On Getting Drunk

So this is not the next installment in my 2012 series. I'm working on that. I'll get it to you guys. But I was working on a response paper for a poem by Charles Baudelaire called "Get Drunk." Well that's what the English translation is called. I can neither pronounce nor read French, so I won't include any of that here. Anyway I liked the poem and had fun responding to it, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

This is the poem:

“Get Drunk”

You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it--it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time which breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.

But on what?  On wine, on poetry or on virtue, whatever you wish. But get drunk.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace, on the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake up again, the drunkenness already diminished or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will answer you: “It is time to get drunk!  So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, get drunk, get continually drunk!  On wine, on poetry or on virtue, whatever you wish."  

And here is my response (sorry for the formal structure, it's for class):

In Charles Baudelaire’s poem “Enivrez-Vous” (“Get Drunk”), he makes the bold declaration that we as humans must always be drunk, so as not to be crushed by the oppressive weight of life. He follows this with the assertion that it doesn’t matter on what we get drunk, whether it be “on wine, on poetry, or on virtue,” as long as we get drunk. Now I thought this argument was interesting, as “drunk” can be defined in a general sense as being unable to make one’s own decisions, and thus Baudelaire is arguing that it is better to go through life a slave to something else than it is to make well-thought out decisions. However, what is more interesting to me, though not entirely mutually exclusive, is the likening of poetry and virtue to substances equally as capable of robbing a person of sobriety as wine and the ways these substances can lead to insobriety.

            First let’s examine poetry. Poetry is a creation. Poetry and writing in general provide the deepest reflections of a soul. Poetry serves as a canvas for those who write it and a mirror for those who read it. Poetry reveals far more about the person interpreting it than it does its subject. So if this is our definition and understanding of poetry, then how is it intoxicating? I think that the expression and reflection a poem provides often results in passion. We have a passion for knowing ourselves and an even greater passion for knowing others. And from passion, both scientifically and emotionally, comes an elation that robs us of our self-control. We whoop for joy. We weep great tears. We scream in agony. So it seems that poetry intoxicates by playing to our passions and freeing us from our inhibitions.

            Now let’s take a look at virtue. Where poetry was freeing, virtue is confining. Virtue limits one’s actions to a set moral compass. While virtue’s limits on actions set it apart from the freed action of poetry and wine, it can still get someone drunk. By removing a person’s options, virtue allows for a certain freedom of decision. Morals limit a decision to one option, thereby removing the moment of crisis that comes with making said decision. Virtue removes one’s ability to make one’s decision by removing all decisions in one’s life, thereby adhering to our definition of “drunk.”

            Finally I think it’s important to consider what effect this has on the poem. Our initial reading of the poem suggested that Baudelaire is arguing that we be slaves rather than thinking beings. However, poetry suggests just the opposite - that we need to be freed from our inhibitions in order to live life to its fullest and not be “slaves of time.” Thus the lack of control inherent in being drunk, whether off wine or the passion of poetry, frees us from the weight of the world. However, virtue suggests that this inebriation is also possible through enslavement to a master other than time, namely morals. Virtue frees us from time by freeing us from decision, making us drunk off of morals. After examining poetry and virtue as inebriants, our reading must then be adapted to encompass the freedoms they supply. I propose instead that Baudelaire is suggesting that in order to live life to its fullest we must have all the cares of everyday life lifted from our shoulders in any way we can.

Not included in original essay -
I'm not sure if I agree with this poem or not. On one hand, I think drunkeness provides us with one extremely valuable resource: the ability to just say or do something without regard for other people's opinions. On the other hand there are few things I value more than intelligent discourse, which can only come about with carefully weighted decision making. So I think if we go with the final reading of the poem I proposed and limit it to certain situations, then I'd agree. For example, its a lot easier to tell a girl you think she's beautiful if you have given up on all your inhibitions. But those same inhibitions help us debate things like politics, science, religion, morals, literature, and pretty much everything else. So I think in making decisions of the self, our hearts should be ruled by passion or morality, but in decisions regarding others and matters of intellect we  should let our brains do the talking. But that's just my opinion, what do you think?