Footnotes on the 5th Angel Poem

What follows are historical footnotes on the 5^th angel poem: The One For Whom They Are Intended. The title is selected from a bit of the epigraph which opens the poem. In the full body of the letter, Benjamin refers to the Angel of History to whom life is a backward storm of tragedies. I selected a small part of the letter, in part because I use other elements of it in other parts of the collection specific to the Angel of History and I did not want to diminish its impact. Also I wanted to emphasize the personal nature of loss and draw attention to the phrase "the one for whom they are intended." If everything you own is intended (by its personal nature) for you, then whom do you become following the loss? Is the one for whom "They" (ie your life) are intended, the perfect self that tragedy or circumstance prevented you from being? In the photograph of every loss is there not the shadow of the photographer who might have been?

The irony intended here is that the loss of these lives is not simple or personal. The work that these geniuses might have contributed impoverish all generations who follow.

While the poem is simultanously simple and complicated, bleak and unforgiving, it is meant to be a wake up call to those who despair. Who knows what there is left to accomplish? Only by surviving can it be achieved.

Footnotes on the 5th angel poem

Walter Benjamin, from whose letter the epigraph comes, was a Jewish, German philosopher/writer who escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Carrying his papers, he traveled on foot into France. As France was being occupied, Benjamin got on a train to Spain. The train was stopped. When he heard the train was going to be turned back to France, he killed himself rather than be returned to the camps. Ironically, the next morning the train continued unhindered.

Women:

British novelist/essayist, Virginia Woolf, suffered from depression which some biographers attribute to early sexual abuse. She killed herself at 59.

Poet, Anne Sexton, wrote openly about her most personal experiences including incest, abortion, commitment for mental illness/depression, and adultery. Her poetry was so personal, it made many of her contemporaries uncomfortable and was labeled "confessional poetry". The poems, Transformations, weave her startling "confessions" with themes of classic fairy tales. She was 44 when she killed herself.

The death of sex bomb Marilyn Monroe is shrouded in legend. She died of a drug overdose which may have been accidental but due to her depression and earlier suicide attempts is generally accepted as suicide. Conspiracy theorists sometimes involve the Kennedy brothers (Robert and JFK) who were reputed to be her lovers. Most of these theories acknowledge that the barbiturates (and alcohol) she took were self-administered, but argue they were not the ultimate cause of her death. She was 36.

The poet Sylvia Plath's novel "The Bell Jar" details her youthful suicide attempts. She refers to both suicide and abuse by her father in poems such as "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy". In 'Lady Lazarus" she writes "Dying is an art. Like everything I do it exceptionally well." She was 31 when she killed herself.

Cleopatra's infamous love affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony often obscure her youth. Marc Antony killed himself when in the heat of a losing battle, his enemies circulated a false report that Cleopatra had committed suicide. Hearing of his death (and her subsequent political change of fortune -the winner of the recent civil wars was Octavian whose sister Marc Antony had married for an alliance more politic than passionate and then spurned for love of Cleo. Octavian intended to "exhibit" Cleopatra as his captive.) Cleopatra ended her life at 21.

Men:

Austrian-born American psychoanalyst, Bruno Bettelheim was arrested by the Nazis when Germany annexed Austria and was held for two years at camps at Dachau and Buchenwald. His pioneering study of the effects of inordinate stress on personality was based on his concentration camp experiences. He is best-known for his books about autistic children. In 1976 he published The Uses of Enchantment, on the meaning and importance of fairy tales. His last book, Freud's Vienna, appeared in 1990, the same year in which he committed suicide. He was 87.

Although Portuguese writer, Camilo Castelo Branco, wrote 100 volumes of poetry, plays and critical essays, he is best remembered for his (58) satirical novels. One such novel is titled Onde está a felicidade? (Where is Happiness?) He killed himself at 65.

Ernest Hemingway is one of the best known suicides on the list. He was 61 when he shot himself. What is not as well known is that his father, sister, and granddaughter (actress Margeaux. Hemingway) had or would also die by suicide.

60s activist, Abbie Hoffman, became famous as part of the Chicago Seven accused and acquitted of conspiracy to incite riot. He went underground in the 70s to avoid being jailed on drug charges. Under an assumed name he stayed active in environmental politics. He was severely manic depressive and killed himself in 1989 during a deep depression. He was 53.

Writer Mishima Yukio committed ritual suicide. He was 45. The style of his death, as well of that of his writing, was considered a condemnation of modern society.

Writer Jack London won popular appeal with his short-stories and novels including 'The Call of the Wild'. After two stormy marriages and more than 50 published books he killed himself at age 40.

The Dutch expressionist painter Vincent van Gogh shot himself when he was 37.

John Kennedy Toole killed himself in 1969, despondant over his inability to get his novel, Confederacy of Dunces, published. He was 32. His mother took up the task. Toole's first novel was published posthumously (1980) and won a Pulitzer Prize (1981).

Thomas Chattertonapprenticed to an attorney at 14. A self taught poet, he quit law and went to London to devote himself to writing. Unable to make a living, he killed himself in 1770. He was 18. His rich, imaginative poetry greatly influenced the work of English Romantic poets.