This short piece on Wendy Cope's 'The Orange' looks at how its celebration of our prosaic lives made lockdown slightly easier.
Artwork by Jenna May
The Orange
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange— The size of it made us all laugh. I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave— They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy, As ordinary things often do Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park. This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy. I did all the jobs on my list And enjoyed them and had some time over. I love you. I’m glad I exist.
— Wendy Cope
I have never been as moved by poetry than when I read ‘The Orange’ by Wendy Cope. Whether due to Cope’s informal and accessible style, which has often sparked criticism from the poetry world, or her exploration of appreciating the simple pleasures in life, this poem struck a chord with me. I first read this poem five months ago, when our lives had just been flooded with uncertainty amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, as even the mundane tasks of every day were taken away from us. Comical on reflection, I shed a tear as I despaired over the thought: ‘I can’t even go to the shop and buy an orange now, let alone share one with two of my friends’. Yet once I had overcome the initial self-pity (remembering that I didn’t even like oranges anyway) I realised that this poem was now more applicable than ever.
‘The Orange’ made me wonder how often I took my ‘normal’, pre-lockdown, life for granted. Along with many others, I yearned for the lost mundanity of my life the second that Boris told us all to stay at home. Reading this poem became a turning point for me in lockdown, as I decided that I would change my outlook, and learn to appreciate this new ‘ordinary’.
Ultimately, this poem is a celebration of existence, however small and prosaic our lives may be. Thus, I attempted to be more present on my daily walks; I noticed the flowers, animals, and how it simply felt to be alive. I also realised that missing someone was an immense privilege; I no longer viewed the physicality that emotions can evoke as negative but realised that I was lucky to be able to love and miss others. Some days (sorry Wendy) ‘peace and contentment’ were non-existent, but persisting through the bad times eventually served to highlight the good days. So, when the country eventually settled into our ‘lockdown routines’, and my family and I settled down to another boxset (on what my parents call ‘the player’) I felt unbelievably thankful.
The moment that we pause, breathe and realise that we are here, right now, present in the minute, we can be moved to acknowledge the joy of our own existence.
As lockdown eases, one concern of mine is slipping back into being unappreciative of the small things that I vowed I would never take for granted again. ‘The Orange’ reminds us that we must keep asking ourselves: how often do we allow ourselves to simply be? And how does this improve our lives? Wrapped up in news reports and relentless social media notifications we often end up thinking simply of ourselves, failing to realise what we can be grateful for. The moment that we pause, breathe and realise that we are here, right now, present in the minute, we can be moved to acknowledge the joy of our own existence. If we all took time to contemplate how beautiful the little things are, maybe we would find even more to be thankful for. This is epitomised in the closing line as Cope reinforces how we have the incredible ability to love and be loved, simply due to the fact that we exist. Thanks to this poem, and how it prompts one to start noticing the smaller things, I vow to make a much greater habit of saying ‘I love you’ and ‘I’m glad I exist’.
by Rosie Trethewey
See Wendy Cope’s poem here: https://gladdestthing.com/poets/wendy-cope