Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

David Lehman’s "Desolation Row" presents a portrait of an eccentric figure grappling with isolation, disillusionment, and the slow deterioration of passion. The poem is structured as a loose, meditative monologue, blending literary references, wry humor, and existential melancholy. Written in free verse, without a fixed rhyme scheme or meter, it mirrors the wandering thoughts of its subject—a man who once found joy in life but now drifts through routine with a detached sense of loss.

The poem’s title, "Desolation Row," evokes both physical and emotional isolation. While it shares its name with Bob Dylan’s famous song—a surrealistic vision of societal decay—Lehman’s use of the phrase suggests a more personal kind of desolation. His protagonist is not railing against the world but rather sinking into a quiet, intellectualized despair. The opening lines establish his alienation: "The eccentric genius went crazy living by himself. / Few things held his attention." The flatness of the statement reflects the subject’s ennui. He is not dramatically unraveling but simply drifting toward a loss of meaning.

The list of former pleasures—"Spy novels, baseball games on television, Japanese poetry, himself"—is particularly telling. These are solitary pursuits, intellectual or passive, but even they now fail to engage him. The last item in the list, "himself," subtly highlights his growing detachment from his own identity. Where once self-reflection may have been stimulating, now it is just another thing that "seemed flat or stale."

The literary allusions to Wordsworth and Coleridge introduce a layer of ironic self-awareness. The speaker recalls a dinner where "Coleridge sat at one end / of the table and Wordsworth at the other." Both poets discuss poetry, and yet Wordsworth’s gloominess dominates the anecdote. This mirrors the protagonist’s own sense of stagnation—he feels like Wordsworth, trapped in a sunny melancholy. The contrast with Coleridge, who lamented "the theft / of his opiated genius by abstruse German philosophy," suggests that even poetic despair can have its variations. Wordsworth’s sorrow is static, while Coleridge’s is animated by the loss of something grand. The protagonist prefers Coleridge, hinting at a longing for a more dramatic or romantic form of despair, rather than the dull emptiness he currently experiences.

Lehman then introduces another poet, Philip Larkin, who once joked that "Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth." Larkin’s quip recontextualizes Wordsworth’s famous "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." For Wordsworth, memory and nature provide solace, while for Larkin, loss itself becomes his creative wellspring. The protagonist understands Larkin’s sentiment but finds himself adrift. If deprivation fuels creativity, what happens when even deprivation loses its sting?

As the poem nears its conclusion, the protagonist’s only remaining interest is "pornography." The starkness of this admission is jarring, disrupting the intellectual musings with a blunt and unromantic reality. Unlike poetry, which elevates experience, pornography offers only fleeting, empty stimulation. This shift underscores his detachment—rather than seeking connection or beauty, he has resigned himself to superficial escape.

Lehman then returns to history, referencing "disillusion with the French Revolution." This aligns the protagonist’s personal malaise with a grander historical disappointment. Just as revolutionaries once believed in the promise of a new era, only to face corruption and failure, he too has lost faith in what once excited him. The poem’s closing lines reveal his desperate attempt at renewal: "Yes, / that’s what he would do, that would be / his new project to ward off ennui." The phrase "to ward off ennui" suggests an act of mere survival rather than inspiration. It is not passion driving him but the need to avoid complete stagnation.

"Desolation Row" is a study in disillusionment, portraying a mind caught between intellectual longing and emotional exhaustion. The poem’s structure—shifting between literary references, historical allusions, and personal reflection—mirrors the protagonist’s restless yet unfulfilled search for meaning. Lehman’s dry, understated tone enhances the irony of the situation, making the protagonist both tragic and darkly comedic. In the end, the poem does not resolve his despair but instead captures the circular nature of intellectual melancholy—the search for meaning, the loss of joy, and the attempt to construct a new, albeit hollow, project to pass the time.

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