There Shall be No Commerce Between Us Pound, Yet There is Literary Respect

    I am at a crossroads with Ezra Pound. How am I to praise his intellect without praising the man? How am I to claim the genius of his writing without flattering his worldview and political beliefs? How can I complement his poetry and alienate his ethics at the same time? This feat shall be difficult, much like the day we “set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and We set up mast and sail on that swart ship,” but I shall give it my best.

   Pound’s use of historical and literal figures throughout his poetry speaks volumes of his intellect. His ability to infuse these historical and literary figures into his poetry with ease furthers the argument that Pound may have indeed had the most impressive literary mind of his time. Such a case can be made after reading Canto I and furthered with the reading of the remainder works recorded in The Cantos.

    In Canto I, Pound takes his readers on a journey with Odysseus as he sets sail to travel into Hades to seek advice from Tiresias. Pound writes this poem as if he is one of the crew who travels with Odysseus (He often uses the word “we” when speaking of the crew), which draws his audience into his poem even more, setting the mood which the audience is to read the text. In a way to both reach a more vast audience and to pay homage to Andreas Divus, (The man who translated the Greek epic into Latin) Pound tends to use the Roman names for the gods as he takes the reader through this Greek epic. His ability to use this tool successfully, allowing the reader to connect with the work no matter their bias in mythology, is the most incredible apologetic to his literary capabilities that he possesses (that is to relate to his audience). His ability to continue this feat throughout The Cantos strengthens such a claim.

      Though I exalt Pound’s literary capabilities, it must be made clear that I denounce his social and political stance. For more on his worldview, I suggest you look him up. There is not enough room to write on the problems associated with his worldview.

        Hasmukh Amathala’s poem New Approach is political in meaning. I choose this poem to write on alongside of Pound due to Amathala’s desire to see change in how politics are handled. Coming from a liberal point of view, Amthala first claims to seek help for people from their struggles. He continues to speak on ways that a person can work and strive to better themselves, which mostly consists of knowing the right people and gaining the benefits of knowing these people, such as political power and recognition. He argues people will know you by those you are associated with. His liberal view is prevalent when he claims he wants to help people but insists that religion is no help at all. Most religions, whether you agree with them or not, provide hope for the believers. Hope begins the process of a one striving to be better, so why say it is a bad thing? pound shared some of these political views.

The Rebellious Gertrude Stein and Patriarchal Wendy Videlock

Gertrude Stein’s Patriarchal Poetry is not your typical poem. In fact it makes no sense at all, but that may be the purpose of the poem. One can make the argument that Stein felt poetry was boxed in by certain distinctions such as meter, structure, etc. and question why those distinctions have been placed on such a free form of writing. The word patriarchal is defined as “characteristics of a system society or government controlled by men” (dictionary.com). Stein felt that poetry had been developed by men with guidelines that men wanted to have, which trapped a form of verse that Stein felt should allow people to have an exuberant freedom. One can conclude this in the fact that Stein never answers exactly what Patriarchal poetry is, but after a lengthy poem filled with a lot of repetition of adjectives about patriarchal poetry she writes, “Dinky pinky dinky pinky dinky pinky dinky pinky once and try. Dinky pinky dinky pinky dinky pinky lullaby. Once sleepy one once does not once need a lullaby.” The beginning of this statement seems like a lot of nonsense, and it is, but the end of the statement gives the reader the meaning behind the poem, which is that poetry as people knew it was patriarchal by design and that makes no sense. Why would someone sing a lullaby to child whose eyes are already closing due to sleepiness? They would not, they would just put the child to sleep. Why would someone make create rules for what should be the most freeing form of expression? One should not, one should sit with a pen and write, letting their emotions and thoughts regurgitate onto the paper by way of the pen. 

Patriarchal Poetry by Gertrude Stein

http://www.scribd.com/doc/85887062/Gertrude-Stein-Patriarchal-Poetry

            Wendy Videlock’s poem Hullo follows the very distinctions that Stein argues are ridiculous. Videlock, in her poem about loneliness, uses a popular four line stanza with every second line rhyming. She also makes each line contain only four syllables which makes her poem patriarchal due to the fact that it holds to all of the standards of structure that Stein argues hold back the freedom in writing poetry. I think that Stein’s argument has merit, though the structure of poems, such as Hullo, give the text more feeling and can more easily set the mood in which the poem should be read. There are times when emotions should be regurgitated on paper with no rhyme or definite structure, but the guidelines that Stein calls patriarchal make poetry more enjoyable and connectable to the reader.

Hullo by Wendy Videlock

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/179344

The Imagery of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Leonard E. Nathan

         Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem Sympathy is a poem of hope. Dunbar, the son of former slaves, must have heard many stories from his parents regarding the malicious treatment they had to suffer through while they were slaves. Yet, one can also imagine that Dunbar’s parents would have told him about how they held on to hope that one day they would be free. Dunbar displays this in the image of a caged bird, though its wings are bloody and bruised and body sore the bird is still able to perch on its swing and sing a beautiful song. Dunbar tells his audience that the bird is not singing out of joy, on the contrary it is singing plea from his heart to be free to fly over the grass and enjoy the freedom it longs for. Dunbar references the bird sending a plea to heaven which may indicate that his parents hope, during their times as slaves, was found in God. Dunbar uses a structure of poetry that consists of three stanzas which are seven lines long and contain a rhyme pattern of abaabaa and is filled with imagery that allows the reader to not just have sympathy for the bird but to become empathetic with what the bird is experiencing.

Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar

http://www.potw.org/archive/potw219.html

        Leonard E. Nathan’s Potato Eaters uses eating potatoes, something everyone has done, to bring the reader into a time of his past. Potatoes take him back to a time when he was poor, grateful to have what they had, yet bored of the same thing and wanting more, not just in food but in life. The author has now moved on in life, yet something so simple as a potato takes him back to childhood and makes him grateful for not being in that place anymore, yet saddened because he can never go back to that time outside of memories. Dunbar uses his imagery as a sign of hope, while Nathan uses his a means to reminisce. They both use imagery that allows the reader to be drawn in to what they are feeling by using sights and experiences that many can relate to, seeing a caged bird sing and eating a plain boring potato. 

Potato Eaters by Leonard E. Nathan

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171091

Frost and Flynn

Robert Frost’s Witch of Coos is a dark poem which tells its readers of a conversation between the narrator, a woman and her son. The woman who is presumably a witch, along with her son tells the narrator of an event that took place forty years prior. This event which she describes is an occasion when she claims to have heard and witnessed a skeleton wake in the cellar and carry itself to the attic. There are some great metaphors used to describe this skeleton, one of which comes from the son when he states that it “carried itself like a pile of dishes.” A pile of dishes are unstable and swaying with little control, which one has to consent would the image that would be associated with a walking skeleton.

             The mother has a more romanticized metaphor for this skeleton as she claims it “was put together not like a man, but like a chandelier.” This metaphor begins to answer the question of who the skeleton is. Throughout the story, the mother mentions that the skeleton “came to her with hands outstretched, the way he (skeleton) did in life once,” which indicates that the mother at one time was either emotionally or physically close to whomever the skeleton once was. Further into the story she admits that her deceased husband killed the man instead of her which can further lead one to conclude that this mother had an affair, which makes the reader understand the meaning behind such a romantic metaphor given to describe a particularly terrifying event.

            Did a skeleton really walk from the cellar to the attic? No one but the mother witnessed the event. The son was too young to remember any of this and the husband, as admitted by the mother, never saw or heard anything though he was present when this event supposedly took place. Is it guilt, love, or did this event actually take place? The dark tones to the poem and the wonderful metaphors used make this deathly poem a lively one to read. (Bad pun I know but I could not help it.)

http://www.internal.org/Robert_Frost/The_Witch_of_Coos

In comparison, Nick Flynn’s Bag of Mice also uses great metaphors to progress a dark story. In his poem, Flynn speaks of finding a suicide note in his dream. This suicide not is written in pencil on a brown paper bag which is filled with mice. Flynn uses metaphors such as the penciled writing “smoldering,” and claiming that the writing was his friends “voice being released into the night.” These metaphors along with the mice representing the soul of the one who took their life, gives the impression that the author, though saddened at his loss, finds comfort in the idea that his friend is finally free.  

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bag-of-mice/