what causes him enjoyment. Now he sees the loving gaze of his lady love as one that is harsh and piercing, and perhaps, in his mind, accusatory.

Transfixing with sharp agony through and through Whatever ls not brave and clean and whole.

And yet I will not shrink, although thou piercest

Into the inmost depths of all my being

And once again he is contrite. He is married to the woman; he is tired from having pushed her away, through his imaginings or his actions. And just as in the previous poem, where fearing loneliness and burning with the passion of what might have been, the poet once more in this poem hearkens to his wife to have her back, so that he might once more bask in her loving embrace so that he may once again rekindle his love for her.

It does seem here that he is on a fool's errand. It is said "separation makes the heart go fonder." One cannot guarantee that if his wife returns to him, that he would treat her any better, abstain from things that he is ashamed of, real or imagined.

What am I when thou art gone?

Come darling, soon!

Come to me, oh come to me!

Let my failing head find rest, Love,

On thy pure and tender breast, Love;

Mater Tenebraum, loosely translated, Mother of Sorrow or Darkness is one of Thomson's more well-known poems. And like the three poems explored above, this is a poem about pining for lost love.

Love! 0 Beloved long lost! come down from thy Heaven above,

For my heart is wasting and dying in uttermost famine for love!

But there are probably literal, biblical or symbolic sub-texts to this poem. The protagonist is deeply religious and he asks Christ to come down from heaven and restore his love to him. Here he plays the role of Adam who has lost his Eve.

A cleave through the crushing gloom with a bitter and deadly cry:

Oh! where have they taken my Love from our Eden of bliss on this earth?

Have they killed her indeed? Is her soul as her body, which long

He believes that Eve is separated from him and has possible been killed. He implores God to restore Eve and bring them back together again. He is beside himself and is filled with torment. The only thing that keeps him is the hope that one day he might be with his true love.

What keeps me yet in this life., what spark in my frozen breast?

A fire of dread, 'a light of hope, kindled, 0 Love, by thee;

It is possible here that the poet casts himself in the role of Adam, figuratively, because he sees his love as the origin of all love. On the other hand, he could be a Christian, the descendants of Adam and Eve who have been cast out of the Garden of Eden to Earth with all the attendant suffering. The poet asks God to take pity, through his son, on Man's transgressions of Original Sin and asks that Man be restored to his original position (on creation) in God's good graces.

The same futile wailing would be shown in the poem "Night." A man lies dying or suffering, as above, from the absence of God's grace. He screams for the light, he goes on and on, imploring the heavens to show him the light.

Where is the light?

Shall nevermore

Open Heaven's door?

Oh, I am left

Lonely, bereft!"

And yet, there is no answer, despite his screams. And as the night wears on, there is no redemption because it does not seem that he will see the light of day. And then, just as the light of a star goes away, the man perishes having not seen the light.

And then like a star

Dwindled from sense

In the Immense.

He cried out through the night:

This might, on the poet's part, also be a cry for help. Except that he is perhaps imprisoned by his own character and sees no escape from it. He is aware that good things await him on the side that is bright and away from the darkness in which he finds himself mired. But his best efforts fail. Nobody on the other side heeds his cries for mercy. Else, nobody is on the other side because the key to the other side lies within him self, only he cannot find it -- and thus the tragedy.

No syllabled sound;

Beneath and around long shuddering thrill

Then all again still.

Similar sentiments are expressed in the poem "The Fire that Filled my Heart of Old." The poet is despondent. He was a man full of passion and laughter and merriment. He was driven by his heart, but that burning with the fire of all-consuming passion is no more. It is like a fireplace that is filled with cold ashes that if nothing else retain the memories of old.

The fire that filled my heart of old

Gave luster while it burned;

Now only ashes gray and cold

Are in its silence urned.

In the poem "Gifts" the poet is displays a positive demeanor. He feels motivated to take on the world. He feels that the simple pleasures in life can help alleviate life's most difficult moments. A horse can help a person ride, a ship can help him sail, and there's not wealth or riches that can compensate for that. A good book and a good pipe, simple leisurely activities take away from the mundane issues that face most people. And of course, there is love. He knows that no matter what befalls a person, knowing that he has the love of a good woman is enough no matter where or what state he be in.

This is a rare positive poem from Thomson. As far as the "love of a woman" issue is concerned however, it is possible that he might celebrate love only as a concept or a notion and not when he realistically has a woman to love and come home to.

Give a man a girl he can love,

As I, O my love, love thee;

And his heart is great with the pulse of Fate,

At home, on land, on sea.

Even when all is bright and well with the world, the pessimist does not look at the positive, but seeks to be leery of the unknown. In the poem, "Day" the protagonist walks down the sands, presumably, along a riverfront. The sands appear golden and the sunlight dazzles across the rippling currents. But the poet and pessimist does not take this into account and enjoy what he is witnessing. He looks at the sands and then the flowing river. His thoughts are pre-occupied with what the origin or the river is and what its destination is.

Whence flow ye, waters,

O'er your golden sand?

We come flowing

From the Silent Land

He looks at the sands and thinks the same thing. He looks around him and he has no idea where the river front begins and whether it accompanies the river to its source and destination. He then begins to wonder what this place of origin or destination might be like. He is afraid that he does not know that this "Silent Land" might be; it could be a place of darkness, where the golden color of the sand cannot be enjoyed by any body.

And what is this fair realm?

A grain of golden sand

In the great darkness

Of the Silent Land

In "I Must Sing of All I Feel and Know" the poet once again gives the reader an apt description, not only of nature, but of the human condition. But in all of this there is an underlying fear that he does not want to discuss, other than that it is the final slumber. This is Death.

He believes that he should sing of the bounties of nature.

For I must sing of all I feel and know,

Waiting with Memnon passive near the palms,

For I must sing: of mountains, deserts, seas,

Of rivers ever flowing, ever flowing;

Of beasts and birds, of grass and flowers and trees

Forever fading and forever growing;

He also believes that he should sing of how man is and the wonderful deeds of man, man's achievements and also the history of mankind. He feels that he should proclaim this to any body who will listen.

And of the secret sympathies that bind

All beings to their wondrous dwelling-place;

And of the perfect Unity enshrined

And most supremely of my human kin

Their thoughts and deeds, their valors and their fears,

Their griefs and joys, their virtue and their sin,

He believes then, that Death should not be feared. It is merely sleep. But this underlying fear comes from one very pointed sentence: that while we are alive, we are merely passengers on a journey that will eventually end in death. And therefore, in the poem, the poet wants to sing with all his breath.

So rich and sweet is Life. And what is Death?

The tranquil slumbers dear and strange and boon

That feed at whiles our waking being's breath;

There is a fear that since the inevitability of death can be compared to stealing a person's breath, one breath at a time, while he lives; the poet wants to use every breath he has to proclaim the goodness of nature that he sees around him and the goodness that he experiences in mankind.

Two Sonnets" by Thomson captures the essence of the artist who manifests his art as a release from internal, emotional afflictions. Here Thomson is perhaps being autobiographical. He expresses his pessimistic view on life and the pain he is suffering through his verse. This is not unusual. Another poetess, Sylvia Plath suffered from a deep depression and her poems were about this pain. Ms. Plath always wore black, as if she were in a state of perpetual mourning. Eventually, she committed suicide. Thomson, likewise, despite the eventual adulation became increasingly removed from society and with those he sought comradeship. Here, the poet is asked as to why his songs bespeak pain and sorrow. The poet responds that he cannot help it. He can be as normal as he wants to in the rest of his life. But he can only sing when he pours out the pain of his soul.

My mirth can laugh and talk, but cannot sing;

My grief finds harmonies in everything.

There is a lack of faith in the pessimist, regarding humanity. He believes in the worst people have to offer. In the poem "In a Churchyard," Thomson tells us of this. He talks about grave stones emitting sighs. The dead lie under the gravestones, but the living are above. Interestingly, he uses the word for the living "lie." As if though they are alive, they are merely going through the motions of living. In addition to the poet's pessimism that does not allow him to see the good in people, he perhaps transfers his own static life, which he is sure is not going anywhere, onto others. He sees himself, perhaps, as a microcosm of the human condition. This poem states simple facts: the dead are buried; the living roam about. But there is more to this poem. It is a critique of the "living dead."

This field of stones, he said,

May well call forth a sigh;

Beneath them lie the dead,

On them the living lie.

Consider another poem that also has religious overtones, "Approach to St. Paul's." Here, the poet does not hold back in his criticism of the humans. He mentions the heathen-like behavior of the residents of London, as they go about their way, worshipping the tangible that merely gives them pleasure. He is severely critical about people who go about their own ways worshipping "Mammon."

Eastwards through busy streets I lingered on;

Jostled by anxious crowds, who, heart and brain,

Were so absorbed in dreams of Mammon-gain,

These people pay no heed to God. What is especially irksome to the poet is that right in front of all these people is the iconic beacon of Christianity, and specifically, Roman Catholicism, one of the largest Cathedrals in the world, if not the largest, St. Paul's. This church stands as if a beacon with its huge cupola and its cross that glows in the setting sun. But people are heedless of this as go about the worship of things that will not allow them to share in God's glory.

Whose soaring cupola of stern grey stone

Lifteth for awful beacon to the sky

The burning Cross: silent and sole amid That ceaseless uproar, as a pyramid

There is no indication that Thomson was particularly religious. But here, he bemoans the fact that people, in this quintessential metropolis, are so busy with their lives that they cannot make time for God.

He also considers himself a sinner and rails against himself, in the poem, "Once in a Saintly Passion," Negative feelings about himself come across very strongly here. He prays to God, castigating himself for being the biggest sinner of him all. But then an angel whispers to him that he's nothing of the sort. Here, it would seem, the angel represents his inner self struggling to keep the poet from complete despondency.

Lord, my heart is black with guile,

Of sinners I am chief."

Then stooped my guardian angel

You're nothing of the kind."

In the Room" is one of the most intensely sad of Thomson's poems. There is a room. It is dark, dank and musty. But the poet gives us an idea of something palpable, that something untoward is about to occur. We are not sure what it is, but there is an undercurrent of uncertainty. The readers believe that whatever is going to happen will involve people. The room is dark and musty, but it is daylight outside. But things begin to happen when darkness begins to fall. it's as in the fable that toys in the attic come to life (vis-a-vis, Henrik Ibsen) once the children are asleep. These toys conduct themselves as if alive.

In this poem, nothing ominous happens when darkness falls. The furniture comes to life, starting with the mirror. The furniture begin to discuss among themselves about ominous occurrences in the household. They bemoan the fact that the man in the household has not taken care of the house. Nothing has been cleaned or dusted. The man potters about silently as if in a daze. He shows no interest in household chores, nor does he seem to care about his own life. All the man is sit at his writing desk and composes long missives.

At other times he sits and reads. It has been a long time since the fires in the hearth have been lit. Living in these circumstances is very dreary for the furniture.

But the furniture long for the day when the man had female companionship. It could have been his daughter or his wife. The girl or woman was the very opposite of the glum and depressed man. She did not spend time writing unless it was a short note. She cleaned and dusted, hence everything was spotless. The woman had a sunny disposition; she made everything bright wherever she went. The girl was pretty and the mirror enjoyed it when she admired herself.

But Lucy fifty times a day

Would come and smile here in my face,

She slept away the dreary dark,

And rose to greet the pleasant morn;

And sang as gaily as a lark

And how she loved us every one;

And dusted this and mended that,

She had her friends too, blithe young girls,

Who whispered, babbled, laughed, caressed,

And romped and danced with dancing curls,

And gave our life a joyous zest.

The furniture is ready to curse at the man who has made everybody's life so miserable, when the bed sets them straight. The rest of the furniture respects the bed, because the bed has the most experience, and has seen the inhabitants of the home at their basest and most honest. It says that the man is now dead.

Death bursts among them like a shell,

And strews them over all the town.

The bed went on, This man who lies

Upon me now is stark and cold;

He will not any more arise,

The phial on the bed stand confesses that it contained a poison that was said to kill a man. He evidently committed suicide. This is the first time the rest of the furniture becomes acquainted with the notion of death. The mirror then remembers how a small version of itself was used to find out if someone was dead. A mirror placed on a person who is breathing out fogs up. If it doesn't then the person is not alive.

One of my cousins long ago, little thing, the mirror said,

Was carried to a couch to show,

Whether a man was really dead.

It is possible that here the poet, who was born an orphan, uses the furniture to mirror the feelings of sorrow and frustration following the loss of a loved one.

There is a stark level of the futility of life from which James Thomson suffers. He does not believe that any good can come out of doing good to one's fellow men. In the poem "L'Ancien Regime," he uses the example of an ancient king, who brought shame and infamy to those who sought to pay proper obeisance to him, or even punishment. The people who brought him love, justice, truth, servility were soundly punished.

A young girl brought him love;

And he dowered her with shame,

Justice for all the land;

And he in recompense got

Fierce struggle with brigue and plot, writer brought him truth;

And first he imprisoned the youth,

And then he bestowed a free pyre

The people brought their sure

Loyalty fervid and pure;

And he gave them bountiful spoil courtier brought to his feet

Servility graceful and sweet,... And he got in reward the place

Of the statesman in disgrace

But rogues who brought him killing, mayhem, the spoils of war, and lust and lechery, were rewarded.

Ravage and carnage and groans,

For the pious Te Deum tones;

And he got in return for himself

Rank and honors harlot brought him her flesh,

Her lusts, and the manifold mesh

Of her wiles intervolved with caprice;

priest brought him a lie,

The blackness of hell uprolled

In heaven's shining gold;

As just recompense, the people who could not bear the yoke of this burden any longer pronounced a death sentence on the king, and as the poet, claims, gave him a tomb, in which the king now lay, while his kingdom continued to prosper. Thomson avers here that the proper place for a king is a tomb and not on a throne.

This is an interesting poem. While it is pessimistic, in that it is one with the adage that people who work hard and receive no reward often claim that 'no good deed goes unpunished," there are perhaps subtler meanings at several levels. This reader believes that it could have religious overtones. We are waiting for the coming of the Messiah, to fulfill the promise made by God of sending his son, Christ, so we may enjoy eternal life. The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel according to St. Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible, certainly tells us that the poor in spirit, the meek, the humble and the just will receive rewards in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, those that are evil will be cast into the fires of Hell. But Thomson bemoans, that in waiting for these rewards, the good people of the world suffer and receive nothing for their efforts. While the evil, the people who cheat and selfishly hoard are often well off, and seem not to be suffering. In one sense perhaps, we might consider that Thomson hopes that the Messiah stays where he is (the tomb), because the hope that he will come back does not seem to be benefitting those that await him.

There is another way that one can look at this poem, and that might be a literal translation. Thomson here is probably celebrating democracy, that it is best that the aristocracy and the royalty be taken out of the decision making process, or rather, that the concept of royalty remain entombed.

A tomb is the very best thing

For a gift to our lord the king.

The poem "Proem" is a poem that might be viewed as supreme irony. Here the poet starts out with celebrating the tale of yore. One might consider these fantasies where goodness reigned. And no matter what the difficulties of the time, they always had happy ending.

A antique fables! beautiful and bright

And joyous with the joyous youth of yore; antique fables! For a little light

Of that which shineth in you evermore,

The irony is because while Thomson is celebrating the tales of "antiquity" he curses and bemoans the fact that his generation and all of the future will suffer under the weight of the sins of the past. He is frustrated that the generations of the past had not set up situations where the ending would always be happy. The tales of the past are in stark contrast with reality. People are starving, hungry and wandering through the desert. And there does not seem to be any respite.

Though this poem might come to symbolize life, taken literally, one might consider the poet as a Jewish person who is part of the mass exodus of Jewish slaves, fleeing from Pharoah's hordes into the Promised Land, Israel. He complains that Yahweh had promised complete salvation and a land of milk and honey. This is what he refers to as the "tale of antiquity." But there has only been suffering.

And if there be this Promised Land indeed,

Our children's children's children's heritage,

Oh, what a prodigal waste of precious seed,

Of myriad lives from age to age,

Of woes and agonies and blank despairs,

Through countless cycles, that some fortunate heirs

May enter, and conclude the pilgrimage!

The "City of Dreadful Night" is perhaps Thomson's most well-known poems. Any anthology of Thomson's work portrays this epic as his finest. Certainly, the title of the poem tells of his generally pessimistic outlook. And this is how the poem starts out:

Lo, thus, as prostrate, "In the dust I write

My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears.

This is an epic poem; and, an explication of the entire poem is beyond the scope of this work. Because the poem is about the extreme depths to which a person sinks, but at the end, there is redemption. Many have averred that this poem is more about an atheist looking for redemption in London, which is the city of dreadful night. There is no immediate reference in this poem to London. It might be any city. On the other hand, this city might come to symbolize the pain in one's heart and the misery of being imprisoned in one's mind where pessimism and uncertainty are the part and parcel of the soul.

The City of Dreadful night is a place where one might abandon hope, faith and love, certainly the mind conspires to crush these. This City is also such that no light ever enters it. It has to be the inner workings of a pessimistic mind. What clues the reader onto the symbolism is that Thomson starts out by pointing out that his claims about the "City of Dreadful Night" is not for everybody.

Our woe in living words howe'er uncouth.

Surely I write not for the hopeful young,

or those who deem their happiness of worth,

He is certain that most people will not understand. One can assume that he knows that people that don't have his mindset and outlook on life can never empathize with his condition.

But he knows that there are others like him. This poem is for them. Indeed, as he trolls about the city, he finds other people similarly lost, wandering about this dark city, having abandoned all hope.

Yes, here and there some weary wanderer

In that same city of tremendous night,

Will understand the speech and feel a stir

Of fellowship in all-disastrous fight;

The poem "Philosophy" is aptly named. It sums up Thomson's philosophy on life. And one can see the pessimism comes through. Thomson, throughout his life, was probably looking for that spark of light that would rescue him from the misery that he had brought upon himself -- as was his character. He bemoans the fact that he is always enfolded within a cocoon of misery. Looking out he sees that everything is fine and happy. Little boys and girls are enjoying themselves.

But they can see something in life that he cannot. It seems as if the world has these aspects with people are meant to enjoy; but these aspects are like secrets that the world has conspired to not make known to him.

His eyes found nothing beautiful and bright,

Nor wealth nor honour, glory nor delight,

Which he could grasp and keep with might and right.

His eyes try to seek these out. But his desperate efforts only unmask terrible secrets. When he sees a thing of beauty, a pretty woman, for example, all he can see is deep within. He cannot see the lovely skin or eyes or sensuous lips that beckon to him. He sees only the bones, the flesh, the gore and the sinews. Man for him is reduced to the disgusting sum of parts. He feels that knowing thus how food would get processed in the digestive system would make him forgo even the best foods forever.

They pierced through beauty; saw the bones, the mesh

Of nerves and veins, the hideous raw red flesh,

Beneath the skin most delicate and fresh:

But then at some point, he sees a vision of beauty, and for the first time, he does not see the insides of the person. He falls in love with this vision. He is completely enraptured by it, until he realizes that this is merely Death, which has concealed itself well from him in order to beguile him.

A certain fair form came before his sight,

Responding to him as the day to night:

To yearning, love; to cold and gloom, warm light.

The corpse is hid, that Death may work its vile

The most salient point that sums up his philosophy occurs at the end of the second stanza. It sums up also his life and is a decisive point for all his poems. Thomson considers life as merely an interlude in Death's grand scheme. Death rules the conscious and sub-conscious and the life of a person as we know it is merely a dream.

Saw Space a mist unfurled around the steep

Where plunge Time's waters to the blackest deep;

Saw Life a dream in Death's eternal sleep.

Pessimism in the Works of Edward Fitzgerald

Edward Fitzgerald did not have some of the problems of birth that Alfred Clough or James Thomson had. But he had a set of circumstances that surrounded his life that are unique. Coming from a family that was exceedingly wealthy, he found out that there was inbreeding going on among the Fitzgeralds (his mother's maiden name, which he adopted; his father's family name was Purcell). He felt that half his family was insane and knew that some of this insanity had also been passed on to him.

He had many intimate male friends and his marriage lasted only a few months. There were enough indications that he might have been homosexual, though, of this, no one can be certain. Fitzgerald was eccentric. He ate sparingly. He was an avowed vegetarian, who hated vegetables. But he would eat meat on occasion, if his friends dined on meat. With increasing age, he grew disenchanted with religion and removed himself from church activities and even attending church. There are no immediate personality issues that one would use to consider him a pessimistic character.

Fitzgerald's greatest contribution to literature has been the translations of the Rubaiyat of Umar Khayyam, the 11 the century Turkish poet and mystic. Compared to the larger body of work of more than twenty poems each for Clough and Thomson, Fitzgerald's body of work is relatively short. The translations of Khayyam are his primary work.

Thomson, mentioned, in his "Philosophy" that Death ruled over all consciousness and that Life as we knew it was merely an interruption or a dream. Fitzgerald also shows us something similar in the poem "This Dream Called Life." In his dream, he found that he was a king and ruled over all. He was mighty and all sought counsel from him.

In a brave palace that was all my own,

Within, and all without it, mine; until,

Drunk with excess of majesty and pride,

But the dream of his majesty came to an end and reality struck. His view is rather pessimistic, but mostly borne in reality. He believes that no matter how powerful people are and what their strengths and talents, eventually death comes to all. Death is the greatest equalizer, as all things must come to an end, and when death is near, no talent or riches, or wealth of power will save a person.

Whether tomorrow's dawn shall break the spell,

or the last trumpet of the Eternal Day,

When dreaming, with the night, shall pass away.

On the other hand, two poems of Fitzgerald are positive. They suggest a remedy for the forlornness of winter. And that is friendship. It is possible to rid the malaise of winter by building a nice fire and within that fire warming oneself, having a smoke with a friend, reading a book, and even getting down on one's knees and praying to the Lord. The confidence comes from going to bed knowing that a friend is there for you, as well as waking up knowing that the same friend will be there in the morning.

Just as a lot of the genius of Clough and Thomson, like many other poets, came from the pain they felt in their hearts, whether external or self-induced, it has been mentioned before that Fitzgerald gave his all in a friendship to the point of intimacy. Fitzgerald's friendship was irrespective of the background of the person, whether a poet or even someone as lowly as a fisherman. Thought both poems "Old Song" and "The Meadows in Spring" are positive, it is possible that Fitzgerald was projecting as to what he wanted to drive the melancholia away, as opposed to what he had. It is possible that this lesson in what was good to drive the malaise away came from what he wishes he had.

Umar Khayyam was an 11th century Persian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. He was never known as a poet. Khayyam enjoyed great respect in Persia. As a mathematician, he addressed several treatises of Euclid and wrote several text books on Algebra. His work indicates that the mathematics and the science of thought and physics were far advanced, when compared to the intellectuals of Europe during that time. His composed, it is believed, quatrains or rubaia, and therefore, the Rubaiyat is considered as a collection of quatrains. Edward Fitzgerald took about seventy five of these, translated them in such a way that they appear as a continuous poem, much to the consternation of other Persian and Middle Eastern scholars who believe that the Rubaiyat is a complete misrepresentation of what Umar Khayyam intended. However, through the efforts of Edward Fitzgerald were these works made available to the English speaking public, such that a discussion of the Rubaiyat became commonplace.

The translations are supposed to be a work of genius and are considered so visionary that Umar Khayyam almost came to be recognized by some as a poet of the English language. In composing this Rubaiyat, Fitzgerald has stuck to the rhyme scheme that characterizes a quatrain -- aaba. The first, second and fourth lines rhyme, the third does not. The Rubaiyat is about realism, which means that sadness, frustration, anger and pessimism will always come to the fore.

This work begins with the recognition of the notion of our lives and how we see this life in the grand scheme of things. We have seen that this very notion governed most of the works of Clough and Thomson. That they saw life as merely a dream or a sequence of dream in the grand scheme that was death. Here too, a vague allusion is made to the shortness life. It seems therefore that all of life is condensed into a day. Time is short. The fruit of life is identified as a grape, from which wine is made, and of which, one must drink to the fullest. And there is no time to tarry. Life has to be indulged in from the moments of dawn.

It is interesting that the beginning quatrains use the living life to the fullest using the symbol of wine; as we shall se later in this epic, grape and wine, the attendant hedonism and the waste also become a symbol for whatever is wrong with life. This might be a pessimistic view, but also one that cautions: over-indulgence leads to instances of malfeasance, and if man is not ready to get over this addiction, he is doomed to failure.

The sky is symbolized as an overturned cup. A stone thrown at this cup renders a crack in it, from which a shaft of light enters -- signifying dawn, first striking the minaret of the Sultan's palace, which is no doubt the tallest structure in the land.

And Lo! The Hunter of the East has caught

The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.

It is also as if people are thirsting for life. The darkness has been kept away from living their lives, other than the symbolism; there is no other reason for these people to pound on the tavern doors hoping that the "cups of liquor" that is life will not run dry. One reason to believe that this is symbolic is because there is no other reason for people to literally crowd around taverns waiting to drink. Also, the poet proclaims that "they have very little time; and when they leave, they cannot return once more.

The Tavern shouted -- "Open then the Door!

You know how little while we have to stay,

And, once departed, may return no more.

It is very interesting that Umar Khayyam uses alcohol as his symbolism for life. During ancient times in Persia, there was a healthy mix of Zoroastrians (also called Farsis) and Muslims. Later in the poem, we hear of the Muezzin calls to prayer. This call to prayer is followed in every Islamic country. This call is made through a loudspeaker five times a day, according to the Islamic dictate. But several of the names that are in use in the poem, Jamshyd, Kaikobad, Kaikhosru and Pehlevi are distinctly Farsi.

Umar Khayyam lived a life of a Muslim in a Muslim dominated country. Historically, by this time, Farsis had been driven out the country through genocide. Several of these Farsis, fled to India and make their home on the West Coast of India.

Presumably, he enjoyed the respect of the Sultan, because he was treated according to his status of an intellectual. There is no evidence that he was in anyway molested for his beliefs and writing, yet, by going against the Islamic teachings of not to touch alcohol, he creates controversy by using alcohol to symbolize life.

There is a sense of urgency on the dawning of the day, and the realization that life is very short. The upturned cup might soon blanket life in the cover of night or death my steal when least expected.

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring

The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:

The Bird of Time has but a little way

To fly -- and Lo! The Bird is on the Wing.

Khayyam tries to urge his fellow men to indulge in life. Other's do not share his sense of urgency and the poet asks that we leave them be. He knows that they will live to regret their decision to not be proactive with life.

Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot:

Let Rustum lay about him as he will,

or Hatim Tai cry Supper -- heed them not.

In the next few stanzas, the poet describes a paradise. But all is not well in this place. This is a paradise of realism. Here everything is taken in stride. There is a note of optimism here, perhaps as a prelude to a fall.

There are several aspects to this paradise. One is the sense of equality: here is no distinction between prince and pauper.

Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,

This paradise is about the celebration of life's simplicity. As long as the basic needs are met and there is someone to love, one is not afraid of anything.

This is also about the cyclical nature of life and the mercilessness of death.

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.

No matter who is king, this earth eventually swallows them whole. The only certainty is the firmness and solidity of the earth and the firmament. Men have hopes. Some of these are realized, other are crushed. Each of man's endeavors, which might not bring him lasting happiness, adds on to this eternal cycle of life. Indeed, according to Khayyam, the reddest of roses is fertilized by the blood of the mightiest of kings. The prettiest hyacinth that adorns a garden came from a loss to someone or was fertilized by the tears of others.

Sometimes think that never blows so red

The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears

Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.

Some people are unhappy, but their unhappiness contributes to grand scheme that is mankind, enabling us to learn, mend our ways and even prosper. There is a caution to enjoy life and live it to the fullest. Certainly, one may spend time fixated on sad events of the past. Or waste the time here on earth pessimistically worrying what the future might bring. But that does not help humankind. The poet decides that if he did not enjoy today but spend it fixated, worrying and despondent; he might not wake up tomorrow. If he died, there would be a regret that he did not have time to celebrate what he once had. for, he would be one with the ages.

TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears

To-morrow? -- Why, to-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.

Khayyam talks about the inevitability of life. Do not be afraid he counsels, because death must certainly follow life. This is the cause of his frequent admonition that one should not take life lying down, because death is around the corner.

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,

And one by one crept silently to Rest.

His advice: live your life, then when it is time to move on, consider the sleep of death as a rest for travails and the weary travels. Then move on and let somebody else take your place, upon this couch, one calls earth.

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth

Descend, ourselves to make a Couch -- for whom?

And Khayyam continues to expound on this that life has to be enjoyed before people turn to dust. He invokes the rule of Islamic teaching. He believes that this is what the Muezzin tells when he makes his daily call to prayer. That life is not of the past or the hereafter, but of the present.