Lockdown : Simon Armitage

Pictorial Journey of Pandemic Poem Lockdown : 

Hello everyone,

This blog is based on Thinking task given by Dilip Barad sir. 

Here i give to original poem by Simon Armitage, 

"And I couldn’t escape the waking dream

of infected fleas

in the warp and weft of soggy cloth

by the tailor’s hearth in ye olde Eyam.

Then couldn’t un-see the Boundary Stone,

that cock-eyed dice with its six dark holes,

thimbles brimming with vinegar wine

purging the plagued coins.

Which brought to mind the sorry story

of Emmott Syddall and Rowland Torre,

star-crossed lovers on either side

of the quarantine line whose wordless courtship spanned the river till she came no longer.

But slept again,

and dreamt this time of the exiled yaksha sending word to his lost wife on a passing cloud,

a cloud that followed an earthly map of camel trails and cattle tracks,

streams like necklaces,

fan-tailed peacocks, painted elephants,

embroidered bedspreads

of meadows and hedges,

bamboo forests and snow-hatted peaks,

waterfalls, creeks,

the hieroglyphs of wide-winged cranes

and the glistening lotus flower after rain,

the air hypnotically see-through, rare,

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

Simon Armitage uses two dream-like sequences to bridge historical and contemporary experiences of the plague in exploring the theme of isolation in his poem "Lockdown". The impact of the Black Death is drawn to meet with that of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in this way Armitage provides an incredibly powerful reflection on human suffering and resilience.

 Journey Through Time: The Eyam Plague

The first dream sequence transports us to Eyam, a small village in Derbyshire, England, during the Black Death of 1665-66. Even though Eyam was somewhat isolated, its people chose to quarantine themselves not to let the plague spread to other communities around them. To recreate this historical setting, Armitage makes use of familiar imagery: "infected fleas" and "sogi cloth," such that people are transported to the bleak reality of the time.

Most importantly, the "six dark holes" boundary stone is an especially striking symbol in this cycle. The stone was designed to purify coins with vinegar to prevent disease-causing germs. This is an example of any form of physical barrier between the villagers and the world outside it. It is a similarity to modern sanitarial practices, using rudimentary but essential methods.

More than a history passage, the boundary stone in Armitage is a metaphor to the isolation and separation that defines pandemics. Referencing the ancient practices, Armitage drives home the fact that despite the changes in our methods, human efforts to curb disease happen continuously.

 The Love Story Across Quarantine: Emote Sidil and Roland Torre

In the lines of this poem, a touching love story involving Emote Sidil and Roland Torre, lovers separated by the line of quarantine in Eyam, is woven into it; such wordless courtship across a river should define all that the plague imposes as physical and emotional barriers. The tragic end of their story, where the two lovers both fall to the plague, so powerfully marks the personal costs of such crises.

Their tale is a reflection of wider themes of loss and disconnection, speaking really to what it's like to live within modern lockdowns and social distancing. Through interweaving this historical love story, Armitage establishes across time the emotional and communal effects of disease, incorporating an intensely personal layer to the poem.

A World View: Kalidasa's Meghdoot

The next dream interlude introduces the Sanskrit classic, Meghdoot or The Cloud Messenger-by Kalidasa. This ancient poem speaks of a Yaksha who is exiled and sends word to his faraway wife via a cloud-an interminable journey across the Indian landscape, across whose breathtaking beauty the cloud would pass. Here, it symbolizes longing and separation.

The use of Meghdoot  by Armitage in his work is an inclusion of contrast between East and West, evoking a sense of separation which humanity sees at large. While Meghdoot calls upon a scenario of natural beauty rather than calamity, the theme of separation runs parallel to the isolation precipitated through pandemics. This juxtaposition makes a deeper exploration of the poet's reception by different cultures and times of life.

While Armitage's "Lockdown" extends beyond the immediate context of the pandemic, it continues to open up into more general themes of isolation, historical memory, and human resilience. In its typical blend of references that are at once historical and literary and have connotations with personal and communal experiences, this poem promises a nuanced reflexion of what pandemic means. Historical practices and tragedy combine with a story of tragic love as a reflection of the pains of the past and as a lens through which contemporary challenges can be understood.

By infusing historical and literary dimensions, Armitage refines our perception of pandemics and highlights the unending fight of humanity against diseases. And, because his is the kind of poem to carry one through one's own isolation, it reminds us of the timeless nature of human resilience and how history and literature bring comfort and the viewpoint one needs during its darkest moments.

Finally, Simon Armitage's "Lockdown" wefts historical introspection so skillfully into current experience, one that really presents a poignant meditation on plague and isolation. His fine images and good storytelling link up past and present for readers, reminding them of the large shared human journey through times of profound challenge.

References :  

DoE-MKBU. “Lockdown: Pictorial Journey of a Pandemic Poem by Simon Armitage.” YouTube, 19 July 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=QacfiCC-m8Q.