Real World Laughter

Chantel Carroll
Title: Real World Laughter

"The wise man does not laugh without trembling" is a quote about real world knowledge. In every society of the times, the older people get the wiser they become. E.E. Cummimgs wrote "in Just" (1923) a poem of a balloon man who appears to be lame, as the children of the park become older the same man is queer and old. As the seasons change and the children become yet older, this same ballonMan is regarded as "goat-footed". The older these children became their innocence was lost and the once naive laughing children were now aware of the real world dangers lurking around them.
The wise man is older with the knowledge of his surroundings of how cruel the real world can be. Charles Baudelaire learned this lesson at thirty-ish when his life was at a low point. He struggled with poor health, massive debt and sporadic literary output that accompanied his wise understanding of the wicked everyday life. He used poetry as therapy for his self loathing. In 1855, the joy of laughter was no where in his lonely heart.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "To laugh is to risk appearing a fool", this is evident in the quote by Baudelaire. The act of laughing results in a tremble of simple unintelligence to the world around you. Tremble can be defined as short movements from fear or weakness. In other words, if you laugh, your weak and resemble a fool to the wise wicked world that encompasses your everyday life.