THE WORLDS OF LEONARD COREN: A STUDY OF HIS POETRY by Roy Allan B, A,, University of British Columbia, 1967 A THESIS SUBEITTED IN PARTIAL FULk'ILLMZNT OF THE REQUIREI4ENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF FASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Engli sh @ ROY ALLAN, 1970 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY June, 1970 Approval Name: Roy Allan Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: The Worlds of Leonard Cohen: A Study of His Poetry Examining Committee: ' Dr. Sandra Djwa Senior Supervisor Dr. Bruce Xesbitt Examining Committee Professor Lionel Kearns Examining Committee Dr. William Ijew Associate Professor of English University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, 13. C. I I Date Approved : ,:,./ /4'7[ Dedicated to Mauryne who gave me help, encouragement and love when I needed them most. iii Abstract The creation of interior escape worlds is a major pre- ' occupation in the poetry of Leonard Cohen. A study of this preoccupation provides an insight to the world view and basic philosophy of the poet and gives meaning to what on the sur- face appears to be an aimless wandering through life. This study also increases the relevance of Cohenls art-+$. explkca- -----1 ' ting -the m-my .themes that relate to the struggle of modern , man in a violent and dehumanizing society. r'\ \ /--'-- ./' ../" ->I \ The for s _wo_rld.aiew-b'eginsin Let Us /' ----- -'I \Compare Flytholoqies wy&f his inn-Raps naive --.-- ----.. - - -- gies upon which man bases7 his -> osophies. TGSconclusion i /' /' Cohen.. stioning is initially an acceptance of the "elaborate lieu that rationalizes the violence of life and death. There is, however, the growing desire on the poet's part to escape this violence. This escape takes the form of the passive acceptance of reality and the creation of escape worlds dominated by love in which the poet becomes a EIessiah-like figure controlling his and his lover's des- tiny. The communication between Cohen and his loved one is .- - -- .- exceutionLLly important and results in h's quasi-religious - - - r'l state of grace. lhis experience becomes for Cohen 2 mezns by which, as he claims, "to rise to the chaost1 around him. His state of grace also becomes n vital means of communicating with God. This book is particularly important with regard to this study, for from this. --.point - -. on most of Cohents poetry re- fleets themes established here. The Spice-Eox of Earth love becomes the principal I In -- / theme as Cohen continues to create interior worlds in which .J ' '" .. he can escape the violence of the real world. In this book his craftsmanship as a poet reaches its highest level. Here he sees himself as a high priest of love, his poem become his liturgy end his lovers become disciples spreading the holy word. Paralleling the themes of this book are the experieaces Cohen records in his first novel, -The Favorite Game. In aany cases pzssages in the novel aid in an understanding of parti- cular incidents related in the poetry. To further escape the brutality of a seciety that is created by its own violence Cohen occasionally adopts a stance "'\ < -.-A- of passive acceptance that allows him to function as a member of society, yet to ignore its violence. In Flowers for Hitler this stance provides Cohen the opportunity to examine the out- side world and to- investigate and expose the inner recesses of his own mind. The resulting discovery of violence within " - himself makes escape far more difficult than it had been ecrlier. Now in many of the poems of this book and in his second novel, Beautiful Losers, the poet plunges into the depths of his being in the hope of finding a means to a rebirth and a renewed and purified vision of the world. In Parasites of Heaven, following the disintegrative ;journey into his personal "underworldn, Cohen appears to have returned with his desired purified vision, but his world is still dominated by a stance of passive acceptance. Be is still unable to confront the violense of reality. His re- newed vision is governed by a sense of numbness and the masses around him appear as a "lost generation" with no future. For himself, Cohen is locked in a state of limbo; his renewed view of the world makes esczpe impossible and even love md fantasy dreams begin to lose their protective powers. The poet now sees himself as merely a "touristt1 in the world arid he can escape the harshness of reality only by remaining uninvolved. ! The new poems in Selected Poems: 1956-1968 seen to indi- cate that Cohenls search for meaning in life is over, but he has, in fact, attained a sense of innocence through exper- ience. has returned to his initial state of innocence and nayvetg. He is careful, however, to caution his rezders thzt his poetry only records his personal experiences z:id that * they should not blindly zccept his solutions. At this point in Cohen's career his art t&es a new direc- tion as he turns from poetry to songwriting and singing. In his first recording there is still an emphzsis upon the vi intrinsic meaning and thematic depth of his verses. The second recording, however shows a marked decline in the em- phasis upon themes in his poetry with an increased emphesis upon the sound of the words rather than upon their me~ning. He no longer appears concerned with creating escape worlds L---- - - within his art but seems to be attempting to gain ~cceptance in a society that he previously rejected. vii Contents Chapter Page Introduction ................... 1 Let Us Compare Nythologies ........ The Spice-Box of Earth .......... I11 Flowers for Hitler ............ 75 IV Parasites of Heaven and "New Poemsf1 . 100 V Songwriting and bWsic ... .. ..... 114 Conclusion .................... 131 Bibliography .................... 134 Introduction With four volumes of poetry, a volume of selected works includin~twenty new noems, two novels and two recordinrs of his own songs, Leonard Cohen has become one of Canadats best known and most in:portant writers. His works apneal to an aud- ience ran~ingfrom the sub-literate to the academic and in most cases his readers find the themes of his noetrv exce~tionallv relevant to their own nredicament in modern society. Further- more his love poetry, as well as being ~ener~~ll-ymovinp, exnres- ses with a simnlicity yet ~enetratingdepth the widespread de- sire to overcome the feelings of se~aratenessor alienation so common in the world today. Criticism of Cohen's works covers an equally large ranpe from exal-tation on one hmd to damnation on the other. But audiences and criticism have, until recently, had 1jttle bearing en CohenTs art. 71ne is, above zil, an intense- -. - -- - ., ly personal ~oetwhose works reflect the inner turmoil of- a sen- ,-- sitive artist in confl ict with a violent, dehunlanizin~and over- , mechanized society. @ Cohenfs poetry'is influenced most stronclp by his Jewish heritace, for Jewish I-iterary traditions, both written and orz.1, have contributed to the formation of many elements of his writ- in^ style. Koreover, the sufferinp his people have encountered throughout their history forms an inte~ralpart of his vrorld view. Cohen has been further influenced by the impressively large bodv of Jewish-Canaaian writers. Amonp these writers A.FI. Klein is the most obvious of Cohenls mentors, Kleinfs 8 personal apnroach to God in his poetry recurs as an irnnortant theme in Cohenfs work. Irving Layton, a close friend of Cohen, has been a further major influence in the formation of Cohenfs style. While attendinp university Cohen also had suck eminent Canadian writers as Frank Scott and Louis Uudek for teacher.;: Dudek, in fact, took a personal interest in Cohenls early work and first published --T,et Us Cornnare ~'ytholopiesin the UcGiIl Poetry Series. These infl-uences combined witk his own naturc.1 lyric tal- ents have allowed Cohen to develop ti personal writln? style that most accurately translates his deepest sentiments into -e minted word. , His words, in turn, describe for the reader the intensity of the poetts love for a woman, his raise of God , 3. and his fezr of the violence of modern society. -A An important aspect of poetry is the poet's unique statement of his individual response to situations that aany people ha.ve experienced before .'l15imilarly much of Cohen 's irn3ortance lies in his ability to translete his resnonses to civen situ~tions into words, images and themes that relate xperknces-- of - + * * so many ~eopletodzy. n is cener~llyan in- - -----_---.. rsonal p6et whose life style and stataments made out- s poetry indicate a strong link bettieen poet ~ndper- ) of his works and the ways in which he attempts to solve the problems facing the individual in a violent, destructive and 1 impersonal world. --Let -Us Compare Mytholopies is the most important of Cohen's books in which to study the development of his art and philo- sophy. This one volume of poetry shows many of the sources of Cohen's later images and themes. Here he compares the ~1a~lssirzl9 Hebrew and Christian mythologies th2.t have contributed to the fornation of the "elaborhte liev, the rationzlization th&t allows /------ -. - -.-___ -- -- -- man to accept and believe in his own violenc -.-- "--..- --_-- - - 11"_l_____l_ "-- ---- r--iiet'sdesire to flee fron this violence begins and he can be I i seen creating his interior worlds of escaDe. 1- he creation of I these worlds dominated by love or by passive acceptance is a major preoccupation in all of Cohenls works. (i \, themati this of Cohents works will emphasize the relevance of his works to readers who find thenselves sharing his world view. This study will further give an insight into the life and philoso~hyof Leonard Cohen the lover, poet and singer.