Play with Words

A High-Toned Old Christian Woman
~Wallace Stevens

Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.
Take the moral law and make a nave of it
And from the nave build haunted heaven. Thus,
The conscience is converted into palms,
Like windy citherns hankering for hymns.
We agree in principle. That's clear. But take
The opposing law and make a peristyle,
And from the peristyle project a masque
Beyond the planets. Thus, our bawdiness,
Unpurged by epitaph, indulged at last,
Is equally converted into palms,
Squiggling like saxophones. And palm for palm,
Madame, we are where we began. Allow,
Therefore, that in the planetary scene
Your disaffected flagellants, well-stuffed,
Smacking their muzzy bellies in parade,
Proud of such novelties of the sublime,
Such tink and tank and tunk-a-tunk-tunk,
May, merely may, madame, whip from themselves
A jovial hullabaloo among the spheres.
This will make widows wince. But fictive things
Wink as they will. Wink most when widows wince.

Forget for a moment about what this poem may "mean." When reading poetry, I often let the sensation of the work wash over me, without worrying so much about what the author's intent was. It's a good exercise in reading relaxation, really--after all, poems are not essays. You don't need to spend all your time looking for the main thrust, or argument, or themes. Sometimes, all you pull from one poem is a line--just one killer line, or phrase, or metaphor. Of course, if you really want to dissect this piece, more power to you. But what I'd like to call your attention to is the language.

Read this poem outloud--the sonic play here is tremendous, esp. in the last few lines. These words were chosen for impact, for resonance--as most words in a poem should be. We don't always remember to read poems outloud, esp. when the poem does not rhyme. But, I think you'll agree that this poem cries to be read aloud.

Two assignments: 1. This poem starts sort of as a lecture, or instructions. It's very commanding--"take this, do that." It's a fun style to employ in a poem, because it is so hands-on--most poems are written for the reader to observe, whereas this poem demands that the reader "do" something--whether or not the thing is actually "do-able" is not the point. The tone, clip, and voice are all propelled forwards by this demand for action. So, try it on--demand something of your reader.

#2: Language. When poets try and get crafty with language, we often fall into the trap of getting too wordy, or using lots of multisyllabic latinates (such as: despondent, disconsolate, advantageous, appropriate, detrimental, unpropitious). These words are fine in fiction and in academic writing, but can bog down a poem quickly, making it sound stuffy and over-important (latinates tend to be "ee" heavy). Plus, their sound is uninteresting; compare the latinate word list I gave to these from the Stevens' poem: muzzy, nave, hankering, peristyle, masque. Much better-sounding, eh? Stevens' words are much punchier, and have more hard "cks" and soft "zzs" or "vvhs." These types of words make the sound of the poem more dynamic, and can add to the tone--lots of soft sounds can be soothing, and lots of quick, clippy sounds or "rrrs" can add an element of anger or frantic energy. Next time you're around someone who is speaking emotionally, try listening to their sounds instead of their words--you'll be able to pick up on their emotion just by the way they speak.

So, play with language--try starting with a few startling words, and build a poem around them. I recommend thesaurus.com for turning up unexpected words. And, don't be afraid to create words--it doesn't always work, but sometimes adding an -ness or -ic or proto- to a known word can create surprising meaning and usages. Aim to give your reader a phrase or two they'll really have to chew on, a la Stevens' "jovial hullabaloo among the spheres," or "our bawdiness,/Unpurged by epitaph."

Have fun!

~Dani