![Picture](/uploads/6/0/9/5/60954725/drinking-and-smoking_orig.jpg)
Beer
HERE,
With my beer
I sit,
While golden moments flit:
Alas!
They pass
Unheeded by:
And, as they fly,
I,
Being dry,
Sit, idly sipping here
My beer.
O, finer far
Than fame, or riches, are
The graceful smoke-wreathes of this cigar!
Why
Should I
Weep, wail, or sigh?
What if luck has passed me by?
What if my hopes are dead,--
My pleasures fled?
Have I not still
My fill
Of right good cheer,--
Cigars and beer
Go, whining youth,
Forsooth!
Go, weep and wail,
Sigh and grow pale,
Weave melancholy rhymes
On the old times,
Whose joys like shadowy ghosts appear,
But leave me to my beer!
Gold is dross,--
Love is loss,--
So, if I gulp my sorrows down,
Or see them drown
In foamy draughts of old nut-brown,
Then do wear the crown,
Without the cross!
George Arnold
HERE,
With my beer
I sit,
While golden moments flit:
Alas!
They pass
Unheeded by:
And, as they fly,
I,
Being dry,
Sit, idly sipping here
My beer.
O, finer far
Than fame, or riches, are
The graceful smoke-wreathes of this cigar!
Why
Should I
Weep, wail, or sigh?
What if luck has passed me by?
What if my hopes are dead,--
My pleasures fled?
Have I not still
My fill
Of right good cheer,--
Cigars and beer
Go, whining youth,
Forsooth!
Go, weep and wail,
Sigh and grow pale,
Weave melancholy rhymes
On the old times,
Whose joys like shadowy ghosts appear,
But leave me to my beer!
Gold is dross,--
Love is loss,--
So, if I gulp my sorrows down,
Or see them drown
In foamy draughts of old nut-brown,
Then do wear the crown,
Without the cross!
George Arnold
![Picture](/uploads/6/0/9/5/60954725/published/old-man-in-pub2.jpg?1491171221)
“Beer,” by George Arnold, is a poem about uses of beer as a drowner of sorrows. The narrator of the poem, is using beer to escape the pains of his life and the shortcomings of his life. Beer dulls his emotional pains, and takes him to a place where he no longer worries about life. He finds simple pleasure in this drink that transcends everything else in the moment. He mocks the follies of the youth, and their constant worrying. In his old age and wisdom, he knows where to find solace in his worrisome life: beer.
It is not just alcohol that helps people escape the plagues of everyday life. Food as a whole has served as an escape from the pangs of everyday life. Whether it is the simple pleasure of curing hunger or whether it is gorging yourself at a feast, food is an often-necessary escape from the realities of life. Weddings, birthdays, religious ceremonies, all of these events gather people together so that they can share food and drink and escape their often stressful and painful lives.
It is not just alcohol that helps people escape the plagues of everyday life. Food as a whole has served as an escape from the pangs of everyday life. Whether it is the simple pleasure of curing hunger or whether it is gorging yourself at a feast, food is an often-necessary escape from the realities of life. Weddings, birthdays, religious ceremonies, all of these events gather people together so that they can share food and drink and escape their often stressful and painful lives.
![Picture](/uploads/6/0/9/5/60954725/published/eating-whole-pint-of-ice-cream.jpg?1491171377)
Stress-eating is a known issue for many people. For many, this is an addiction that is just as life-threatening as alcoholism. Both are conditions that are linked to one’s desperate struggle to escape the reality of their situation. So, they refer to their baser instincts and reach for something that offers them immediate pleasure. Neither is the responsible thing to do for themselves or the people around them, but it is easy and convenient. However, just because someone is not addicted to these two food items, it does not mean that they do not use them for the same effect. There is the classic example of eating a whole pint of ice cream after you break up with someone or drinking a whole bottle of liquor. In any of these instances, food grounds humanity and brings us back to our natural selves. When society, friends, family, our jobs, everything fails, we resort back to what we know will not fail us: food.