A Change Of Life By A Change Of Perspective - Essay Example

A Change of Life by a Change of Perspective “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must belived forwards” Soren Kierkegaard Considering the ideas expressed in Soren Kierkegaard’s work reminded me of a poem I read not so long ago that seemed to capture a great deal of what Kierkegaard is talking about. In James Wright’s poem, “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota,” the author discusses his aesthetic enjoyment of the world around him and concludes by declaring that he has wasted his life.

As I thought about this poem, I began to understand more about what Kierkegaard means when he says that the Aesthetic Life is only the first stage of living. When I first read this poem, the beautiful scenery of the poem attracted me. The scene described emerged in my imagination as a perfect place to relax. I floated through the words of this poem on a beautiful imagined evening until I reached the last sentence, “I have wasted my life.” This line puzzled me. What was the author trying to say?

Many ideas sprang to mind. Could it be that the author had done something wrong and felt sorry about it? Could it be that he had lost his loved ones and regretted that he hadn’t spent enough time with them? What would make the author put such a sudden, jarring statement at the end of such a beautiful scene? All these questions kept circling in my mind but no satisfactory answers came. It was as an attempt to find some answers that I started to read the poem again. This second reading helped me understand more about the poem and what the author wanted to say.

I realized that the author used a lot of different colors to describe the scenes of the farm. An example of this is found in the first two lines: “I saw the bronze butterfly, asleep on the black trunk.” His descriptions suggest the presence of several different animals on the farm as well without intruding on his solitude. These descriptions helped me to visualize the scenes on the farm in much greater detail. From the descriptions of the farm, it is clear that the author intends the poem to be understood as emphasizing the aesthetic pleasures of the country life.

None of this, though, explains why the author said that he had wasted his life. Still puzzled, I read this poem again. This time, the word “life” trapped me for a long time. Some say that life is all about enjoyment, we need to enjoy the beauty of the world and forget about working hard. But others say that life is about fulfillment, we need to fulfill our parents’ dreams and obey them. According to Kierkegaard, life is about becoming one’s true self and to do this, you have to pass through three stages.

The aesthetic life, which is all about the personal pleasures to be had, is only the first stage. So now, when I read that last line “I have wasted my life,” I realize that the author has just discovered that he has not yet succeeded in reaching the next stage of life. Through this new discovery about the poem, it seems clear it must be considered the work of a true artist. The poem flows with an easy rhythm that is as soothing to the ears as the scenes are to the imaginative senses. All of this emphasis on the aesthetic enjoyment is not truly realized though, without the sudden wake-up line at the end.

Upon further study, the poem is clearly referring to Kierkegaard’s ideas and attempting to encourage its readers to consider the track of their own life. Works Cited Kierkegaard, Soren. Either/Or. London: Penguin Books, 1992. Wright, James. “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota.” The Branch Will Not Break: Poems. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1963: 16.