By the time I took Poetry 101 at the University of Washington, I had (I thought) a lot of experience in literature and poetry from other classes and reading I'd done on my own. I struggled a bit, psychologically, with taking a 101 class in a subject I was already fairly acquainted with. Sometimes I found the material too basic, the pace too slow, while at other times I admired the skill of the professor (Joyce Moody) in discussing the subject.
The description of my infamous behavior follows.
We were discussing some songs of Leonard Cohen, who has long been a subject of my interest and, at the time of that class I had already, repeatedly, consumed the majority of his recorded work and quite a bit of his books. Of more direct importance to this story, I had read a biography of the man. So when Prof. Moody posed this question to the class,
"What, or who is Suzanne?"
(as featured in the song Suzanne) you can imagine that I was practically bursting to share my "extensive" knowledge. However, preferring to hear other opinions, and having nothing more interesting to say than "Suzanne was his wife", I held my peace.
Unfortunately, the initial answer that was given was, in my view, both then and now, absurd. This was not the fault of the gentleman who provided it. After all, this was a 101 class, the point was to learn, not to already have the answers.
Of course, in my zeal to set the record straight, forgetting my philosophy of listening first, I shot my hand in the air so that I could shoot down this wild speculation with fact.
"Suzanne is the name of Leonard Cohen's former wife." I said, triumphantly.
That remark essentially silenced further discussion of Leonard and Suzanne, which is too bad, because I would have loved to dwell on both of them for a considerable amount of time.
Even at the time I felt a nagging shame for my behavior, but for the life of me I couldn't pinpoint the source of it.
Recent events have finally helped to suggest where and how I was wrong.
First of all, just because Leonard was married to a Suzanne, doesn't mean that "his wife" is the answer to the question "What or Who is Suzanne?", which was the important thing. So, I feel beefheaded for smugly thinking I had provided "the" answer to a question that was obviously soliciting a symbolic or metaphorical answer.
Secondly, I regret that I felt the need (and acted on it) to "correct" my classmate. Everyone would have benefitted from the mediation of Prof. Moody, but my injection of "fact" into the discussion completely deflated the discussion and so whatever she was driving at became lost.
Finally, embarassingly, I was wrong; literally. My assertion was; if he was married to a woman named Suzanne, how could the poem "Suzanne" be about anyone else? I was wrong, wrong, wrong. The evidence was circumstantial.
The fact is, according to the recent Lian Lunson documentary "I'm Your Man", that the Suzanne in the song was the wife of a friend of Leonard's. Which brings us back to the original question: "What or who is Suzanne?" Only after finally learning the answer to 'who' have I realized that 'what' is the far more interesting question.
That is my humiliating story for the day. Hopefully this will provide some measure of therapy for myself and add a little light to the world.
11 comments :
What indeed. Patience grasshopper, patience...
Funny, I have had similar experiences in the past, though none I can pinpoint with the accuracy you have here.
I frequently ask Abby questions, some leading and others not and frequently she doesn't answer the question I asked. "Why is Emma crying?" "I didn't do anything to her!"
Heck, not just Abby (hers are just extremely simple examples), but most of my co-workers do the same thing every single day.
All of us come to any conversation, probably 99% of them, with assumptions that good moderators, clarity of thought (open-mindedness?), or just plain persistence can, where necessary, overcome to get the heart of the matter in the clear.
Assumptions can speed along a conversation but they can also railroad it down a path that may not be desired and there is almost nothing more tedious than trying to subtly convince someone they aren't answering your question but rather the question they expected you to ask.
I try hard to avoid doing that.
On the other hand, a good classmate could have made the point for you, Prof Moody, and the benefit of the discussion by saying.
"Okay, He had a wife named Suzanne. Big deal. Are we talking about the inspiration for the song or are we talking about the subject of the song or even just that abstract thought, we call a song, referred to by Cohen as Suzanne."
Ahh, epistemology.
For those who might want to venture a thought regarding the who or what of Suzanne, here is a link which should take you to Leonard Cohen's lyrics of Suzanne:
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Leonard-Cohen/Suzanne.html
Of course I have heard the song many times, but seldom have I read the lyrics in total.
My first image of the who or what of Suzanne is that she was a modern day guide or prophet, possibly Suzanne is a rivulet.
Whatever she is and the speculations are indeed fun on this snowy day, I thank her for illustrating to me that some of my DNA exists out in the world, I had despaird that the computer world had permanently encapsulated it.
Re: Suzanne
A female guide, body of water, riveulet, stream of conciousness who nourishes with eastern thought.
I like the prophet idea. The terms "Ambassador of God" and "angel" come to mind in a synonymous way.
Re: what Lief said:
Your comment brings back memories of a 110 mile hike from Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie Pass, and a song whose title I am going to parody-ize:
"Six Days on the Trail and All I Hear is Philosophy".
James, I think you might inherit some of that "just gotta correct the ignoramous" from a certain paternal gene which was passed on to him from HIS paternal side, Grumpy G.
James,
good topic...While only Cohen know exactly who/what is I remember seeing an interview on the CBC's show "The National" where they interviewed the Suzanne who apparently inspired the song.
Somewhat hazy memory but I remember she came down from Canada as a dancer I think and their paths crossed for a time but each went in opposite directions. At the time of the interview she was living out of her car in Venice Beach I believe.
After reading a book on Dylan back in the 80s I gave up on the meaning of artist songs...For me I am more interested in what/who "Suzanne" represent to me than who she might have been to an artist.
just my 2 cents
Grumpy G,
Not to one-up you but he inherited a good amount from the Erskine's as well. Hee hee, I just coulnd't keep quiet about it. See what I mean!
Margy, here I was willing to take all the blame for this tndency and you go and spoil it all! Ha! ha!
See, I can never learn to keep my mouth shut!
In an earlier message on this topic William said:
For me I am more interested in "what/who "Suzanne" represent to me than who she might have been to an artist."
In my experience with writing and reading, critiquing etc. it is very common for the author/artist to have no idea who or what a character in their writings may be. The author may know who the actual person is that they base a writing on, but who or what that person represents to others -- the author is often clueless and on many occassions mortified. Call it inspiration, or sub-concious, call it whatever you want, but most often the author has no idea why a particular statement or character resonants.
I agree that because of the reasons William and Mom noted, reading poetry for one's own reaction is the most consistent way of enjoying it. However I don't know if I can ever quit being curious about what the author meant, and speculating on what they may have been thinking to write it.
That Dylan bio sounds interesting.
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