Celebration Of The Lizard
"Celebration of the lizard" by James Douglas
Morrison is a helpless
labyrinth of insanity. The poem is a murder that
results in insanity. The
speaker is the murderously insane madman. In this
outrageous maze, the poet is
running from his chaotic problems. In the first
three stanzas, it starts out as
a bad dream that eventually causes the
speaker to drive himself to a temporary
insanity. During his state of
temporary insanity, he murders a man out of
jealousy that he cannot control.
After the murder, he runs to a hideout on a
hill far away. He describes the
hideout as a mansion to give you the picture in
your mind of how appreciative
he is to have a place to hide. The journey is a
long and monotonous one but
ends in the disappointment of having to turn back.
In the last stanza he
announces, "Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth, I
want to be ready". In
this poem, James Morrison is taking you with him on a
frantic, frightening
roller coaster. The poet's tone is dark and eerie. The
dream in the beginning
becomes a reality, which is an example of foreshadowing.
When he
describes the mansion on the hill, it puts a picture in your mind, which
is
an excellent example of alliteration. This poem is interesting
and
frustrating at first because it makes you think about every phrase. To
read it
requires keeping an open mind because there are a lot of metaphors. I
had to
read it over 20 times just to get a vague understanding. Please do not
let the
length and metaphorical contents of this poem discourage you from
reading this
intriguing poem. This is definitely a poem that you will not
find in a
schoolbook. If you like this poem, I recommend that you read the
work of other
dark poets such as Edgar Allen Poe.