Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Irving Feldman’s poem "Just Another Smack" is a piercing critique of the academic or detached approach to suffering and art, especially as exemplified by W.H. Auden's famous poem "Musée des Beaux Arts". Feldman tackles Auden’s praise of the “Old Masters” for understanding suffering’s “human position,” challenging the very notion of being “right” about suffering, and contrasting intellectualized observations with the raw reality of pain.

The poem opens with a reference to Auden's high regard for the “Old Masters” in portraying suffering. Auden's view from "Mt. Lectern" signifies an authoritative, didactic perspective. The metaphor suggests a distance between Auden and the reality of suffering he describes. Feldman writes, “They were, he noted, ‘never wrong.’” The quotation from Auden's poem initially establishes a sense of credibility, but the irony in Feldman's tone hints at the poet's skepticism.

The speaker acknowledges that "One is pleased to see / things put in place, grateful for instruction." Yet he questions whether suffering can ever be fully understood or explained by scholars or poets: “Sir, respectfully, is it possible ever to be right about ‘suffering?’” Feldman emphasizes that suffering is not static, "not just lying around waiting to be mapped," but instead has "abundantly its awful life."

The speaker directly challenges the artistic portrayal of suffering as legendary or archetypal: “Our suffering is no Nativity, is never legendary like Innocents slaughtered, Icarus plunging.” The absence of legendary status means that their suffering lacks the "consolation" of myth and instead remains "nameless (like us) and newly whelped and dying just to claim us for itself." Here, Feldman underscores the anonymity and personal isolation of contemporary suffering.

The speaker then addresses the possibility that Auden never intended to trivialize suffering but rather sought to prevent young poets from romanticizing their pain. “Let them not think their feelings so damned important, that sort of rubbish and rot!” There is a pragmatic "classic wisdom" in this approach, Feldman acknowledges, “that could help young masters get to be old.”

He then critiques the tendency to avoid personal suffering by staying “the one ‘just walking dully along.’” In this world, people are taught not to seek out suffering but to leave it for “the other bloke.” However, this avoidance eventually leads to a sense of security and complacency: “Well, twenty years later, and now your life’s a lovely picture.” The metaphor of a "lovely picture" suggests that the individual’s life has become a comfortable work of art with “lots of bright colors smack in the center,” while the “poor sod getting the shaft” is relegated to a “murky corner.”

Feldman masterfully extends this metaphor to emphasize that even the wealthy and comfortable cannot escape suffering indefinitely. The speaker imagines this privileged individual proudly bequeathing the painting to a museum, believing he is beyond suffering’s reach. But then “Suffering just happens to happen by,” as a leviathan-like force that brutalizes the unsuspecting individual. The metaphor of suffering as a violent entity conveys the inevitability and unpredictability of pain.

The encounter with suffering is brutal and personal: “big as leviathan and calling you son, / and clouts enormously your shoulder blade, / and dispatches a knee swift to the groin.” The physicality of this imagery starkly contrasts the earlier intellectual musings on suffering. Suffering whispers “the last words you’re going to hear,” revealing that it has specifically targeted the individual: “Listen close. It’s me. Only I got away. / And my message is strictly for you.” The terrifying message, “Hey, old fella, you’ve been elected,” underscores that suffering is an equal opportunity force that spares no one.

Structurally, "Just Another Smack" is written in free verse, which allows for the conversational tone and ironic undercurrents to shine through. Feldman uses enjambment to maintain the poem’s rhythm and flow, creating a sense of urgency that mirrors the speaker's growing realization of suffering’s inevitability. The language is both colloquial and richly metaphorical, effectively blending humor and grim reality.

In "Just Another Smack", Feldman ultimately challenges the notion that suffering can be neatly categorized or understood from a safe distance. He juxtaposes the intellectualized portrayal of suffering in art and scholarship with the visceral, unpredictable nature of real pain. By doing so, Feldman emphasizes that suffering is not something one can observe or comprehend fully from a distance; instead, it strikes indiscriminately and personally, leaving no one unscathed.

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