Analysis of Charles Bukowski’s “Bluebird” and “Cause and Effect”

Many see poetry as a dull, dry, and expressionless subject he or she must take in an English class, or pass by on a store bookshelf. Poetry, however, is very much the opposite. Poems are in essence an expression of the speaker or writer’s true innermost feelings, and are often romantic, sorrowful, joyous, and even sometimes a combination of those emotions and more. This creates a complex writing that are analyzed to uncover different scenarios and feelings depending on who the reader is.
Charles Bukowski is a modern poet, who touches on themes of escapism, alienation, depression, and loneliness. However, even though these topics seem to be maddening and upsetting Bukowski creates a beauty throughout the subjects. Bukowski is a realist, and throughout his life, he lived throughout many horrific experiences that come to life again in his poetry, short stories and books. Realism is an aesthetic attitude showing the truth in normal and everyday life (Holcombe).
While technically, Bukowski is a realist, he also fits into the category of transgressive fiction. This form of writing emphasizes a character’s confined feelings of life and escape of such thorough sexual references, along with horrific scenes and gore. Protagonists usually will seem to have a mental illness, because they are rebelling against the social norm (Soukhanov).
Most of Bukowski’s poetry encloses these details and subjects both subtly and prominently, depending on how one reads the work.
“Bluebird” was published in 1992 in Bukowski’s collection of poems titled “The Last Night of the Earth Poems” (allpoetry.com). “Bluebird” speaks of innermost torment. There is almost an alternate personality hidden in the depths of the speaker’s life, referred to as the bluebird itself (English 1302). The speaker is afraid to let the bluebird show, at risk of losing what he has managed to hold onto through his depression and sorrow experienced. He or she tries to suppress the bluebird’s existence through means of denying it, using escapist techniques such as smoking, drinking, and participation in prostitution to deter his mind from the presence. “there’s a bluebird in my heart that/wants to get out/but I pour whiskey on him and inhale/cigarette smoke/and the whores and the bartenders/and the grocery clerks/never know that/he’s/in there” (Bukowski-allpoetry.com).
The speaker traps his feelings and true self because of fear and feels strength through his restraint of the bluebird (eliteskills.com). “But I’m too tough for him,/I say, stay in there, I’m not going/to let anybody see/you” (Bukowski-allpoetry.com). Though, at the end of the poem, the speaker, alone, addresses the bluebird and lets it escape. There is a small fraction of weakness shown as the speaker as he comforts the crying bluebird; though, it does not last long (English 1302). He puts the bluebird away, and stops himself from succumbing to emotion that would destroy him.
“I only let him out/at night sometimes/when everybody’s asleep./I say, I know that you’re there,/so don’t be/sad./then I put him back,/but he’s singing a/little/in there, I haven’t quite let him/die/and we sleep together like/that/with our/secret pact/and it’s nice enough to/make a man/weep, but I don’t/weep, do/you?” (Bukowski-allpoetry.com).

“Cause and Effect” is another quite famous poem by Bukowski. Though it is one of his shorter works, it tells a story that has a heavy weight. Some say the poem should be called “suicide”; because that is the subject it revolves around (allpoetry.com). However, “cause and effect” is suitable, because of the situation described. The length, or lack of, parallels how little is known about people who are left behind from those who choose to commit suicide and how little is known about the suicide itself (plagiarist.com).
The ones who commit suicide are doing everything in their power to escape a world, which they cannot allow themselves to be a part of, including the people and culture. These people are the most creative, intelligent, caring, and kind; therefore, they cannot cope with those who do not understand. “The best often die by their own hand /just to get away” (Bukowski-allpoetry.com). This can also be related to a quote from one of Bukowski’s favorite authors Ernest Hemingway, “’Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.’ Followed by, ‘One barrel or two?’”(allpoetry.com). Whereas, the people who are left behind do not understand why anyone would want to leave their world and their presence. These people are arrogant, obnoxious, and self-absorbed, only thinking of themselves and how they are affected (plagiarist.com). “Those left behind /can never quite understand /why anybody /would ever want to /get away /from /them” (Bukowski-allpoetry.com).
Bukowski shows much through his works, “Bluebird” and “Cause and Effect” are very much related. “Bluebird” may tell of how a person is feeling, that he is not showing or admitting to others something is very wrong. He also may not want to believe those feelings exist themselves, not wanting to fall victim to his or her own mind. In “Cause and Effect” the other side is told, that of which the people who are living around those who have a secret side of themselves. The people who do not know of a problem existing are unwilling to help or show compassion to others, and unwilling to see that a problem may exist, which further alienates those who are dealing with something secret and dark.
The two poems show both sides of the same situation, very much the cause and effect. The maddening of being different and feeling alienated in one’s self and the world, and the after effect of when one attempts to escape such. The lack of understanding in both poems show how difficult it is for the speaker to cope with the world around him, in “Cause and Effect” the only solution seen was suicide. In “Bluebird”, the only solution shown at hand was escapism. These feelings of escapism and alienation parallel what is said to be prominent in Bukowski’s own life. He had menial odd jobs, a hard beginning and often drank himself into a stupor in order to avoid dealing with others and life itself (poemhunter.com).
However, through his hardships, Bukowski wrote more than 160 poems, 10 books, and published numerous collections of short stories and poetry (poemhunter.com). Though, there was a point where his alcoholism consumed him. He failed to publish or even write for many years as he frequented bars and whorehouses to escape himself (allpoetry.com). His writing contained themes of madness, insanity, and death, all of which consumed him throughout his life. As such themes are prevalent, it categorizes Bukowski as a realist writer, as well as writing transgressive fiction, both of which were also exemplified in his own life.
“Bluebird” and “Cause and Effect” show most clearly what Bukowski had been going through, and are prime examples of his writing, giving the reader a taste of Bukowski’s tone and subject matter of death, despair and complete loss of self, seeming like one is floating, consumed by his or her own emotions.