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"Seventh Heaven" (poem) By Patti Smith

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Smith performing at Provinssirock festival in Seinãjoki, Finland, June 2007
Website	pattismith.net

"Seventh Heaven" is a poem by musician, writer, and poet Patti Smith. It was written as the title poem of her first poetry collection that was published in 1972 and it revisits the tale of Eve and the forbidden fruit twisting its story while offering a different point of view from the original myth.

Style and Structure

"Seventh Heaven" is a poem written in Free verse and it is composed of two stanzas, the first one having nine lines and the second having twenty-one lines. The poem has a non-typical form, the first stanza is consistent when it comes to line length while the second stanza is more experimental and its line length decreases as the poem reaches its conclusion.

Influences

As a poet, Patti was inspired and influenced by the works of Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, William Blake, the Beats and Bob Dylan. Additionally, she claims to be a "hero worshipper" and most of her early work seems to praise or glorify different personal heroes such as Joane of Arc and Jean Genet..

Context

The poem "Seventh Heaven" is the first poem of Smith´s first poetry collection "Seventh Heaven" and it approaches the story of the original sin narrated as a hymn or adoration to the figure of Eve, giving her merit for her carnal desires and transgressions that result in the fall of humankind. The narration in itself is also very sexualized and the vivid sexual descriptions are constructed with vulgar language that contrasts with the biblical aspects of the poem.

Biblical References

Smith introduces biblical characters throughout the poem and then defines them. She starts off with "Rafael. Guardian angel" and then "Mary Magdalene whore of Christ", "Cain. The first inspired man.", "Satan as some stud", and Eve is introduced by the sin she committed in the tale "Eve´s was the crime of curiosity." Towards the end, Patti also mentions the "Tree of knowledge" and consequently, she references the forbidden fruit.

Gender expression

In her memoir "Just Kids" published in 2010, Patti Smith stated that when it came to writing subjects, "The girls have always interested me." Through her work, she mentions female heroines a considerable amount but what caught the attention of critics was that she would write "female poetry which felt male", that she would often write it from a male perspective. Smith had grown up struggling with her physical appearance, which allowed her to develop a unique sense of femininity. Alongside this, she would integrate what can be described as a ritual that she learned from Genet. Patti called it a very physical process, that she would feel sexy, go masturbate to get high, and then proceed to write her poetry from that orgasmic high- something she did while writing "Seventh Heaven".

Bibliography

Alves, T. (2018). Patti Smith: female neo-Beat sensibility and the development of punk. [Dissertation] p.14. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/37818159/Patti_Smith_female_neo_Beat_sensibility_and_the_development_of_punk?email_work_card=view-paper [Accessed 6 Mar. 2022].

Ballen, K. (1977). Sexual Bruisings: The Poetry of Patti Smith. Oxford, Available at: http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/crit/oxlit.htm [Accessed 5 Mar. 2022].

Ferreira, C.A. (2018). Patti Smith. [Dissertation] pp.19-21. Available at: https://eg.uc.pt/bitstream/10316/82815/1/CarlosFerreira_versaofinal.pdf [Accessed 07 March. 2022].

Stillman, F. (2006). The poet’s manual and rhyming dictionary. London: Thames & Hudson.