A Certain hysterical Courage

Well Letty ------------- I think i know what you are saying here ,,,,,,,,,,, but to my philistine mind it's a bit obscure and I might be way off beam

Oak, I guess I should have given a link to Whistler's biography..The man's life was insane. Ever see the picture of Whistler's Mother?

Artistic talent is many times born out of despair or something like that.

Husker and Oak, first of all, here is a link to Whistler's paintings:

http://www.jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/Whistler/Whistler's_Mother.htm

But this poem was based upon his life. I can't locate the biography that I wanted to be read here, but it was tragic.

Here's what I remember of it. He was American, but was greatly influenced by the French impressionists. His life was a pretense. He tried to assume the persona of an aristocratic Southerner, when in fact, he was just a plain man, son of a railroad engineer.

When a critic panned his works, he spent all of his money and collections of fine trappings, on a lawsuit, which he won, but which left him penniless. A phyrric victory.

Perhaps with this background, you can better understand the life behind the poem