Laugh with the Sinners Cry with the Saints Essay Example

an earnest wish to fulfill religious obligations. However, after constructing this character, Jarman quickly dissects him. In the second stanza of “Unholy Sonnet 12”, an unsettling twist occurs when the farmer returns from a visit to the bank only to witness a horrifying scene; “So he was shocked, returning from the bank,/To see a flood, bearing his farm away—/His cows, his kids, his wife, and all his stuff.”(9-11) The farmer is filled with terror as everything he has strived for - including his family and belongings - gets washed away in one terrifying incident.

Jarman goes beyond leaving the reader to wallow in the despair of the farmer's story. When the situation has worsened, and the farmer is left with nothing, he echoes Jesus's cry on the cross with a heartfelt 'Why?' Despite his faithfulness, which Jarman emphasizes twice, the farmer is left questioning what he did to earn this cruel punishment. Unexpectedly, God responds to both him and the reader, saying: "I can’t say,/ something about you just irritates me."(13-14). In "Unholy Sonnet 12", Jarman pieces together man's agony, exposing that being true and devout can't shield one from God's predetermined destiny. Jarman masterfully exposes God's merciless side.

To further develop the idea, Jarman applies the term "sinners" in his poem "Unholy Sonnet 13". He does this not only to demonstrate that even God can be unholy at times, but primarily, to illustrate how humans are persistently "unholy". In this poem, two lovers are constantly described as "drunk". However, in my view, Jarman is merely employing this term as a means to underscore their infatuation-induced blindness. Contrary to the farmer in "Unholy

Sonnet 12", these lovers do not devote their faith to a God. Instead, they ponder its existence, as reflected in the line - "Who needed God? We had our bodies, bread,

While sipping from glasses filled with a rustic, green, indigenous wine, we silently observed the profound spiritual-less darkness that birthed gigantic, gently shimmering old celestial bodies."(6-9)

The pair in love thought they did not require a deity; they insisted that they possessed everything essential there, especially each other, which mattered the most. Jarman transforms a lovely entity, the stars, emerging from a dimming, vacant sky. As the poem progresses swiftly throughout its 14 lines, it's intriguing to note how Jarman concludes the verse; "Who required God? And what prompts me to question now?

Considering my years, I'm convinced that divine presence is evident in the nuanced specifics which elicit recollections from that time. These elements are as clear today as they were - our physical forms, bread, and the powerful Umbrian wine.

The verse takes an abrupt change, and Jarman reveals by the end that although he felt no need for a deity at that particular moment, reflecting on these occurrences compelled him to accept that God was behind all the minutiae - the wine, the bread, even their bodies. Both "Unholy Sonnet 12" and "Unholy Sonnet 13" inspire contemplation and inquiry in Jarman's readers. They deal with a sensitive matter that many authors typically avoid. The narratives of the destitute yet devout farmer, and of the two lovers swept away by passion, made me ponder: "I'd prefer to find humor with the sinners than to shed tears with

the saints."