Earnest Hemingway said, “An intelligent man is sometimes force to be drunk to spend time with fools.” The question is, does excessive drinking cause one to develop the state of mind that those around them are fools? Or does one drink to bear the company of others? Then, one has to wonder if loneliness like in “Drinking Alone by Moonlight” by Li Po, when self-inflicted, is still the same. When does it evolve into hate, like in the “Hate Poem” by Julie Sheehan for instance? Drinking holds a lot of positive and negative reputation with it. Great wines make one appear “classy and sophisticated,” the ability to drink large amounts of alcohol make one appear to be “tough” or “cool” among today’s youth. Drinking, partying, and hanging out with friends are all phrases that have come to have the same meaning in today’s vocabulary. What kid’s don’t consider is the effects of long term drinking such as, loneliness, depression, alcoholism, and many other issues. Perhaps if kids knew that it could lead them down the path to, “drink(ing) alone, for no friend is near,” (Li Po pg. 457) they would not take it so lightly. Perhaps if the youth knew that loneliness and alcoholism could easily and quickly develop into hatred of others and things around them, furthering the sense of loneliness that Po felt. It can lead to the type of hate that involves everything one does such as, “the flick of my wrist,” and “the way I hold my pencil.” (Sheehan pg. 412) The fact of the matter is that these emotions such as hate and loneliness go hand in hand with excessive drinking. One has to understand that it really is the excessive drinking that can cause these feelings. Perhaps if more of today’s youth read poems like Po and Sheehan’s they would see this more clearly. However it does take a critical or investigative eye to see these meanings in the poems. If one envisions that Sheehan’s deep hate is the product of drinking, the type of drinking Po is doing, then subtracts the drinking it is interesting to think of what this poem could be. That is to take away the “excessive drinking” then switch every use of the word hate with the word love. The poem actually turns out to be a heartfelt and deep piece. That is a clear and easy to see example of how excessive drinking can affect people. It can take good, positive emotions and turn them into bad and dark ones. Of course, these are just the speculations and opinions of one reader. One hundred different people might read these selections and have one hundred different thoughts on them. These are just this reader’s thoughts based on life, experiences, and opinion. The poems weren’t written together so they could easily be taken differently but they actually work quite well together like this.

Works Cited
Po, Li. "Drinking Alone by Moonlight." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. By X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2006. 457-58. Print.
Sheehan, Julie. "Hate Poem." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. By X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2006. 412-13. Print.