Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Dirge for a Joker" by Sylvia Plath paints the portrait of an individual for whom humor serves as a mechanism to cope with the absurdity of life, from birth to death. The poem opens with jarring instances where humor interjects itself at seemingly inappropriate times, like a cough in the middle of a kiss or laughter during a church service. These moments not only establish the central character's temperament but also act as metaphors for the intrusiveness of irony or absurdity in solemn facets of human existence.

The poem subtly critiques societal norms, particularly the rituals surrounding emotions like love and spirituality. The joker, always prompted to cough during a kiss or to laugh during a sermon, never lets the sanctity of any moment escape without a dash of irreverence. The 'profane stimulus' and 'the devil prompting' are not malevolent forces but rather indicators of the joker's refusal to fully engage with societal constructs without questioning them.

The 'mock-ceremony' of the joker's grief and his 'amused belief' that life is a 'monumental sham' allude to existential ideas about the meaninglessness or absurdity of life. It is significant that the joker perceives life through the lens of humor-a 'malady of sacrilegious mirth.' Here, Plath captures the essence of a character who responds to the cosmic joke that is life not with despair but with an 'amused belief.' The joker spreads this 'gay contagion' through his 'clever breath,' making his worldview not just an individual coping mechanism but a sort of subversive social critique.

But even for the joker, the final act is sobering. The poem's concluding couplet packs a powerful punch, delivering the ultimate irony. In death, the joker has to play the 'straight man,' a term used in comedic duos for the individual who plays the serious role to highlight the humor of the other. Here, the seriousness of death makes him the unwilling straight man to the 'humor of the worm,' a grim joke about bodily decay and the ultimate futility of life.

In "Dirge for a Joker," Sylvia Plath employs a Shakespearean sonnet form, which traditionally consists of three quatrains and a couplet with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. Sonnets often explore themes of love, morality, and the human condition. Plath's choice to use this traditional form to explore a character who is anything but traditional is an interesting juxtaposition. The tightly structured form provides a sense of order, contrasting sharply with the chaotic and irreverent life led by the joker character. This opposition can be seen as a commentary on how societal norms and structures often conflict with individual experiences and perceptions.

Plath expertly uses the form of a dirge, a mournful song or poem lamenting the dead, to explore complex themes like the tension between societal norms and individual perception, the role of humor in understanding life's absurdities, and the ultimate irony that even a lifetime of questioning or mocking life's solemnities cannot change the unalterable reality of death. The tone, a mix of reverence and irreverence, serves the complex portrayal of a life lived laughing in the face of existential despair. Yet, in the end, the poem suggests that death is the one 'straight man' against whom the joker's wit cannot prevail.

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