{"id":11036,"date":"2021-04-14T15:20:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T14:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=11036"},"modified":"2021-04-14T15:20:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T14:20:29","slug":"lhomme-et-la-merde","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2021\/04\/14\/lhomme-et-la-merde\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u2019Homme et … la Merde!"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the purpose of perspective, I should like to carry out a short comparative study of two poems treating the subject of the sea. The first poem I should like to focus on is the great sonnet by Charles Baudelaire<\/a><\/span> L\u2019Homme et la Mer<\/em>, whose composition dates back to 1852. The second poem is a poem I wrote sometime last year, L\u2019Homme et la Merde<\/em>, in which I use the poem by Baudelaire, as an obvious starting point, in order to attempt to underline the epic social and ecological shifts which have occurred in the time frame of the composition of both poems.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, to be absolutely clear, the period of time that separates both poems is one-hundred-sixty-three years. Without further ado, here is the poem by Buadelaire, followed by my transversion into English of his great poem; \u2026.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

XIV. \u2013 L\u2019HOMME ET LA MER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Homme libre toujours tu ch\u00e9riras la mer !<\/em>
\nLa me rest ton mirroir; tu contemples ton \u00e2me<\/em>
\nDans le d\u00e9roulement infini de sa lame,<\/em>
\nEt ton esprit n\u2019est pas un gouffre moins amer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tu te plais \u00e0 plonger au sein de ton image;<\/em>
\nTu l\u2019embrasses des yeux et des bras, et ton c\u0153ur<\/em>
\nSe distrait quelque fois des sa propre rumeur<\/em>
\nAu bruit de cette plainte indomitable et sauvage.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vous \u00eates tous les deux t\u00e9n\u00e9breux et discretes;<\/em>
\nHomme, nul n\u2019a sonde le fond de tes ab\u00eemes ;<\/em>
\nO mer, nul ne conna\u00eet tes richesses intimes,<\/em>
\nTant vous \u00eates jaloux de garder vos secrets!<\/em><\/p>\n

Et cependent voila des si\u00e8cles innombrables<\/em>
\nQue vous vous combattez sans piti\u00e9 ni remord,<\/em>
\nTellement vous aimez le carnage et la mort,<\/em>
\nO lutteurs \u00e9ternels, \u00f4 fr\u00e8res implacables!<\/em><\/p>\n

XIV. –\u00a0 Man and the Sea<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Man, free, you will always cherish the sea!<\/em>
\nThe sea is your mirror; when you stand before it<\/em>
\nAnd contemplate your fate, before its infinite movement,<\/em>
\nYour poor mind, brine wracked, couldn\u2019t be more bitter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet, you enjoy plunging into the heart of yourself;<\/em>
\nDistracted by the immensity before you, and which<\/em>
\nMakes you forget, momentarily mesmerised by such<\/em>
\nSheer force, your own apocalypse riding before you, wave bound.<\/em><\/p>\n

You are both just as dark and fathomless;<\/em>
\nMan, like the sea, nobody has reached your depths, yet;<\/em>
\nBoth of you guard jealously your great secrets,<\/em>
\nWhich you both refuse to give up, without some savage consequence.<\/em><\/p>\n

For innumerable millennia you have both now been struggling<\/em>
\nWith one another for survival, both just as pitiless,<\/em>
\nBoth of you loving, as you do, carnage and violence.<\/em>
\nO you two blood brothers, eternally vying…<\/em><\/p>\n

Baudelaire\u2019s poem has all of the hallmarks of late nineteenth century romanticism, written as it was just one year after the publication of Herman Melville\u2019s Moby Dick <\/em>(1851), and just forty-eight years after Beethoven\u2019s composition of the Pastoral <\/em>(1804) , his symphony number six. All three works are primarily concerned with man and his extremely precarious place in nature.<\/p>\n

Ahab\u2019s <\/em>apocalyptic fate in Melville\u2019s epic account of the hunt for the great white whale has become emblematic of humanity itself, in our own relentless pursuit to harness nature for our own ends, without thinking about the consequences. Beethoven\u2019s storm <\/em>in the sixth taking on a very ominous nature when listened to today, as our own climate continually shifts into\u00a0 extremes as a consequence of the impact of our society on the planet, and particularly so within the time frame of the last fifty or so years<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image: Daniele Idini.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indeed, today we are aware of the extremely negative impact our collective behaviour is having on the planet; be it as a direct or indirect consequence of global deforestation, industrial waste (atomic or other) or the continuing emissions from fossil fuels. We are now all collectively responsible for the state of both the immediate world in which we find ourselves living in today, in other words our <\/em>own particular microcosm, as well as the greater macro-environment which we communally share, for as long as we humanly can. And, of course, this is the huge question looming over us all today:<\/p>\n

If we continue living as we are without each of us making dramatic changes to our lifestyles in terms of how we eat, spend etc. these so \u2013 choices we make every second of each day \u2013 how much longer will the Earth be able to support us before we are all completely annihilated? <\/em><\/p>\n

In order to frame the question better, I should like to introduce the second poem now L\u2019Homme et la Merde<\/em>, which I wrote shortly after having been diagnosed with chronic ulcerative colitis <\/em>early last year.<\/p>\n

For the purpose of clarity, the medical condition known as colitis <\/em>is a terrible affliction caused to the intestine and the bowels, in which the sufferer loses all control of their system, causing unimaginable horror and distress. It is classified as a disease and it is on the increase in countries all around the Western hemisphere; interestingly in Asia, where people have a radically different type of diet, and lifestyle, people suffer from it far less. In my own case, the elimination of gluten <\/em>is what stopped, eventually, the horrendous impact that this sickness was causing to me and my family.<\/p>\n

I wrote a lot of poems of a very scatological nature, while suffering from colitis,<\/em> although the poem L\u2019Homme et la Merde <\/em>is, without doubt, the most troubling of them. This poem reflects an apocalyptic vision of the future of our seas, if we do not do something now to change the way in which we are living.<\/p>\n

This can be indicated quite simply. For example, one June weekend, here in Skerries, north county Dublin, the front beach had to be closed to swimmers due to a possible leakage of effluents<\/a><\/span> into the sea. It was a terrible thing to experience, as the sun was out that June weekend, and people had come from all parts of Dublin, and possibly beyond, to enjoy a day by the sea. Instead, they had to be informed by the lifeguards that if they wished to swim in the sea, they would be putting themselves at risk of getting very sick due to the effluent which was now polluting our once beautiful coast.<\/p>\n

\n

Brown Tide: Five Signs the Irish Government Could Not Give a Shit about the Environment @frankarmstrong2<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/GRXMCmzXQT<\/a><\/p>\n

— Irish Wildlife Trust (@Irishwildlife) June 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n