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.