I love
Halloween. Supernatural and horror shows have always been a favorite of mine.
I’m a huge fan of the Penny Dreadful series. It’s a unique take on the
old horror stories: Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, vampires, and so on. Mind you,
it’s not for the faint-hearted. But it’s extremely well-written, and the acting
and casting is amazing. Vanessa Ives, the main character, played by the
talented Eva Green, has been fighting a battle with demonic forces since she
was a young girl. She is devout, kind, tough, and struggles to keep the forces
of evil at bay.
An odd thing
happened today. Poetry has been calling to me lately, and while searching in my
old college literature book for William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” I
happened upon another poem, called “Written in Northampton Asylum,” by John
Clare. The name sounded familiar, then…I
got the chills.
Penny Dreadful came to mind immediately. There is a
touching scene in the series where Vanessa is serving food in a dank, dark
place to the sick and poor in London. Frankenstein’s monster, played with
heartbreaking perfection by Rory Kinnear, was abandoned by Frankenstein and
left to survive however he could. He is huddled in a corner. Vanessa brings him
soup, sits down beside him, and treats him like the human being he never feels
he is. The monster introduces himself as John Clare. This scene involves them
reciting together, in mutual misery and heavy hearts, John Clare’s Poem,
“Written in Northampton Asylum.” It is both heartrending and poignant.
Here’s the
poem:
“I am!
Yet what I am who cares, or knows?
My
friends forsake me like a memory lost.
I am the
self-consumer of my woes;
They rise
and vanish, an oblivious host,
Shadows
of life, whose very soul is lost.
And yet I
am—I live—though I am toss’d
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the
living sea of waking dream,
Where
there is neither sense of life, nor joys,
But the
huge shipwreck of my own esteem
And all
that’s dear. Even those I loved the best
Are
strange--nay, they are stranger than me.
I long
for scenes where man has never trod—
For
scenes where woman never smiled or wept—
There to
abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep
as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Full of high
thoughts, unborn. So let me lie,--
The grass
below; above the vaulted sky.”
-----John
Clare (1793-1864)
This poem
reflects the despair and loneliness that Frankenstein’s monster feels, and also
Vanessa Ives’ struggle to cast out the evil forces, end her torment, and be at
one with her Creator.
I am drawn to the human capacity to survive
and find hope and joy even through horrific circumstances. The writing and
acting of Penny Dreadful inspired me to create complex characters who
fight to survive and search to find human warmth, love, and compassion.
I hope you
enjoyed reading this poem.
My second
book, Heartbeat of the Moon, is both a love story and a unique twist on
a well-loved horror myth. It is out on audiobook now as well. Thanks for
visiting.
