Response to "Get Drunk"

Get Drunk

Charles Baudelaire

Always be drunk. That's it! The great imperative! In order not to feel Time's horrid fardel bruise your shoulders, grinding you into the earth, Get drunk and stay that way. On what? On wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.But get drunk. And if you sometimes happen to wake up on the porches of a palace, in the green grass of a ditch, in the dismal loneliness of your own room, your drunkenness gone or disappearing, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, ask everything that flees, everything that groans or rolls or sings, everything that speaks, ask what time it is; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will answer you: "Time to get drunk! Don't be martyred slaves of Time, Get drunk! Stay drunk! On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"

Response To Poem:

When I first read the title of this poem combined with the first few lines I was 

sure that this poem had been written by either a crazy alcoholic, but as I read 

on, I discovered that the author didn't really mean drunk as in intoxicated but 

as in overcome or dominated by a strong feeling or emotion. When the Charles

Baudelaire is telling the readers to "get drunk" he means be overcome, taken 

over, by the things in life that make you happy.

The beginning of the poem starts off by telling the readers not onlythat all they 

need to do is get drunk, but it's absolutely necessary and unavoidable to be

drunk! He says in order not to feel burdened by time which crushes you have to 

be drunk on something to keep you going and make you happy. If you start to 

wake up on the porches of a palace,in the green grass of a ditch or in the dismal 
loneliness of your own room then go back into being drunk! What I think the author
means by the porches of a palace is when you're not drunk or overcome by something
great, you're constantly waiting out side of some grand thing or opportunity unable to get 
in. When he says unable to get out of a ditch he means get out of someplace that you do
not want to be. He doesn't want you to be lonley, he wants you to be drunk. When you
ask anything what time it is they'll all tell you time to get drunk because even the most
inanimate things know that the secret to life is to be drunk. So don't be punished or killed
by time or be a slave of time, be happy and stay happy on whatever it is that keeps you 
going and makes you happy! 


Even though this poem maybe deceiving, it has a good, valid point. Be overcome with
whatever pleases you and you'll have a wonderful life full of happiness! I think what 
the author is trying to get a cross is that no matter what do what makes you happy 
and that being drunk is in fact the key to life. This poem is a prime example of how 
you should live your life and I agree with it one hundred percent. This is how I try and
live my life and how I feel every one should live their lives. It's simply a great poem 
to live by!