Steel-cut Oats

“Grief” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless;
That only men incredulous of despair,
Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air
Beat upward to God's throne in loud access
Of shrieking and reproach. Full desertness,
In souls as countries, lieth silent-bare
Under the blanching, vertical eye-glare
Of the absolute Heavens. Deep-hearted man, express
Grief for thy Dead in silence like to death--
Most like a monumental statue set
In everlasting watch and moveless woe
Till itself crumble to the dust beneath.
Touch it; the marble eyelids are not wet:
If it could weep, it could arise and go.”

Shock, eternal resignation, a paralyzing stillness. These are the things that Browning recognizes in her examination of grief. We are not those who discredit and disbelieve despair, we, who know it well, saturate ourselves in it, and drown without noise, without struggle. We do not long for normalcy, nor verdant emotion, we accept a tragic fate that leaves us broken, with the rationality of fatigue, of a listlessness that extends into unknown depths. It permeates, it slowly weathers away intricate nerve endings, it inhabits and hijacks our very bodies, until truth becomes vacant, and form barred. Until the movement of this suffocating mass becomes as physically impossible as a statue shedding marvelous tears. Do I know grief? Only as one knows smelling, not all possess the sense, but even those who do could never describe it accurately. Browning comes close, but she could never translate this poem to those who have never felt what she has experienced, just as I could never explain the smell of infiltrating smoke or creeping mold to someone who has never used their nose. Like a parasite it feeds on our mere existence, and we solemnly accept this relationship, as we dwindle into dehydrated fruit. Like a line, imaginary, endless, and impossible we remain in these purgatories, indeed until we “crumble.”

I could go on to talk about how Browning uses a seamless a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a-c-d-e-c-d-e rhyme scheme, using true, and slant rhymes to make the poem less artificial and intrusive, but I cannot. I believe that a mindless praise and analysis of such would be disrespectful and almost inappropriate. The work has affected me greatly, and that's all that really needs to be said. Browning has a gift for profound authenticity and connection, as someone who can relate to the work, and collapse in its verses, I can honestly say that such skill is welcome in composition.

The Insistent Plea Still Rings

“Do not go gentle into that good night” (1951) – Dylan Thomas

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.


Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.


Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

The word villanelle comes from the Latin word “villanella” meaning rustic. As perhaps the most well-known and celebrated of the villanelles, “Do not go gentle into that good night” indeed incorporates a rustic tone and sincerity. Written shortly after the death of his father, Dylan Thomas transformed his confusion, grief, and anger at the loss into a desperate plea. The repetition of lines, and rhymes (as is typical in a villanelle) help to create this tragic tone. Like the soft waves of tears the come in and out like the tide, Thomas indulges in the same feeling through his mournful composition. The honor, love, and respect that he held for his father is also evident in the numerous stanzas. Dylan Thomas also addresses the need for legacy in life. These “wise men,” “good men,” “wild men,” and “grave men” know well enough to fight to the end for life, when all seems meaningless and trivial. Thomas speaks to the brevity of life as well as even these most noble men, with lives full, cannot impact the world enough to leave a legacy. With this and the intolerable loss he had to face, Dylan Thomas begs each man to combat an empty life, but more importantly an arbitrary death, to not surrender to apathy and tradition, but to expire with passion, so that the light may never die.


The revival of formalism is imperative in current writing, deconstruction is often popular in contemporary composition, but this wondrous poem, identifies the advantages of formalism for certain topics and themes. The insistence of the stanzas does not subside, like those going “gentle into that good night,” but instead rages “against the dying of the light.” The villanelle impacts the audience firmly within this context, because of this very repetition, and formalism. The structure simply reaffirms Thomas’ theme, and without it would become ineffective. If Thomas was to, for instance, write a haiku, attempting to carry this theme, his structure would only display the exact opposite of what he was trying to get across. The number of words used in a haiku, or less verbose type of poem, would also betray the persistence of his message. Though it requires great skill, and time, a villanelle can be one of the strongest forms of poetry.

Stone Knifes and Bearskins

“Some Good Things to Be Said for the Iron Age” (1970) - Gary Snyder 

“A ringing tire iron

     dropped on the pavement

Whang of a saw

brusht on limbs

the taste

of rust”

Snyder adequately expresses his prophesy of and excitement for the demise of the Iron Age in his brief yet cunning poem. The “ringing tire iron” symbolizes the effects of the iron age, as if echoing out throughout the centuries. However the phrase “dropped on the pavement” brings to mind the abandonment of this long lasting era in human development, as if this technology abruptly ended, as a point on a time line. The placement of this line to the right of the first would suggest the same thing, as if in the future the Iron Age will terminate. The severe onomatopoeias present in this succinct poem indicate Snyder's impression of the harsh and unnatural form of the Iron Age such as with the word “whang,” this impresses upon the reader the feeling of a alien like noise. In the next line the word “brusht” also displays a sharp severity, a facet of the Iron Age, but also implies a past tense, as if to reassure the audience that the Iron Age will indeed conclude. Finally “the taste of rust” gives the reader a sense of destruction and deterioration, as the infamous age comes to a close. The last four lines become shorter and shorter in length creating a poignant form, coming to a point, as if slowly eroding as Snyder clearly professes the Iron Age will. Obviously including the title in Snyder's overall theme, he simply reaches out to say that the best thing “to be said for the Iron Age” is its overall termination.

The profound use of shape literally become imagery within this poem. Visually shape is an extraordinary way of capturing an audience's attention. As Thomas Foster clearly states, “if it's square it's a sonnet,” while this is just one way of quickly identifying a form of poem, he is right to emphasis the importance of shape in poetry. Especially since the brevity makes the word usage more subjective, because there is less body to put them into context, Snyder relies heavily on shape to clarify the meaning of the short phrases he applies. Snyder exponentiates the meaning of the few words he does uses, by eliminating the worthless baggage that comes with formal writing. In rejecting the usual structure of composition, Snyder gives every word a purpose and objective. The title has a invaluable mission as well. This atypically long title (especially considering the length of the overall poem) draws attention to itself in order to direct the reader's mind to a specific topic before reading the rest of the poem. Snyder's effective use of a title helps to engage the reader in the proper way, so that the meaning is not lost to confusion. I think that both these literary components are imperative to shorter poems. If a person wants to be brief, hard-hitting, and clever with a few words, meaning must still be sustained. Without the proper guidelines, such as with the use of shape and title the average audience will be disoriented in trying to define its theme and symbolism.

Respite For The Violent

“First Fight. Then Fiddle” (1949) - Gwendolyn Brooks

“First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string

With feathery sorcery; muzzle the note

With hurting love; the music that they wrote

Bewitch, bewilder. Qualify to sing

Threadwise. Devise no salt, no hempen thing

For the dear instrument to bear. Devote

The bow to silks and honey. Be remote

A while from malice and from murdering.

But first to arms, to armor. Carry hate

In front of you and harmony behind.

Be deaf to music and to beauty blind.

Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too late

For having first to civilize a space

Wherein to play your violin with grace.”

Brooks speaks to the towering contradictions of the proponents of war. Seeming “Renaissance” men who have not only a fine skill for violent tactics, but surprising the violin as well. In many ways this poem connects to the archetype of Mr. Kurtz within Heart of Darkness. Within this respected man lies various talents for painting, playing a musical instrument, writing, and perhaps above all the aptitude for speaking. The golden standard for Imperialist Europe, Kurtz then deteriorates into an unwholesome shadow that whispers foul tidings from the inner sanctums of a symbolic hell. This metamorphosis, or rather devolution, parallels that in Brooks' poem. Those with a sensitive attraction towards music and art, abandon their high ideals with a vicious blood lust. The civilized manners of class and society crumble against testosterone-fueled crusades. In a dissimilar perspective, Brooks could also be addressing the foolhardiness of young warmongers with an impatience to prove themselves to the world. As a result the consuming hate leaves only a murmuring mold of a man, who desperately attempts to forget his past naivety through a love of music. However perceived, Brooks injects an equal amount of passion in the descriptions of both pastimes, insuring that the reader understands the brutal irony of the poem's subject. In either case the poem still leaves a didactic and rather poignant theme.

Brooks combines both the structures of the traditional Shakespearean sonnet, and the Italian sonnet to create a fresh rhyme scheme that still neatly encases her work in an organized manner (at least more so than the free verse). “First Fight. Then Fiddle” incorporates the rhyming pattern "abbaabbacddcee." This rhyme scheme compares to that of the Italian, except for the last two verses which adhere to the Shakespearean standard. Brooks also utilizes iambic pentameter which is also typical in Shakespearean sonnets. This format maintains a sense of originality, but not at the expense of losing familiarity and structure. I find it all too easy to disregard formalism within poetry (especially while I'm writing it). Free verse generally reigns supreme with most undeveloped creative writers, because it is much easier. As we discussed in class, rhyming is difficult, and adhering to a set number of syllables can be taxing. Without structure the work somehow becomes less admirable, or, in some cases, less coherent and palatable. It obviously requires more time, but I think the idea of engineering a new version to an old classical structure, such as within Brooks' poem, can help to make the process more fun, and allow more room for creativity, while improving overall technique.