We're so used to consuming text that we might not realize how much the appearance of a poem conveys its meaning. Poetry, more than any other literary genre, concerns itself with form. Line breaks, stanza shape, indentation, punctuation, capitalization -- all these and more constitute form and can signify meaning every bit as much as the literal meaning of the words themselves. As a result, while reciting a poem always increases our understanding of it, much of what constitutes it visually is lost. Much of it, that is, remains unspeakable. The following poems highlight just how much can be left unspoken, whether it be the image of Herbert's "Easter Wings," the jarring punctuation of Dickinson's poem 782 (745), or the sleekness of Williams's "Poem." Listen to the recitations first and imagine what each poem might look like printed on a page. Then scroll down to the bottom where the text of each poem is presented to see whether the image in your head matches the real thing. What gets left unspoken?________________________________________________
Poems as spoken
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1. "Easter Wings" by George Herbert (1593-1633)
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2. "The Altar" by George Herbert (1593-1633)
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3. "III. Visiting Couple Kissing and Halved Onion" from Double Exposures
by Greg Williamson (1964- )
by Greg Williamson (1964- )
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4. Poem 782 (745) by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
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5. "Poem" by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
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Poems as unspeakable
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1. "Easter Wings"
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2. "The Altar"
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3. "III. Visiting Couple Kissing and Halved Onion"
Unjustly I've imposed upon my friends
This? It's an onion that's been cut in half
When they're (how shall I say?) making amends
Right in the middle of the photograph
After a night of words, and here they stand
Less like those pure, textbook transparencies
Wrapped up in one another, hand in hand,
Than layered and opaque identities,
An arm around a shoulder, face to face,
Developed in the dark to this full kit
And captured in this rapturous embrace.
Which has so many tears inside of it.
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4. Poem 782 (745)
Renunciation - is a piercing Virtue -
The letting go
A Presence - for an Expectation -
Not now -
The putting out of Eyes -
Just Sunrise -
Lest Day -
Day's Great Progenitor -
Outvie
Renunciation - is the Choosing
Against itself -
Itself to justify
Unto itself -
When larger function -
Make that appear -
Smaller - that Covered Vision - Here -
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5. "Poem"
As the cat
climbed over
the top of
the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot
carefully
then the hind
stepped down
into the pit of
the empty
flowerpot
