Sunday, September 14, 2008

Explanation for "Ars Poetica" by Archibald Macleish


Ars Poetica

A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown -
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind -
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
A poem should be equal to:
Not true
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -
A poem should not mean
But be

A note: I stopped teaching CBSE 5 years ago and I'm out of touch. So I haven't really worked on the explanations and edited them. You might find some of the explanations not up to the mark especially this poem. You will surely find better explanations on the net. One such site recommended by one of the readers which is really good and tailor made for CBSE is http://englishportal12.blogspot.in/?view=mosaic 

Archibald MacLeish’s imagist idea of art for art's sake is expressed in the poem 'Ars Poetica'. The poem is about the art of poetry or what a poem should be. It is interesting to note that as MacLeish states what a poem should be, he illustrates it as well, in the poem by successfully using paradoxes/contradictions and images to convey the idea that good poetry uses powerful images. The poem is divided into three sections of eight lines each with four rhyming couplets.

In the first section, he insists that a poem should be 'silent', dumb' or wordless. This seems contradictory or paradoxical as a poem uses words and is not silent. However, what he intends is the imagist concept of art, namely being brief and being direct. This is achieved through using the right words and right images which appeal to the reader’s senses of touch, sight, smell, hearing and taste. To convey this he has used the image of fruit that can be tasted or directly felt without the need for words/explanations. Also 'globed fruit' indicates the universality of the senses indicating that sensual images transcend individual cultures and time. Medallions are dumb to the feel of the thumb yet the image of medallions that commemorate past events recalls to memory the emotive past. Similarly, the silent image of 'sleeve worn stone of casement ledges’ evokes the sense of touch and along with it nostalgic memories of someone waiting and looking out by the window. Finally, the image of the soundless flight of birds touches the sense of sight. There is action yet it is a silent action. So too should a poem be: it should speak silently, which means, a poem doesn’t brashly convey a message or meaning but should evoke emotion/experience and impel imagination through images/words.

In the second section, he uses the image of the moon to state that a poem should be 'motionless in time' like the moon. The moon moves but its movement can not be easily perceived. So should poetry be. This could mean that good poems transcend time since they speak of universal experience. Yet each poem is rooted in the concrete i.e. in real, particular experience. What make them universal are the images used and the emotions evoked. Again, the poet uses imagery to illustrate the point. A poem leave memories/emotions/feelings in our mind just like the rising moon. Its imperceptible, incremental movement releases with its light, twig by twig the trees entangled by darkness and with continuous rising leaves the winter behind.

The third section seems to refute the idea that art is a search for truth as echoed in Keats' line 'beauty is truth, truth beauty'. For the poet, 'a poem should be equal to: not true'. Poetry is not concerned with the generalities of truth, beauty, goodness or historical facts. On the contrary what it should do is to capture human experience like an experience of grief, or of love, or of loneliness through images. As in the other two sections he uses images to illustrate the point. He uses the images of an 'empty doorway' or 'a maple leaf' to suggest the universal experience and history of grief and the images of ‘the leaning grasses and two lights above the sea' to evoke the experience of love. The last couplet 'a poem should not mean but be' seems to re-echo the imagist principle of art for art’s sake and poetry as capturing life using precise images that achieve clarity of expression. Poetry should not try to take on great unanswerable philosophical questions or convey some meaning/message. Instead good poetry should use concrete images to capture and evoke a moment of personal experience to take in the richness of being.




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29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a student of class twelve and these explanations helped me a lot for my board exam preperation
Thanks a lot

Abraham Patrick said...

thanks. i'm glad the blog was a great help.

Ashwin Sinha said...

Hello Sir,
Once again my comment because this is the second poem which i had difficulty in understanding.
It's ironic that the author wishes poets to convey the message in a manner that everyone can understand but himself he conveyed it in a complex way making it difficult.
One aspect can be that he might want people/poets to realize the mistake & not repeat it.
Well, since I'm a kind of a techie & your blog has helped me so much, I'd like to return the favor & I'll be more than delighted to re-design your blog to make it look cooler & customized.
You can contact me anytime by commenting here !!
Thanking You,
- Ashwin

hugo4234 said...

sir patrick made the best explanation of macleish's ars poetica :D

rogue said...

Thank god, its 12:45 and i have an exam tom.. no notes no guide.. found your blog, satisfactory explanations :)

and don't listen to ashwin sinha, he is in my class and biggest loser ive ever seen(worse than the epic cases), he'll just mess your blog up even more
xD
cheers

rogue said...

@ ashwin
There is no irony, its just that you lack IQ

Anonymous said...

Thank you sooo much sir for your profound explanations. This is a really big help before my boards.
thank you so much...

Deep said...

This is a really good explaination! Helped my friend a lot!
Thank You

Anonymous said...

Sir ur explinations are the coolest i think i'll pass my exams wid flyin colours!!!

Anonymous said...

gr8 explanation.. its awsome way 2 understand this poem... thanx....

Unknown said...

Can u plz explain the 14th line-'memory by memory the mind...

Anonymous said...

sir thank you for your explanation but would you kindly elaborate on lines 11-14

Unknown said...

could u pl. tell me how the empty doorway, maple leaf,leaning grass & two lights above the sea symbolize grief & love?

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Sir for this explanation! This will surely help others too! (like it did for me) :)

Anonymous said...

well explained sir!!thanks a lot....

Anonymous said...

thanks sir, it helped me a lot for my unit test

Puneet Kohli said...

thank u sir this will be a great help to me for my tmrw's exam

Anonymous said...

I am so glad i found this blog, else it wouldnt have been easier for me to make notes for my seminar...thanks a lot!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome!!!!!

Anonymous said...

awesome! but I'm still not able to grasp the meaning of words 'should not mean. But be.'

Anonymous said...

Tat means ur stupid.... No offence

Anonymous said...

Muito obrigado pelo post..me ajudou bastante..I'm from Brazil!!

Unknown said...

sir can u help me on on education by albert einstein....

Anonymous said...

hello sir
your explanation has helped me a lot.but if you would please elaborate the lines 11too 14 .
thank you

shubham said...

what an amazing piece of analysis you have done sir,,,hats off!

Unknown said...

thanku sir u have helped me a lot uderstandng this poem ................thanks a ton sir ........ :)

Unknown said...

i could not access the site http://englishportal12.blogspot.in

Anonymous said...

How can this be paraphrased?
I just want to have a simple version of this poem which can be easily understood by any people either young and old.
Is it possible?

Muhsi said...

I don't know how to say thanks to you 🥺.... May God bless you 🤲🫂 keep helping others😍🤩