Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Great Regulars: For this week's classic-poem discussion,

here are two poems gorgeous in sound, without end rhyme: Frost's blank verse "An Old Man's Winter Night" and William Carlos Williams' free verse "To Waken an Old Lady."

Both poems use old age to exemplify something about consciousness itself: that it is only partial, defined by the immense absences that surround it. The ice and snow along the walls of the house, the interrupted nap, contrast with the alert or alerted mind, its conscious waking and keeping. In both poems, sleep and darkness give consciousness a shape and, therefore, meaning.

from Robert Pinsky: Slate: Keener Sounds

~~~~~~~~~~~

No comments :