Lockdown: Simon Armitage

 Lockdown : Simon Armitage

‘Pictorial Journey of a Pandemic Poem’

Hello everyone this blog is responding to poem Lockdown. Task assigned by Dr.Dilip Barad sir

Lockdown is a poem by a poet laureate of the U.K. created as the response to COVID-19 crisis. The poem reflects on the themes of isolation and the human experience during the pandemic, drawing parallels to historical events like the plague.

The poet laureate’s new poem, Lockdown, moves from the outbreak of bubonic plague in the village Eyam. in the 17th century, when a bale of cloth from London brought fleas carrying the plague to the Derbyshire village, to the epic poem Meghadūta by the Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa.

The poem "Lockdown" by Simon Armitage reflects the emotional phase in people's life during the pandemic. It marks the feelings of being confined and lonely, which echoed in the experience of people at such unprecedented times. The lock-down signified how the world was divided in pieces due to the pandemic, thereby giving a literal sense to the quote that,

 "The world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls".

Context:

Armitage's work also expresses duality between crisis and opportunity. The pandemic is essentially a form of crisis, though it presents much in the way of opportunities, too. This makes it relevant to those people struggling in the age of lockdowns and restrictions. The poem invites readers on a "pictorial journey" that allows them to use their visual sense to connect with the shared human experience during these times.

This is what people experienced in the modern-day lock-down, caused by COVID-19, as portrayed by Armitage through his line:

"I couldn't get away from the dream about sick fleas."

The metaphor of "infected fleas" brings out the fear and anxiety that filled everyday life during the pandemic, showing as much physical illness as mental stress. The image of "soggy cloth" makes this experience clearer, showing the interruption of daily life and the heaviness of feeling lonely.

This historical context of the plague significantly increases the understanding of themes in Simon Armitage's poem "Lockdown." Making direct parallels between past and present experiences of isolation and loss during pandemics, it refers to the Great Plague of London, 1665-66.

1. Reflection of Historical Events

It vividly remembers the devastation of plague, especially in the village of Eem, not severely hit but subjected to quarantine. It adds to this historical background to highlight the emotional load of the lockdowns and the fear to this infectious disease. The imagery of "people dying on the roads" during the plague is really remarkable in giving a sense of urgency and despair, which the world at present is experiencing.

2. Themes of Isolation and Connection

The historical context allows readers to explore themes of isolation and longing for connection. The poem's references to quarantine reflect the emotional and physical barriers that arise during pandemics, resonating with contemporary experiences during COVID-19. This connection highlights the cyclical nature of human suffering and resilience in the face of adversity.

3. Artistic Responses to Crisis

Historical context further reveals the artists and writers' response throughout history to the crisis. The proposal of artists who painted the atrocities of the plague further cements the role of art as a platform through which people deal with trauma in efforts to define a collective sense of sorrow. Armitage's poem would therefore fall into this category of voicing a literary voice in dealing with feelings at a time of crisis. The historical background that the plague provides gives a context to the themes of "Lockdown", which one can use to understand the emotions of isolation, loss, and the enduring human spirit during pandemics.

In sum, Armitage's "Lockdown" captures the turmoil in feelings of any person at the same time offering scope for creativity and reflection brought about by such aggressive circumstances.

*Structure and Imagery :

The poem "Lockdown" by Simon Armitage has two distinct dream sequences focusing on the themes of isolation and longing during the pandemic.

1. First Dream Sequence

The first dream sequence is hallucinatory, wherein the action unfolds in a plague- village Eyam in 1665-66 during the plague. In it, the fear and ruins of the then historical time can be seen, illustrating how the pandemics' effect illustrates current events in COVID-19. The speaker reflects on the realities of death and quarantine, underlining the emotional weight of such experiences.

2. Second Dream Sequence

The second dream sequence takes the speaker to another more exotic location- referencing Kalidasa's "Meghaduta". In this tale, the estranged husband Yaksh sends messages through a cloud. The complete contrast here is the bleakness of the plague set against love and connection themes and points out how the power of imagination and hope can use despair to its utmost potential.

*Theme of isolation and connection:

One of the main ideas is the struggle between being alone and wanting to connect with others. Armitage's poem shows how lockdowns build emotional and physical walls, showing how people still want to connect with others even when it is hard. This idea is especially important during the pandemic, when many people were kept apart from those they love.

#Connection with Kalidas’s Meghadūta: 

Through Kalidasa's "Meghaduta," even deeper themes will be brought forth in the poem. This poem depicts Yaksh sending messages to his wife through a cloud, where hope and afar communication are expressed.

 In "Lockdown," the same yearning for connection is portrayed by the speaker during the loneliness of the pandemic.The poem was also influenced by a scene in Meghadūta in which an exile sends reassuring words to his wife in the Himalayas via a passing cloud.

“The cloud is convinced to take the message because the yaksha, which I think is sort of an attendant spirit to a god of wealth, tells him what amazing landscapes and scenery he’s going to pass across. I thought it was a kind of hopeful, romantic gesture,” said Armitage.

He thought there was a message to be learned “about taking things easy and being patient and trusting the Earth and maybe having to come through this slightly slower, and wiser, at the other end – given that one thing that’s accelerated the problem is our hectic lives and our proximities and the frantic ways we go about things”.

Poetry is “by definition consoling” because “It often asks us just to focus and think and be contemplative”, said Armitage.

“Poetry is often about detail, even to the point where there’s just something sacramental in the ordinary descriptions of everyday life,” he said. “It’s unlikely that there’s going to be a book of poems that are consolation against catastrophe, but just in poetry’s nature, in the way it asks us to be considerate of language, it also asks us to be considerate of each other and the world. In the relationship with thoughtful language, something more thoughtful occurs.”

Finally, Armitage's 'Lockdown' reminds us how literature can unite people in the face of torments. In speaking of both Western and Eastern traditions, the poem reminds us that human suffering is the same everywhere but also provides moments of hope and connective power.

The last two lines express this feeling:

"The journey, a ponderous one at times, long and slow but necessarily so."

References:

Barad, Dilip. “(PDF) UNIFYING POWER OF LITERATURE IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC: AN ANALYSIS OF 'LOCKDOWN' BY SIMON ARMITAGE.” ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371968771 _UNIFYING_POWER_OF_LITERATURE_IN_TIMES_OF_PANDEMIC_AN_ANALYSIS_OF_'LOCKDOWN'_BY_SIMON_ARMITAGE. Accessed 16 September 2024.

Flood, Alison, et al. “Lockdown: Simon Armitage writes poem about coronavirus outbreak.” The Guardian, 21 March 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/21/l lockdown-simon-armitage-writes-poem-about-coronavirus-outbreak. Accessed 16 September 2024.