Humor

There is a scene in Julius Caesar after the death of Caesar, when Brutus and Cassius are arguing over honor. It is an intense debate in which Cassius tells Brutus just to kill him. Chest bared and dagger pointed at his heart, the melodrama could hardly be thicker. Couple this with the many times Cassius tempts the heavens to kill him, says he’ll take his own life, if he needs to. When the argument begins to cool down, a poet interrupts the scene, and begs the two to stop feuding. Brutus and Cassius make fun of the poet and his bad rhymes. Brutus, the honorable man, even calls the poet a “jigging fool.” When the poet final exits unceremoniously, the scene turns back to a serious discuss of war tactics. In teaching my students to understand this scene, we talked about comedic relief as transition between two serious and dramatic discussions, a brief break after a climactic moment.

 

For my writing, this scene reveals to me how self-aware Shakespeare must have been. After all, Shakespeare, poet and playwright (maybe synonymous terms in his day), had realized there is a power in understanding how people can apply a lamentable part of a whole (all poets try to force bad rhymes on people) to an individual. The ability to laugh at yourself can free you from the confines of your roles, in a way that is pleasing to the audience and liberating for the mind.

 Next week I'll be thinking about confessions.

*************************

Make fun of yourself in a poem.

*************************

Half Tuck

These days I put my pants on last, remembering

it wasn’t always my body resisted folding over itself.

How recently it prefers the ease of straightness

and, perceiving the lack of gymnast’s grace in tumbling

while putting on mismatched socks, wants to sit

on the edge of the bed while I stare down at my toes,

slide them into a pair of slip on shoes, imagining

ten sleek divers and no splash.