The Beaten, the Broken, and the Bruised

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Recommended: Robert Frost's life influenced his poetry

Without pain, there would be a dramatic lack of sincerity among the people of the world and without pain the world would be unable to clearly see the beauty among the ashes. Art and poetry close the massive gap between pain and beauty and allow the distraught human heart to more easily see the beauty in the dark mist at dusk. President John F. Kennedy once spoke about Robert Frost and His Poetry when he stated: “And because he knew the midnight as well as the high noon, because he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph of the human spirit, he gave his age strength with which to overcome despair.” (John F. Kennedy) This statement exemplifies the overwhelming power of art and the affect it has on the human spirit. Also, it gives a clear example of how art gives the individual the power in which to overcome despair. This all leads to the question: How do the poems “Beowulf” and “Try to Praise the Mutilated World” enable the broken, the beaten, and the bruised to see beauty and the wonders of life in a world that is regularly filled with pain, suffering, and torment?
Adam Zagajewski begins his poem,”Try to Praise the Mutilated World,” by attempting to bring the thoughts of his reader back to the times of which he or she enjoyed the long summer days of peace. He does this by encouraging his readers to “ Remember June’s long days, and wild strawberries, drops of wine, the dew. The nettles that methodically overgrow the abandoned homesteads of exiles.” (Zagajewski) Zagajewski begins his poem invoking thoughts of peace to bring the reader into remembrance of the good times before the bad and tells that,” You must praise the mutilated world.” (Zagajewski) The journey the reader takes during that time of reading the poem, begins with...

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...e from J.F.K. about Robert Frost :“And because he knew the midnight as well as the high noon, because he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph of the human spirit, he gave his age strength with which to overcome despair.” “Beowulf” and Praise the Mutilated World empower the reader though art to overcome the despair of the and sickness of the world.

Works Cited

Beowulf. Trans. Seamus Heaney. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Gen. ed. Sarah
Lawall. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2006. 1175-1246. Print.

Heaney, Seamus. "Try to Praise the Mutilated World " The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov.
2013.

Kennedy, John F. "About the NEA." President John F. Kennedy: Remarks at Amherst College, October 26, 1963. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .

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