ALEXANDER THROCKMORTON AND THE PURSUIT OF GENIUS

In youth my wings were strong and tireless, 

but I did not know the mountains.

In age I knew the mountains

But my weary wings could not follow my vision

Genius is wisdom and youth.

(E.L. Masters, Spoon River Anthology, 1915)

Alexander Throckmorton is one of the protagonists of Edgar Lee Masters’ collection of poems Spoon River Anthology. Each poem tells the story of one of Spoon River’s citizens. All the protagonists,  now dead, confess their desires, ambitions and, above all, their regrets. 

The poem, composed by five free lines, is written in the first person. In the first line Alexander describes life as a flight whose destination is the “mountains”. These mountains stand for knowledge and experience. Instead,  the “wings”, which makes him able to fly, symbolise dreams, ambitions, desires, energy, and freedom.

Youth and Old Age

When you are young you have strong wings because there is a lot of energy inside you. You’re curious, you want to explore the world and make new experiences. You put so much passion into everything you do. You have many dreams and goals that you cannot wait to reach. However,  you are still too young to have enough wisdom. You need time to grow up, to make your experiences. Unfortunately,  once you become an adult and you have wisdom enough to face life and achieve your dreams,  your wings aren’t strong any longer. For this reason,  the mood of the poem is nostalgia. He wishes he could have had both wisdom and the strength he had in youth.

At the end of his nostalgic reflection,  Alexander shares with us the lesson he learned during his life: Genius is wisdom and youth.

But what is genius?

It is an ideal state of life, something that is out of ordinary, extraordinary.  You have genius when you have both youth and wisdom. But is it possible to have wisdom in youth? Or how can we keep our wings strong in old age?

For me the answer to these two questions is the same: a young person can have the knowledge or the wisdom   s/he needs if  s/he becomes mature. He doesn’t need to get old to become mature, actually. Maturity is a quality that all young people should reach, sooner or later. It helps you  face life with greater awareness of  yourself and what you want to do.

Maturity

However,   what does it mean to be mature? Alessandro D’Avenia, an Italian writer, in one of his latest articles said: “Mature is who measures and measures himself with reality”.  I completely agree with him. You become mature once you stop being selfish and living in your little world where there is no responsibility or problem and start facing reality with all is troubles and pain and you also begin to take care of other people. You have the maturity when you cannot be indifferent to what is happening around you anymore.

To be mature also means to understand what is really important in life: the things you love and the 

fundamental relationships,  family and friends. 

Teenager

Wislawa Szymborska, a Polish poet, in her poem “Teenager”  imagines meeting herself when she was 16. Many things have changed but she still takes care of the important things in her life: her passion for writing and the memory of her mother.

I really like these lines because they motivated me to start looking for the necessary wisdom to achieve my goals and make my dreams come true.

Do you have a favourite poem? Why do you like it? What is it about?

Chiara