Genius: Mark Twain

After the Bukowski affair, it seemed like a good idea to lighten up the material on this blog with one of the most prolific satirists of history. Mark Twain, one of the most influential authors of the 19th century, often considered the father of American writing, is usually more known works like Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but he also wrote a number of poems Like his novels, Twain's poetry is comedic and satiric in nature- if Twain feels the anguish that poets like Shakespeare and Bukowski lived off of, he does not show it. Twain is out to have a laugh. Genius is a perfect example of this. It is written in free verse, letting Twain use whatever insults that catch his fancy to better prove his point without the concern of rhyme. It calls up every self-worshiping "genius" to the plate, slaps them in the face, and then has a good laugh about it.


Here is the eighth stanza: 

"If he is too proud to accept assistance,
and spurns it with a lordly air
at the very same time
that he knows he can't make a living to save his life,
he is most certainly a genius."

Every pseudo-intellectual reading this post just chuckled nervously. Twain calls out the worst parts of "Genii" and their habits--the superiority, the martyrdom, the perfectionism, the eccentricities and the attitudes that they bear like banners. Which brings into question of course- are they really genii, or idiots with larger vocabularies to spew? Are these eccentricities and pains just ways that "genii" make themselves "different"? Methods of attracting attention? Are these personalities truly intelligent, or does their bark dwarf their bite?

Mr. Twain would side with neither argument; he appears to be attacking the word itself. 

"Genius" is not a word Mr. Twain is fond of; he makes it abundantly clear that he considers its use an overblown bragging right, a useless word designed purely to pump egos and to impress employers on resumes. He does not associate genius with intelligence; he considers the word an insult, and dispenses it freely to those who think otherwise. 

 Twain isn't just attacking those intellectuals who "crush the affections and patience's of their friends", who "fill [their] souls with contempt for the gross and sordid things of earth", and who "do not pay their board, as a general rule". He is challenging the assumptions that society makes about genii. He stresses that genii may be intelligent, but are often social wrecks weighed down by their sense of superiority. In other words, Mark Twain is attacking the English language- and he is winning. 

Mr. Twain, in spite of how serious the subject writing may appear to be, is still clearly joking. His finale to the poem: 

"But above all things,
to deftly throw the incoherent ravings of insanity into verse
and then rush off and get booming drunk,
is the surest of all the different signs
of genius. "

Mark Twain, at the very least, can have a laugh at his own expense. He admits that he himself is one of the "genii" that he mocks, subject to all the vices of the word. He also makes a profound statement about writing- that the act of arranging words into verse, piecing together fantasies, and stitching dialogue together is in and of itself insane. And yet, those who do it are the perhaps some of the more prolific "genii" among us.