Elephant Rocks-- Kay Ryan
First of all, the volume of poetry Elephant Rocks by Kay Ryan is very different than the Yeats' volume that I previously read in terms of craft elements. Yeats wrote a lot of long poetry where the reader could not help but notice the complexity and intricacy. Ryan's work is quite the opposite--instead of noticing the complexity, rigid form, and overflow of allusions, tropes, etc., the reader notices the simplicity of language. In a way, Yeats attempts to paint a masterpiece while Ryan creates a pencil sketch where the details are left to the viewer's mind. Ryan's simplicity elicits thought.
Perusing the table of contents of Ryan's volume, one quickly notices that the titles are short--often only a single word. Frequently, they are something concrete and everyday: "Crib," "New Clothes," or "Wooden." I think that this lets the reader relate the poetry's themes to their everyday lives; the poetry does not seem "scholarly" or overwrought.
Consider this example:
How Birds Sing
One is not taxed;
one need not practice;
one simply tips
the throat back
over the spine axis
and asserts the chest.
The wings and the rest
compress a musical
squeeze which floats
a series of notes
upon the breeze.
Here, an ordinary event that is usally considered inconsequencial becomes extraordinary with interesting diction and syntax. The poem is written as an address to the reader--as if WE might have a need to know how to sing like a bird. This novel approach is inviting to the reader--usually, if a bird is described, it is not done like the reader is a bird who has trouble singing.
When Ryan uses poetic elements, he does so unobtrusively--they seldom jump out at the reader. Ryan uses slant rhyme instead of full rhyme, and makes it seem as though his use of similies/personification/alliteration/etc. is almost happenchance. Of course, it is effective because it is premeditated.
Perusing the table of contents of Ryan's volume, one quickly notices that the titles are short--often only a single word. Frequently, they are something concrete and everyday: "Crib," "New Clothes," or "Wooden." I think that this lets the reader relate the poetry's themes to their everyday lives; the poetry does not seem "scholarly" or overwrought.
Consider this example:
How Birds Sing
One is not taxed;
one need not practice;
one simply tips
the throat back
over the spine axis
and asserts the chest.
The wings and the rest
compress a musical
squeeze which floats
a series of notes
upon the breeze.
Here, an ordinary event that is usally considered inconsequencial becomes extraordinary with interesting diction and syntax. The poem is written as an address to the reader--as if WE might have a need to know how to sing like a bird. This novel approach is inviting to the reader--usually, if a bird is described, it is not done like the reader is a bird who has trouble singing.
When Ryan uses poetic elements, he does so unobtrusively--they seldom jump out at the reader. Ryan uses slant rhyme instead of full rhyme, and makes it seem as though his use of similies/personification/alliteration/etc. is almost happenchance. Of course, it is effective because it is premeditated.
posted by Lauren at 2:04 PM
1 Comments:
i feel as if yeates is more so the detailed, busy-scened painter like some massive floral impressionist work or a deeply involved surrealist painting, where as ryan is the minimalist/conceptualist sculptor who doesn't need lots of colors and extravagance to convey an idea but instead can use the sleek, simple, construct of a design to say exactly what she wishes to say and leaves whatever inferences the reader is to make up to the reader by that particular means.
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