Poem Arise by Ella Wheeler Wilcox - Essay Example

? Seize the Day Anyone who knew he would die tomorrow would probably do what he wanted to do today – but this is where people differ. While some would want to enjoy their time, others would wallow in despair and some would drink the whole day. Still, some would make use of the remaining time in fulfilling their duties to their family and loved ones. Nevertheless, however people would want to spend the remaining moments of their lives, it would all boil down to how they “seize the day.” Otherwise known as “carpe diem,” this theme is addressed differently by several authors – Wilcox, Herrick, Baudelaire, Frost and Longfellow – in their poems, in order to show that humans deal with their own mortality in many different ways. In her poem “Arise,” 19th century American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox regards the idea of seizing the day as a duty that one has to fulfill. Wilcox believes dreaming or planning should not remain as goals but should necessarily translate into action. This seems to be the message she is particularly driving at as she says, “Why sit idly dreaming all day/ While the golden, precious hours flit away?” (Wilcox 1-2). One therefore simply wastes time dreaming and planning all day long. In order to seize the day, Wilcox admonishes, “…arise, O idle dreamer!” (13). However, oftentimes the reason for such inaction in us seems to be the wrong thought that “…life was made for dreaming, nothing more” (9). In fact, for Wilcox, it is the opposite – life is all about action and not dreaming. Why is this so? It is because of duty or the idea that one has to fulfill “God’s work” (10). This work is all about “souls to save and hearts to strengthen” (11). It is therefore interesting to note that, for Wilcox, life is all about doing something in order to save and strengthen one’s neighbors, which is the very meaning of fulfilling one’s duty towards God. What can be gained from this? Wilcox does not give any answer except the idea that if one does not seize the day and heed one’s call of duty, he “shall answer for their ruin in the end” (16). This means that, for Wilcox, one is answerable to what would happen to another’s life if this duty of saving souls and strengthening hearts is not fulfilled. Seizing the day, therefore, means fulfilling one’s duty towards one’s neighbor. For other poets as well, carpe diem is about the fulfillment of duty. However, it is duty towards the self that they are trying to point out. The 17th century English poet Robert Herrick, who was born around two hundred years earlier than Wilcox and who lived around three thousand miles away, believed in the same thing about seizing the day by fulfilling one’s duty. Nevertheless, in his poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” what Herrick emphasizes is not one’s duty towards God but towards oneself. What is this duty? It is to “gather rosebuds while ye may” for “this same flower that smiles to-day,/ To-morrow will be dying” (Herrick 1, 4). As the rose represents the ephemeral nature of one’s youth, the aforementioned lines simply mean that one has to fulfill one’s duty and seize the day by enjoying one’s youth to the fullest. For Herrick, “That age is best which is the first,/ When youth and blood are warmer/ But being spent, the worse, and worst” (9-10). This means that the present is the perfect time to enjoy one’s youth or one’s life for all the days and years that follow this day, one will simply be getting older and everything will just be getting worse. Herrick therefore gives the youth a practical advice: “Then be not coy, but use your time” (13). As for those who do not heed his advice, the consequence is clear: “For having lost but once your prime/ You may for ever tarry” (15-16). The consequence, therefore, of not seizing the day and not enjoying one’s youth to the fullest is regretting the opportunity that was lost and that will never ever come back again. For Herrick, this is what it means by seizing the day. One hundred and fifty years after Herrick lived, one French poet agrees to the same idea but brings it to a totally different level. For 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire, seizing the day does not just mean enjoying one’s youth to the fullest but recognizing the fact that life in general is fleeting and pointless. Therefore, one simply “[has] to be always drunk” because “that’s all there is to it – it’s the only way” (Baudelaire 1). By getting drunk, one fulfills one’s duty to oneself. However, unlike that of Herrick, Baudelaire’s idea of self-fulfillment is based on the realization of life’s futility. Therefore, since life is useless, one should take the epicurean point of view and get drunk and be happy. Life will be gone in no time and death is coming any moment from now, so what is the point of life? For Baudelaire, it is all about continually getting drunk “so as not to be the martyred slaves of time” (11-12). Getting drunk, therefore, removes one from the idea of having to live a life which is governed by time and thus, it is only by getting drunk that one can experience joyous immortality and never-ending youth. For Baudelaire, this may be the whole point of life. But what is this getting drunk all about? It is all about one immersing himself in whatever gives him passion: “Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish/ But be drunk” (4). Wine may represent immersing oneself in physical passion. Poetry may be about knowledge, and virtue may be about religion or goodness. For the French poet, these may be the very things into which one should immerse himself if one desires to “seize the day.” Unlike Wilcox who believes that seizing the day is all about fulfilling God’s work, and unlike Herrick who believes that it is all about enjoying the goodness of life before one’s death, Baudelaire believes that – yes – one should enjoy the beauty of life but one should do this not because life is good but because it is pointless and futile. Longfellow clearly does not agree with Baudelaire’s concept of carpe diem. In one of the celebrated poems of 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow entitled “A Psalm of Life,” the poet clearly opposes Baudelaire’s idea of the futility of life: “Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal” (Longfellow 5-6). Life, therefore, is not the pointless phenomenon that Baudelaire has been pointing out but a call to greatness. It may be true that physical life ceases yet in order for one to experience immortality, he must accomplish as much as he can and leave behind a legacy: “We can make our lives sublime,/ And, departing, leave behind us/ Footprints on the sand of time” (26-28). Therefore, for Longfellow, one’s duty is not towards God nor towards the self but towards life. According to Longfellow, this life, unlike Baudelaire’s futile life, is one full of hope and optimism, for it is only through this life that one can build one’s immortal legacy to humankind. How then can one leave behind such a legacy? The answer is simple: “In the world’s broad field of battle…Be a hero in the strife!” (17, 20). One, therefore, should do something extraordinary in life – something that will leave a mark of his existence. Thus, this is the only way to achieve legacy and immortality and the only way to “seize the day.” And when should one do this? Longfellow gives us the answer: “Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!/ Let the dead Past bury its dead!/ Act, act in the living Present!” (21-23). When seizing the day, one should make one’s mark in the world not in the future nor in the past but NOW. Robert Frost, however, thinks otherwise. In his poem entitled “Carpe Diem,” the American poet Robert Frost, who lived in both the 19th and 20th centuries, believes that seizing the day is not about the present for “…The present/ Is too much for the senses,/ Too crowding, too confusing-/ Too present to imagine” (Frost 23-26). The whole idea of carpe diem, therefore – according to Frost and against Wilcox, Herrick, Baudelaire and Longfellow – is all about the future and also the past. The reason, based on the aforementioned line, is that it is hard to imagine what one should do in the present and that it seems that whatever one does in the present is because of his past or his future. If, therefore, there is no future or past, then one will not be able to determine why one is doing what one is doing in the present. Frost perhaps wants to ask, “Why are you working hard now?” The answer cannot be because of the present but because of the past or the future. Perhaps, one is working hard now because he wants to become financially secure in the future, or perhaps he has been broke once in the past and would not want the same thing to happen again. Frost, however, does not altogether reject the value of the present and, using the personification of Age, advises one to “Be happy, happy, happy,/ And seize the day of pleasure” (9-10). Therefore, according to Frost, one should be happy in doing things today but one should not forget that the reasons for doing these things lie in the past and in the future. Thus, unlike the previous poets discussed, Frost believes that seizing the day is doing things happily in the present but not ignoring the future and past. Perhaps, Frost is thinking that one living only for today is no better than living the life of a beast or a brute. Humans must do things now but they have to remain guided by the lessons learned in the past and the aspirations and promises of the future. Seizing the day is all about facing the fact that we are all mortals. Obviously, there are as many ways to seize the day as there are poets and people. For people like Ella Wheeler Wilcox, seizing the day is all about fulfilling God’s work by helping others. For the likes of Robert Herrick, carpe diem is synonymous to enjoying one’s life while it lasts. For Charles Baudelaire and other pessimists, it is all about getting drunk with passion in order to forget life’s futility. For hopefuls like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, seizing the day is making one’s mark on earth not for the benefit of God but for one’s immortality and for humankind. Nevertheless, the most convincing one is the argument of Robert Frost. Frost, as well as several other rationalists, believes that carpe diem may be all about doing things in the present but always reminding oneself that the past and the future are just as important. This does not only present a very reasonable definition of carpe diem but also reminds us of our humanity. We could not be complete if we only lived for the present. We need both the past and the future to guide us and define our present existence. Works Cited Baudelaire, Charles. “Be Drunk.” 1997. Trans. Louis Simpson. Poets.org. Web. 9 Oct 2011. Frost, Robert. “Carpe Diem.” 2007. AllPoetry.com. Web. 16 Oct 2011. Herrick, Robert. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.” 2006. Luminarium.org. Web. 9 Oct 2011. Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “A Psalm of Life.” 2011. PoemHunter.com. Web. 9 Oct 2011. Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. “Arise.” 2011. AmericanPoems.com. Web. 9 Oct 2011. Read More