Sunday, September 17, 2006

Tragedy is easier

A dear friend gave me pause when she said she doesn't like to read my poems because they are too sad. "A poem can be judged by the depth of emotion it invokes in you," I replied, "Does it really matter which emotion it is?"

But in my heart, I wonder why it is that my poems tend towards the tragic. Is it that I use poetry as an outlet for my troubled emotions? Is it that I aim for poignancy, and poignancy by definition involves an element of sadness? Is it that I simply find tragedy easier to pen than other types of feeling?

It strikes me that I unwittingly pull people into my melancholic moods, while doing little to spread the cheer when I am in a better frame of mind. And I'm not just talking about poetry.

This blog and the poetry blog shall archive happier thoughts from now.

Pssst... this joke made aforementioned friend laugh:
Why do PhD students tend to avoid eating apples?
Because an apple a day keeps the doctorate away.

Cheers,
Prashanth.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

lol at the joke. i was eating an apple right now, stopped mid-way! :-)

Anonymous said...

Now I know why I have this innate sense of urgency to run away from a scene when apples are offered to me...

Also, understand why Newton may have needed an apple for inspiration... ;)

Prashanth said...

TGFI,
Now now, don't let my jokes spoil your good health :)

BAL,
Ah, poor Newton. All he said about apples was, "I sat in a contemplative mood and was occasioned by the fall of an apple..."

Anonymous said...

Prashanth,
[1] I totally respect your friends view
[2] I'm happy that you pause and review your own words ..

However ...
Is it so easy to sway you away from your own self [thoughts & words]???? Poems of all the arts ... has to come out from one's feelings ...
If your in a reflective mood / happy-go-lucky mood/ melancolic mood ... so would be the poems ...

Any art-form has to be true to oneself first ... unless you are getting paid for it .. then you may dance to the beats of someone else's music.

BTW ... it's been really long we talked ... so maybe today ...

Anonymous said...

melancholic*

Anonymous said...

Errr With that kind of a joke I'd rather think that you should stick to tragedy.

Hmm I wonder if my poems are sad too! I guess in any art form comedy is tougher to create than tragedy.

Artful Badger said...

Thats a totally bad joke. With jokes like this who wants tragedy :)..
I dont know how to write super sad..I find it too private to write about it!

Anonymous said...

~ can i please add my name to the list of ppl who dislike that joke?
~ I think you should just write what comes naturally, without making a decision to go one way or the other..isnt that more real?
~ I tend to write a lot about not sad per se, but bad things, scary things, opression type death things..who knows where in the world that comes from!

Prashanth said...

Intern,
Well, its not like I'm saying I'll stop doing things this way, but just that I will include more poems that are not sad. And yes, we should talk :)

Kirthi,
Not necessarily comedy... just... things that are not sad!!

Badger,
I heard desibloggers went kaput. Do you still have a "humour ranking" and all?

Alraqs,
My friend wants me to do things that will cheer up me and others as well. How can I say no to that?

Anonymous said...

why is everyone dissing the joke?? i support it whole-heartedly!

P said...

LOL @ the joke!

Prashanth said...

Thanks for the support, Lajjo and Persp :) these people are such meanies no?