Comments | aryky: "On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year," by Lord Byron

aryky

"On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year," by Lord Byron

Oct 07, 2017 22:23

I hasten to assure anyone reading this that I do not in any way identify with the sentiments described in the poem, but I feel obligated to post it as a fan of the younger Romantics turning 36.

( Poem )

Comments 4

steepholm October 8 2017, 07:48:13 UTC

Strictly, I suppose he's turning 37? A bit young for a mid-life crisis, perhaps, but they in those days they didn't live as long...

aryky October 8 2017, 13:41:48 UTC

No, it's definitely 36. When you turn 1, you've completed your first year, so, by extrapolation, when you turn 2, you've completed your second year, 3, your third, etc. etc. on to 36 your thirty-sixth.

This is corroborated by him having died at 36; I mean, if the poem was written posthumously, that would certainly explain the mid-life crisis, but a lot of other things would be suddenly brought into question. I did have the thought yesterday that it's now going to be only 3 months until I've outlived all of the younger Romantics, which, even as a person with no ambitions whatsoever, I find kind of disturbing, but it's certainly better than the alternative!

steepholm October 8 2017, 14:11:21 UTC

Ha! I was suddenly struck as I was driving from my mother's house just now that I'd made a mistake (no uncommon thing with me and mathematics), and on returning home I rushed to my computer to issue a mea culpa - but you beat me to it!

I found 33 (Jesus and Alexander the Great) a difficult milestone to drive by in the middle lane of mediocrity, but just wait until you're older than Shakespeare!

aryky October 9 2017, 14:25:43 UTC

LOL, you almost made it before me. If only I'd woken up just a bit later. . .

You know, the Jesus at 33 thing has been an object of fascination to me since I was 16 because of the Pulp song, Dishes, which was apparently inspired by Jarvis Cocker turning 33 after having been told by someone that it's typical for people to feel a sense of crisis when turning 33 because of comparing themselves with Jesus. That's even why I referenced the song in the LJ post I made when I turned 33 myself. But I didn't really feel the sense of crisis or difficulty myself. I suppose the younger Romantics affect me more because of some vague remaining sense that if I were to have achieved any notoriety in my life, it would have been literary in nature? I mean, I guess it's also because when I took my course on them, which was a very powerful experience for me, I was nearly Keats's age when he died, and I read his letters for my research paper, and the fact that he was about my age made a big impression on me. But yes, Shakespeare does sound pretty ( ... )