A birthday message in a bottle...
In honour of William Shakespeare's birthday, let us delve into the depths of his words and their contemporary echoes in Covid poetry.
In her stirring poetry collection, Call Us What We Carry, Amanda Gorman weaves Shakespeare's lines as a preface to her chapter titled "Fury and Faith," magnifying the collective anguish and grief from the pandemic.
For my particular grief
is of so floodgate and o'erbearing nature
that it engluts and swallows other sorrows
and it is still itself.
Act 1. III 60-64
These words, lifted from Othello (1603), capture the overwhelming nature of ‘grief’ that Brabantio feels when he hears that his daughter, Desdemona, is marrying the black moor of Venice, Othello, portraying it as a floodgate that drowns all other sorrows yet remains unchanged in its essence.
Through her poetry, Gorman confronts the systemic injustices and violence inflicted upon black people, echoing the rallying cries for racial justice.
Shipwrecked in a pandemic, Gorman's words serve as a beacon of hope, illuminating the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.
The theme of water, so intrinsic to Shakespeare's imagery and reflected in the title of Gorman's collection, becomes symbolic of both healing and transformation amid tumultuous seas.
As we commemorate Shakespeare's birthday, let us immerse ourselves in the profound depths of Gorman’s emulation of his words, finding solace and inspiration in the timeless truths they tell.
Through the lens of contemporary voices like Amanda Gorman, we navigate the tempestuous waters of grief, fury, and faith, forging onward with courage and compassion.
Hear the latest podcast episode of Pandemic Pages which explores Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman in full here: Pandemic Pages Podcast