Ok, yāall, I have thoughts on Martinās poetry. Buckle up. This is kind of an analysis, kind of a rant, kind of just some thoughts nobody asked for.Ā
(Spoilers through MAG 170. Plot-relevant spoilers for season 4 mainly. The only plot-relevant spoilers for season 5 are specifically about MAG 170, not the season as a whole)
Martinās poetry is notĀ āgreatā. And this is actually really interesting and important. Heās not writing it for you, heās not writing it for Jon. Heās writing it for himself. Because he wants to, because that is something fun, because he finds things like street lights to be pretty and wants to write that down. It doesnāt have to be more than that. It is a hobby. An artistic hobby. There is a big narrative in the world that, in order to be allowed to be an artist, you have to be good. In order to do art, you had better be good at it. Beyond that, there is a sense that you have to be able to monetize it (ayy capitalism).Ā
There is also an idea that, especially for poetry, you have to be barring your very soul in order to write it. Personally, I like writing poetry. But I very rarely write based on my personal experiences. Iāll write things like, oh what if there was a dude describing the woman coming to murder him? Thatād be neat. Itās a fun way to play with words that are less limited structurally than prose.
āNothing much really, just fragments, thoughtsā (MAG 170).Ā
And, so, I like that Martin is allowed to have an artistic hobby that is just for his own enjoyment not othersā opinions, and he doesnāt need to be the best poet in order to be a poet.Ā
He also, doesnāt show his poetry to anyone (that we know of). Jon reads it by looting through Martinās trash without permission, and Martin implies in MAG 170 that he finds the idea of open mike nights cool but doesnāt do them.Ā āJust for me, really, I thinkā (MAG 170). Because it is just his. And for a guy whoās very much a give-everything-up-for-other-people (at least through a lot of his arc), it is nice that he gets to have a hobby outside of anything.
He also mentions it as just a little escape from everything, a stress reliever.Ā āHavenāt written anything like it since I was a teenager, ā (small laugh) ā but my new jobās a lot, and ā I donāt know. Something about that place, it just ā it makes me feel weird? But ā the sort of weird you just have to get out somehowā (MAG 170). -- Edit: It is, I think, also worth noting that if he hasnāt written poetry since he was a teenager, he probably stopped after, you know, he had to drop out of school and support himself and his mother. --
Alright, now letās talk about the Lonely.Ā
In MAG 124, Jon asks how the poetry is going to which Martin replies that he hasnāt had time for it.Ā
The Lonely is spooky depression more or less, and something common with depression is not really being able to work on artistic interests either because they donāt have the energy or it isnāt making them happy the way it used to or other reasons. (This is something I have experienced). So it makes sense (an is sad, canāt forget that) that Martin isnāt able to write poetry during season 4. This is exemplified in MAG 170 when he wants to recite one of his poem, but he cannot remember any. His mood lifts a bit when he mentions it, but then is brought back down because the Lonely takes that from him.Ā
In season 5, where things still suckĀ but at least his depression is a bit better (though it varies and I love writing-wise that it never just disappears when no longer plot relevant), he is not necessarily writing poetry, but heās back into it a bit. There are some mentions of it, like Helen defining him as aĀ āpetulant poetā and Jon jokingly suggest he do a poem to prove himself to Basira. Because art is healing yo.Ā Ā
Ā Side note, Jonās opinions on it go fromĀ āwow Martin writes poetry in his free time what a useless assā toĀ āI have now read and analyzed all of Martinās poetry in a fit of paranoiaā toĀ āhey poetry is something that makes Martin happy, Iāll ask him about itā toĀ āmy boyfriend is a poet and will love him and snipe at him about it good-naturedlyā. So thatās nice.
TL;DR - Martinās poetry is not great, but it doesnāt have to be in order for it to be important. It is allowed to be a fun hobby and escape just for him. The fact that the character does an art thing and is not some kind of prodigy at it is actually pretty unique. Depression sucks and art is healing.Ā
Also, to all you out there, you are allowed to do art. Do it because you enjoy it. Do it for yourself and no one else. Itās notĀ āOh I donāt do art. I can barely draw stick figuresā, it isĀ āDrawing stick figures is fun! I will continue to do that if it makes me happy!ā
