'Ships and Poetry
Nov. 12th, 2010 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanalaylaDo you ever read a poem that just reminds you of Clois? Or any other ship that you feel really strongly and passionately about? One of my all time favorite poems is John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”. Recently, I was re-reading it and I realized that it really reminds me of the love story of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Not just the “Smallville” version – all versions.
For those unfamiliar with it, the poem is about a man who is going away and, before he leaves, he tells his lover that they are – combined - like a compass. She is like the fixed foot that stays in place and cannot move. But, because she stands firm, he is able to go out and travel and do what needs to be done to create the “circle”. The further he goes, she has to lean even more, because her natural inclination is to lean after… harken after him. And when he is done, he returns to the center of the circle and they become one again. The last lines, in particular, are some of the most romantic lines I have ever read in poetry or prose: “Thy firmness makes my circle just; And makes me end where I begun.”
This is, of course, a very Clark Kent and Lois Lane sort of a scenario, is it not? Clark is always going off to save the world and Lois just has to stand there and watch him go. She is the fixed leg to his wandering leg.
I just watched the “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse” animated movie. (Which is more the origin story of Supergirl, but that’s for a different post.) Anyway, in this movie, Clark decides to go off to the planet Apokolips (where Darkseid resides) to save Kara. There is a distinct possibility that Clark is not coming back, because… well… again – it’s where Darkseid lives. He’s not exactly the sort of villain that Clark rolls his eyes at. He’s one of Superman’s most powerful enemies and he has no qualms attempting to kill Superman.
And I got to thinking about Lois Lane and how she felt about that. Lois wasn’t in this movie (which was a pity), but it’s not hard to imagine what her reaction was. She probably had a hernia, but tried to hide it. She also probably wanted to stop him, but – of course – she’s not going to. She knew what she was signing up for when she married Superman. And, more than likely, they had a moment that echoed this poem, where Clark had to tell Lois that he didn’t want her to just stand by and cry, worrying about him, while he went to go do what he had to do. And how he would be back before she knew it and that he could only do what he did because of her.
So, to go back to the original point of the post, the metaphor of the compass just works so well when applied to the Clark Kent/Lois Lane love story. Since my love for Clark/Lois rivals my love for Elizabeth/Darcy; Benedict/Beatrice; Buttercup/Wesley… well, you get the point. This particular poem does not work for all my favorite ships, but I think I love the poem even MORE because it works for one of my most favorite ships of them all. I’m sure, given a chance, I could find some that work for my other OTP.
Anyway… here’s my question. Do you have any poems that remind you of Clark and Lois? Any favorite poems, in general?
For those unfamiliar with it, the poem is about a man who is going away and, before he leaves, he tells his lover that they are – combined - like a compass. She is like the fixed foot that stays in place and cannot move. But, because she stands firm, he is able to go out and travel and do what needs to be done to create the “circle”. The further he goes, she has to lean even more, because her natural inclination is to lean after… harken after him. And when he is done, he returns to the center of the circle and they become one again. The last lines, in particular, are some of the most romantic lines I have ever read in poetry or prose: “Thy firmness makes my circle just; And makes me end where I begun.”This is, of course, a very Clark Kent and Lois Lane sort of a scenario, is it not? Clark is always going off to save the world and Lois just has to stand there and watch him go. She is the fixed leg to his wandering leg.
I just watched the “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse” animated movie. (Which is more the origin story of Supergirl, but that’s for a different post.) Anyway, in this movie, Clark decides to go off to the planet Apokolips (where Darkseid resides) to save Kara. There is a distinct possibility that Clark is not coming back, because… well… again – it’s where Darkseid lives. He’s not exactly the sort of villain that Clark rolls his eyes at. He’s one of Superman’s most powerful enemies and he has no qualms attempting to kill Superman.
And I got to thinking about Lois Lane and how she felt about that. Lois wasn’t in this movie (which was a pity), but it’s not hard to imagine what her reaction was. She probably had a hernia, but tried to hide it. She also probably wanted to stop him, but – of course – she’s not going to. She knew what she was signing up for when she married Superman. And, more than likely, they had a moment that echoed this poem, where Clark had to tell Lois that he didn’t want her to just stand by and cry, worrying about him, while he went to go do what he had to do. And how he would be back before she knew it and that he could only do what he did because of her.
So, to go back to the original point of the post, the metaphor of the compass just works so well when applied to the Clark Kent/Lois Lane love story. Since my love for Clark/Lois rivals my love for Elizabeth/Darcy; Benedict/Beatrice; Buttercup/Wesley… well, you get the point. This particular poem does not work for all my favorite ships, but I think I love the poem even MORE because it works for one of my most favorite ships of them all. I’m sure, given a chance, I could find some that work for my other OTP.
Anyway… here’s my question. Do you have any poems that remind you of Clark and Lois? Any favorite poems, in general?
“A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING”
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, "No"
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of the earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
But we by a love so much refined,
That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.
And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like the other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, "No"
So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of the earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
But we by a love so much refined,
That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.
And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like the other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 07:39 pm (UTC)Each metaphysical conceit is so intense and powerful particularly, when he compares his soul to his lover's soul with gold which is pure, refined and can be expanded when it's beaten but the link never broken. And the part where Donne introduces the conceit of the compasses is absolutely swoonworthy!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 09:42 pm (UTC)my selves go with you,only i remain;
a shadow phantom effigy or seeming
(an almost someone always who's noone)
a noone who,till their and your returning,
spends the forever of his loneliness
dreaming their eyes have opened to your morning
feeling their stars have risen through your skies:
so,in merciful love's own name,linger
no more than selfless i can quite endure
the absence of that moment when a stranger
takes in his arms my very life who's your
—when all fears hopes beliefs doubts disappear.
Everywhere and joy's perfect wholeness we're
no subject
Date: 2010-11-15 04:11 pm (UTC)