"Nothing to follow and nothing to teach, except that the goal falls short of the reach" - "The Goal", Book of Longing (Pg 153)
Great words from a great man who can be summed up by only one word: breathtaking.
Canadian born, Leonard Cohen, nicknamed the Dark Messiah, has been creating true beauty with his words for over the past four decades. Inspiring emotions of love, lust, drunkenness, happiness and profound pain, he is a man who has created such simplistically written poems that leave even the most educated and professional literary geniuses in awe.
To truly understand who Leonard Cohen is and what he has accomplished, you must search no further than the things that have brought him his greatest recognition- his poetry. Leonard Cohen is a man who survives alone and exists completely in his words. He strings together random sentences that, spoken by another would be denied, but by this Jewish monk, they are in every sense of the word- the truth.
Writers who have not experienced Leonard Cohen's poetry would be best to purchase his most recent two books, which hold most of his poems and songs. Reading each poem, whether as short as eleven words or as long as three pages, one can feel the intensity of this man. Exploring themes of inequality, love and lust, drunkness toward life, ecstasy and sexuality, and raw human emotion, Cohen can make the most complex concepts become as clear as water.
There is much inspiration to be found in the manner in which Cohen uses his words, how he rhymes his words, and the manner in which he acts as a magician with his words. Cohen's magicianship can be noted in poems such as "The Guests" (Stranger Music, 306-307), where we can note the differences in two separate stanzas of the poem. In the first stanza Cohen writes:
"One by one the guests arrive The guests are coming through The open-hearted many The broken-hearted few"
And then, in the second last stanza, Cohen unnoticeably changes the bolded print (clearly not boldly printed in his text) and instead says:
"One by one the guests arrive The guests are coming through The broken-hearted many The open-hearted few"
Cohen's utlization of these contrasting images from the start of the poem to the end of the poem are notably ingenious. Rather than creating new imagery for the reading, he reversed what was originally stated. This concept of reverse imagery is popular in today's poetry, and was clearly mastered firstly by our literary geniuses such as Mr. Leonard Cohen, the dark messiah.
Cohen also plays around with the manner in which he rhymes words. In the exact same poem, Cohen rhymed the word "again" with both "then" and "pain." Many people will use the word to rhyme it with one or the other, but Cohen used the same word two times in that one poem and changed the pronounciation of the word to achieve a specific flow.
Finally, there is the raw emotion present in the poetry and the songs of Cohen, which has grown to inspire many of those who have proceeded him in the literary and musical word. One such poem that employs his greatness in conveying his emotions is "Coming Back to You" (Stranger Music, 339), where he conquers one of the greatest themes prevalent in his work. He loves a woman and though he has released her, he longs for her to be with him. Leonard Cohen uses the beauty of his words to capture the sympathy of his readers. When Cohen bleeds onto the page, you bleed with him. When he cries, you wipe your eyes too. He is a man that not only conveys emotions but also creates them. His loss of love hurts the reader and breaks their heart as much as it would do so if it were their heart that had been broken.
In conclusion, Leonard Cohen, although not recognized by all, acts as a huge influence in the world of poetry and literature because he is an inspiration. Those who have been gifted with the opportunity to experience his work will never appreciate and write the same again. Leonard Cohen re-teaches his readers their emotion. His sarcasm, his cunning way with words, his humour and yet his stoic ability to capture your strongest emotions- all add up to the same thing. Cohen is an inspiration and influence in the literary world, and in life.
"I know that you have suffered, lad, but suffer this a while: Whatever makes a soldier sad will make a killer smile." - "The Captain" (Stranger Music, pg 341)