28 An I AM Poem to Consider
An I Am Poem to Consider:
“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
The First I Am Poem:
I Am!
BY JOHN CLARE
I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:
I am the self-consumer of my woes—
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;
Even the dearest that I loved the best
Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.I Am, a Sonnet
I feel I am — I only know I am,
And plod upon the earth, as dull and void:
Earth's prison chilled my body with its dram
Of dullness, and my soaring thoughts destroyed,
I fled to solitudes from passions dream,
But strife persued — I only know, I am.
I was a being created in the race
Of men disdaining bounds of place and time:
A spirit that could travel o'er the space
Of earth and heaven — like a thought sublime,
Tracing creation, like my maker, free —
A soul unshackled — like eternity,
Spurning earth's vain and soul debasing thrall
But now I only know I am — that's all.Reflection:
When these poems were written, Clare was a patient at Northampton General Lunatic Asylum. In what was then referred to as the “insane asylum.” The institution itself was seen as a form of treatment: to “help” patients, they were socially isolated. In addition to isolation, the other methods to treat the mentally insane at that time involved Freudian therapeutic techniques, such as the “talking cure,” electroshock, antipsychotic drugs and other medications, and lobotomy and other forms of psychosurgery. And this was not his first stay in such a place.
In his I Am poems, Clare talks about isolation and loss of memory. He writes, "My friends forsake me like a memory lost" [(l.2)]However, in the poem, his voice is resolute as he proclaims his existence. As a writer, memory is so very important. How traumatic to have it wiped! In time, treatments like the lobotomy were viewed as morally wrong and psychosurgery methods were abandoned.
Other I Am examples:
Questions
How many lines are in this poem?
How many stanzas ?
How many lines are in each stanza?
What is the rhy scheme of this poem?
Do you see any repeating words or phrases?
What imagery stands out to you?
Does the writer employ figurative language? If so, explain.
What is your interpretation of this poem?
How do the words make you feel?
Does this work inspire you in any way?