Ha-Ha-Ha-Humour!

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

e e cummings

On the days when even a simple smile is difficult, laughter is the clear answer to all life’s problems. It may be difficult; when I am upset or worried, adding laughter to my life seems like the hardest task imaginable. But then it happens. Something so abnormal, unexpected and totally out of character tips me over the edge of insanity. Suddenly, I am laughing uncontrollably, my eyes squinty with mirth and tears, and shaking with relief’s uncontrollable tremors.
It’s over as quickly as it started; one second too long, and I am suddenly left struggling to ignore the tugging smile. But I feel infinitely better, about everything.

For me, humour is all about the stress relief. Sure, I laugh when I’m not stressed, and I always seek out something that can add a smile to my day, regardless of my mood. But on those days when the world is ending, I will try doubly hard to find something humorous. Sometimes I wonder if it’s more of a distraction than anything else; maybe I just need something that will allow me to refocus my attention on a lighter topic, something with less weight and consequence. That’s where shows like Glee, the Big Bang Theory, and the Office come in handy. They may not be the most educated or educating shows on the tube. At times, they may be politically and socially incorrect, but sometimes they are SO correct in their portrayal of life and culture that we are forced to laugh at something we would normally study with seriousness.

That is where the strength of humour truly lies. The laugh-out-loud quirks and jokes are important, but the underlying current of seriousness through irony is what adds the “punch” to every punch-line. Because of its light tone, it can provide a satirical straight-shot to the heart of every societal problem, without the obstacles of political correctiveness or etiquette.

Even when we do not realize the true implications of humour, we are subtly influenced by its irony, so that we begin to find the irony in our own lives. Yes, humour has a serious thread, but the top-layer is usually what allows us to see the world with fresh eyes. We can then begin to sift through the layers of our own lives with the understanding that this irony and humour exists in the most unlikely of places. 

Zeal for Zennor

"The Landscape Was the Occasion" 

I’ll admit; it took me awhile to find a poem in this collection that truly spoke to me and made me want to read it over and over again. Many of the poems seemed quite dry, overly-worded, overly-planned, and exhausted (as well as exhausting!). But, the one I finally found is probably one of my favorites of all time. It’s called Zennor, on page 95 of Poetry of the Thirties (compiled by Robin Skelton). It is written by Anne Ridler, one of the few female poets included in this collection, which I found especially important and exciting! (In fact, I went looking for a strong, female-written poem in this book, and found only a handful. It isn’t surprising, considering the time period in which the poems were written, but it is still disappointing.)

Besides the beautiful imagery in this poem (I love this line: “What held its waters from flooding the world entire.”), the idea of consistency and reliability really appeals to me. She seems to be suggesting that life must go on, regardless of catastrophe or success, something that is especially important to me now as I struggle to keep up with all of the demands in my life. They seem never ending (and they probably will never end), but there will always be something beyond the tasks and deadlines I must complete. There is a “must” to experience life, and to let everything else go, just for minute, to experience something so real that it is surreal. I feel like it’s so easy for me to get caught up in the tediousness of everyday life that I forget what else is important. 

She begins the poem with a picture of the sea, stretching into the distance, and ends with the idea that the sea “sucks the last shreds of sun” from the sky, as though her day (and life) ends and begins with the same scene. It doesn’t matter what happens in between. We can always depend on the sunrise and sunset, just like we can depend upon our breath and our heartbeat. I like that idea also, in that it physically links me to my day and to the days of others. 

It’s just a poem about a landscape, about something that we might see daily. However, the acknowledgement of nature’s beauty and regularity is what makes this poem so compelling.