If sound is the heartbeat of the poem, perhaps imagery is the musculature of the poem. In The Poet’s Companion, Laux and Addonizio characterize images as “the rendering of your bodily experiences in the world; without them, your poems are going to risk being vague and imprecise, and they will fail to convey much to the reader.’ This is good advice for your poetic practice. Notably, when you write poems, try not to forget the bodily experience of your world, what is palpable or even visceral about the experience you are writing about. Typically, abstract thought and only get you so far in a poem, at least if you are writing emotional poetry. Sensory imagery helps your readers locate themselves imaginatively in your poems.
Figurative language is at the core of poetic practice, enhancing our sensory imagery and giving more concrete presence to our abstract thoughts. Specifically, similes and metaphors can transport us to surprising places imaginatively, and add layers of experience or reality to our imagery. But they have to make sense within the context of the poem. To quote Laux and Addonizio,
Good metaphors and similes make connections that deepen, expand, and energize; they stimulate the imagination. . .Figurative language is a way to deepen and intensify the themes and concerns of your work.
This means your metaphors and similes should not be employed as merely description. They need to say something more, to have a meaningful purpose in the poem. They need to add layers to the readers’ experience. Let’s take a closer look at the final lines of Gilbert’s “Finding Something’:
She will lean against my leg as she sits
so as not to fall over in her weakness.
How strange and fine to get so near to it.
The arches of her feet are like voices
of children calling in the grove of lemon trees,
where my heart is as helpless as crushed birds.
There is great imaginative and emotional distance traversed in these three final lines, as Laux and Addonizio point out. The arches of Michiko’s feet are “like voices’–that is, a sonic image is used to illustrate a visual one–and so the synesthesia here immediately asks us as readers to move beyond our comfort zones if we are to fully imagine the image before us. We have to think of sound as a visual and material arch, or how a voice might resemble an arch, which demands active and participatory reading and imagining from us as readers. But then Gilbert takes us even farther from the literal plane of the poem, takes us where the voices are those of children playing in the grove, from which (or through which) we then move even deeper into the lemon grove to focus on the “crushed birds’ there (a nest of chicks fallen from a tree, perhaps).
These last three lines are a good example of what I mean by using figurative language to add layers to your readers’ experience of your poem. Reading the final three lines of Gilbert’s poem, our imaginations have moved all the way from the bedroom to the lemon grove, then down to a pile of crushed birds–that is, they have traversed across space and time–while at the same time remaining in the bedroom. We are still talking about the arches of her feet, and how they “arch’ like children’s voices. Michiko is still denying; our speaker is still washing her feet. Nothing has literally changed. The movement is internal.
Before you start working in figurative language, however, it is important to remember that not all metaphors and similes are equally effective. We want to avoid cliches. As Laux and Addonizio explain,
The trouble is that most of the figures in our language are so common and have been heard soften that they’re virtually useless for poetry, which deals not in cliches, worn-out expressions, but in surprising ones that reveal new connections or cast a different angle of light on an idea or experience.
A cliche is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its power or relevance. A cliche can be a figure of speech, or stock imagery, phrases like, “the grass is always greener,’ or “it’s always darkest before the dawn,’ or the textbook’s example of “sticks like glue.’ But in poetry, even certain words have become cliche over time, and it’s best to be very deliberate and surprising in our use of them (e.g. “eternity’ or “soul’). And there are also certain redundancies that become cliche, like “dark shadow’ or “blue sky.’ Laux and Addonizo refer to the heap of cliches we might be tempted to use as a Toxic Language Dump. Here is an extensive list of poetry cliches you may consult if you have a hunch that a metaphor, simile, or turn of phrase you wish to use is already too overused to be effective.
In your reading response, please focus on the imagery + figurative language of one poem in Packet #3, and explain how it enhances or complicates your experience reading it.
Andrew Sheets
The promise by Mary Howe was enhanced by use of comparisons and imagery, because it helped to draw comparisons to how the narrator views their situation, in this case dreaming about reuniting with a deceased loved one. One stanza goes “and listen, we don’t die when we die. Death is an event, a threshold we pass through. We go on and on and into light forever.” The first half is fairly straightforward, but by describing death as a threshold that goes into light, a sort of ethereal description is depicted. The whole stanza is both figurative and descriptive, and also contrasts nicely with the conclusion that ends with the drunk dad. Additionally, but in a less effective manner “[the deceased loved one] looked at me as though he couldn’t speak, as if there were a law against it, a membrane he couldn’t break.” certainly adds to the almost paranormal aspect of the poem and is a good descriptor that conjures up a vivid image. But describing his silence had little impact on the poem as a whole– if there isn’t dialogue, it’s assumed that the deceased loved one is silent already. So while I think imagery can be an effective tool in poetry, but it’s important to use it only on what you want the reader to focus on.
Sarah corbett
I think I’ve said this before, poetry isn’t my strong suit. I often have trouble deciphering it, so I’m only about 70% confident on my interpretation of ‘The Promise’.
I loved her vivid imagery, the bit that stuck out the most to me was right at the end. Her description of the look that is passed between her (and what I’m assuming is a sibling) when their dad was ‘drunk and dangerous’. While my dad never beat us, and he never got drunk, my mom and I had a whole silent language that we had developed over the years. We could communicate with just our eyes, and a flick of the eyebrow, and be able to give my dad the same explanation, argument, whatever, without having even discussed it before hand. It’s a subtle thing, that unless you’ve been in that type of household before, it can be hard to know exactly what that feels like. So while the stanza describing the tension behind the look is brief, it is VERY effective. It put the rest of the poem in a completely different light for me. I got the feeling that their dad got very sick, died, then the narrator was dreaming of the dad.
This is where I’m kind of building a story out of my own experiences (and what I imagine I might feel when my dad goes), but I think that the dream was her making peace with her dad. He looks as though he wants to speak, and doesn’t, and I think that in her dream, she imagined an apology and admission of guilt and love on the other side of that membrane. And the look shared at the end, was not actually with her sibling, it was REMINISCENT of those exchanges; except now it was her dad giving her the look. The look that tells her exactly what he is thinking, but can’t say. Maybe that’s a stretch, but that’s what the imagery told me, and I think it’s really good. Really sad too, because I could see myself having similar feelings and making peace with my dad like that.
Christy Barrett
This week I am responding to The Wolves by Paisley Rekdal. There is, in this poem, the imagery of wolves. These wolves to me represent the takers of life. They are essentially coming to take someone away from the narrator. There is a feeling of imminent finality in this poem. You know death is coming. She even states at one point that it is necessary. However, it is also made quite clear that this inevitable death will be a great relief. It seems that it will be a sort of release, in fact, to all involved as the sufferer is in a great deal of pain. In one line, it is mentioned that the wolf is suckling young cubs giving what seemed to be death a maternal feel. The writer mentions asking over and over. There is a certain rhythmic feel to this. I enjoyed this introduction as it helped me to sink into the poem as the story unfolds. In one line, it is stated, ‘We wanted her to die, too.” This struck me because we don’t often admit that we want someone’s life to end, but this is a very real feeling. As hard as it was for me to admit, I felt this way as I watched my dad suffer in the final month of his life. To admit to that feeling in the thick of it felt so real, as if the narrator was perfectly in tune with the circumstances and seeing the events unfold so clearly. I enjoyed how the poem flowed. And the last line was fantastic: “What is the difference now”. Because when it’s over, it’s over.
Adeline Knavel
For this week’s reading response I decided to read “The Promise” by Marie Howe from poetry packet 3. I think poetry is a love-hate relationship with me. Sometimes I love it and I love reading it but sometimes I hate having to read it. I think Mary Howe used imagery in her poem in such a nice way. I felt like Marie Howe used imagery to complicate her writing. The way she used it in her descriptions to make them comparable to the rest of the poem and other lines and stanzas written in the poem. I think Marie Howe’s vivid imagery helped build her poem and set it up. The part that stuck out to me the most and I found the most descriptive was the very ending of her poem. I don’t wanna say I loved the ending of the poem but it did stick out the most and made me wish there was a bit more to the poem. I think that the last stanza had so much imagery and description. I was able to imagine an older man sitting there at the dining room table looking drunk and angry. The last few words of “something important, and can’t”. At that moment I finished reading her poem. I wanted more. Marie How’s use of imagery made it easy to visually see what she was writing about. Overall, I think the imagery is an effective and useful way for writers to use in poetry, this allows them to let the readers focus on the story and background.
Nadia Finley
Addonizio and Laux write about poetry pouring out of excess of inspiration. “Wolves,” by Paisley Rekdal definitely feels as though it was written from the overflowing feed of some consuming emotion. Rekdal’s imagery was careful and muted as a great deal of the poem articulated the teeter-totter of selfishness and relief that would come with induced death.
The images and metaphors felt tricky for me. I think that the ash tray was the dying woman’s way of communicating to the author that she was thinking about the wolves in the leaves, the ash resembling their fur. As for the wolves themselves, I did not understand what Rekdal meant when she wrote “my father must be in there, my uncle,” which feels like some metaphor that would only make sense if one could read the poem from Rekdal’s point of view. What I feel I understand is when she writes “Or: the wolf is you, you are still the mother,” which plays right into the expository portions of the poem. Rekdal is calling for the woman to stay, to stay for those who wantd her to be there for them. My favorite piece of imagery, though, is when Rekdal writes, “From the bed, a finger pressed into a pile of leaves.” Coming from less image-filled writing about the suffering woman in the hospital, this phrase is such a smooth transition into the wolves’ situation. Quiet, peaceful, the suffering’s image of still perfection. It was a beautiful way to glide from one idea of selfishness to another idea of peace. Bringing us into the internal struggle between a restricted gasp of, “We need you to remember us,” and, “We see what you deeply desire.”
I know there are aspects of the imagery that I am not understanding. I will never have the exact same mind, the exact same understanding of objects, images, and associations, as another person. What, then, is the measure of a good image? If we are being true to our own perspectives, then there will be people who do not fully understand what we are saying, but being ingenuine for the sake of others’ understanding not only takes us away from ourselves but also pushes us closer to a cliche voice. It feels like a wire, and I think each poet must be able to find his own balance. In the case of “Wolves,” it seems like Rekdal is writing out of a need to let out some pent up feeling of guilt. To release this emotion of what if and why. She does not seem to be writing for everyone to understand, but for her to understand or, at least, express. If the imagery serves its purpose for her, then perhaps others will also find something in it.
Miranda Reynolds
I am going to respond to Howe’s “The Promise” because of its brilliant merging between figurative language and imagery. While it used both quite well separately, the strength of the poem for me was the mixing of the two in some of the lines. For instance, in the second stanza, Howe starts with the words “he looked at me as though he couldn’t speak,” which implies a much tenser or melancholy relationship than the reader would have gotten out of the first part of the simile alone.
However, while the figurative language used here creates a strong emotional pull, Howe’s addition of imagery in the second line of the stanza makes it more forceful. Using the imagery of an unbroken “membrane,” she intentionally picks vivid words that will enhance the forlorn and strained feeling she is going towards. When I think of a membrane, it is more than just a preventing wall. It is a gel-like substance that appears fragile and transparent but no matter how hard one pushes, it never breaks. This intentionally strange word choice also made me think of other similar words, like the membranes of cells (human building blocks), which brought me back to the human relationship Howe described.
Another part of the poem with a particularly fascinating relationship between figurative language and imagery was the fifth stanza going into the sixth. She starts with the impactful metaphor “death is an event,” conjuring the epic and powerful idea of death like how it might be described in a myth or a significant historical battle. However, she then uses the imagery of “light forever” to give the idea a more joyous and angelic, although still monumental theme. I was particularly interested by this use of layering language and imagery on top of each other to give the reader two contrasting feelings from the same idea that still supported the theme of the poem. I would definitely like to try playing with this technique in my writing.
Ainsley Smith
I decided to respond to the poem, “The Promise” by Marie Howe because of it’s great use of imagery and strategic use of figurative language.
In the second stanza, Howe starts right off with using a simile to describe the state in which the protagonist’s brother was in. Unable to speak “as if there was a law against it” shows how serious this situation is to the reader. Then, Howe continues on through the sentence by submitting in a strong visual concept between figurative language – the “membrane” that cannot break. It was a smart and tactful move for Howe to use that word in this context. When I think of a membrane, instantly I think of how they hold everything together and it protects. It seems dainty, but instead strongly woven.
In the third stanza, we learn that the silence is almost a natural thing for the man in the dream. Howe describes it as “like our breathing in the world, like our living.” As a reader, I gather the sense that the silence is of normalcy to the man. This use of figurative language to compare life to quiet was a strong tact on me as a reader. I understood what the silence was like in the dream, how natural it was. It gave more depth to me as a reader, which further interested me.
I really enjoyed the imagery that resides in the ending stanza. Howe speaks of their past, how they would sit around the kitchen table, their drunk father, staying mute. I could see this picture clearly, and also feel the energy of the memory as well. I could see the fright the children felt from their dangerous father. Howe, finished the poem nicely with this stanza and use of imagery by explaining the look the two characters would share; the look of how they wanted to say something to each other, but couldn’t. It ties perfectly with the beginning of the poem, when Howe writes, “he looked as though he couldn’t speak.” It was a smart and tactful move to rekindle the flame in the beginning with a memory that sparks such strong imagery.
Johnny Bishop
in As from a quiver of arrows the poet starts out with some deep imagery of what comes along in death and that’s what drew me in. It enhanced the way I pictured it in general. The one thing that I’ve learned over the years that I have taken English classes and that’s always stuck with me is that in any kind of writing poems, fictional or nonfictional pieces there is such thing as sensory overload and if you can to avoid overpowering the piece with this idea. In this case the poet made it just enough that I didn’t lose interest in the poem. The imagery and even the sensory words that were used gave a vivid and almost emotional reaction to the poem.
Curtis Wolfe
I found “The Promise” by Mary Howe to have a great use of comparisons and imagery in it. Her use in the poem helped draw out the severity of the situation. The way she described the look between her and dead loved one really stuck out to me in the poem. But the line that really drew me in was “he looked at me as though he couldn’t speak, as if there was a law against it, a membrane he couldn’t break.” I think that line had great imagery in it because you could picture a young male with the look of desperation on his face standing behind a translucent barrier. And I think that the ending of the poem really brought it all together in short fashion. So overall, I think the use of imagery and figurative language helped enhance this poem for me.
Ta'Mariah Jenkins
The poem I decided to look into was “Finding Something” by Jack Gilbert. One of the first words that came into mind after reading his text, was how seldom his poetry was. By seldom, I meant rare and random. The imagery gave me the feeling of experimentation and random thinking. He uses transactions and comparisons of this woman and turns them into a directive and loving language. I could arguably explain the feelings of this character and how deeply they feel for the woman. I find myself swooning over the fact that he uses imagery to display the feelings of this person. This enhances my knowledge of the character and the feelings being brought out towards the character. In addition to the feeling of mourning and longing towards someone. The author shows a large scope of visionary etiquette. Moreover, when I talk about visionary etiquette, I mean the politeness of keeping things simple enough for the reader, while keeping the tone eloquent. Simplicity is an important feature in keeping readers enticed into the story. For example, comparing something so supplemental such as her feet to the voices of children is honestly brilliant. The love language being communicated is well distributed and what really brought me into reading the poem.
Kyleigh McArthur
I’m going to be responding to the first poem in the packet, “The Promise.” Firstly there is the use of the figurative language of him looking at her as if he was not able to speak. Then uses the imagery of it being a membrane he couldn’t break. The first part of this, the look of not being able to speak, was a look I am familiar with. It’s a look that you give your friend when you need to tell them something, but not until later. Then there was the membrane imagery which was interesting. I had a hard time picturing what type of membrane this was supposed to be, because in my mind I saw a cell membrane. Not a bad use of imagery, just a little confusing for me. Then later towards the end, there was the use again of a look described as a look in a crowded room passed along as if something had to be told, but it couldn’t at that moment. The use of the drunk dad worked really well because I was then picturing this as more of a worried look, which is what I think was the idea behind this imagery.
Casey Fetterhoff
The figurative language in “The Promise” by Marie Howe is quite powerful, especially so because of the plot twist at the end. Though, I suppose it is less of a plot twist and more of a plot reveal. Given the way the poem ends, and the excitement she builds in the third to last stanza, the abrupt end makes me think more of secrecy than of a promise. The figurative language and the imagery, of breathing, an unbreakable membrane, and a threshold, build a scene of tension, expectation, and pressure. Then when the pressure is not released, but is instead capped off with his silence, the figurative imagery of the poem leaves you with that tension, creating a powerful impact. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wish for a sequel to the poem.
Jewel Blanchard
For this week’s reading response I will respond to, The Promise by Marie Howe, from poem packet three. The poem, The Promise, spoke to me. I read through the poem a couple of times to try and understand it more and a bit better. I came to really love this poem and feel the feelings it gave. The similes used in this poem is what makes it highly effective for a reader to feel what the author is trying to express.
The first example of the simile that is effective in the poem is:
he looked at me as though he couldn’t speak, as if
there were a law against it, a membrane he couldn’t break.
This example shows the importance of how this person feels. How this person feels this person feels. Like expressing this person’s feelings for him and showing us what took place and how it felt for them both. The author of this poem then continues on adding more similes to make it even more powerful.
Another example:
His silence was what he could not
not do, like our breathing in this world, like our living,
That example adds on to the previous simile, emphasizing the importance of their feelings that took place.
Devin Byrd
I enjoy Phillip’s peace because it reads like an honest, personal reflection in a journal. The author’s language remains rather grounded throughout the poem. He uses mundane objects and experiences in his similes and metaphors that I believe most would easily be able to imagines and relate to, and it makes his ponderings of mortality seem all the more genuine and founded on his own experiences in life. The specificity of his imagery also suggests that he’s drawing from personal experiences, and again, makes his quandaries much easier to empathize with compared to perhaps those of a career philosopher who can only offer abstract discourse without any involved, real-life moments to draw from.
Timberly Kneebone
This week I focused on the poem “The Promise”. The author Marie Howe does an amazing job at using figurative language in order to elevate her writing. I feel that in poetry, imagery or figurative language can really hinder a person’s writing. I also believe it has the opportunity to really enhance a poem. The thing I love most about this poem is the fact that visuals are created in my head quickly with very few words. Each word in the poem efficiently creates an image in my head that furthers the message in the story. The line that really stuck with me was “It was the look we’d pass across the kitchen table when Dad was drunk again and dangerous”. I was able to understand what the author meant. I could understand that with one twitch of an eyebrow or the scrunch of a nose a message was sent to another across the table without having to say a word. It creates such a strong backbone for the poem. I really loved how the message at the end was so powerful, it made me want to read the beginning again in order to fully captivate the side of the story.
Gabriel Miller
The use of figurative language in the poem “As From a Quiver of Arrows” develops a complex idea of meaning and how such meaning should inform actions. The title itself if an example of this because of a quiver of arrows being a containment of that which should move or that has purpose. When compared to the musings of the dead, in this case the concept of containing remains is juxtaposed with questioning the purpose of confinement and the fate of someone after death. While this is the main use of figurative language, the constant use of diverse imagery, such as the list of burial customs, helps to add more uncertainty to the proposed conventions of memorial.
Zofia Sheesley
Immediately the title “the wolves” and then talking about a tumor is very strong figurative language, even if the title isn’t necessarily referring to the tumor, its a great analogy. You start reading wondering what the title could be referring to and then it gives you a possible meaning immediately. And then she relates wolves to something motherly and comforting, those two possible analogies give this poem two very different tones. The cancer analogy brings a dark sad and scary tone to the poem and the motherly wolf tending to her cubs brings a “light at the end of the tunnel” tone. It’s a great back and forth feeling, getting carried from one possible tone and meaning to another. The wolves, in the end, are both, they are everything, and that is the reason the figurative language works. Making us guess and find our own possible meanings and looking deeper and deeper into each line and then explaining at the end that it’s everything, we were right all along, its both, it’s the bitter and the sweet, that’s why bittersweet is a compound word, because of things like this. Providing us with multiple meanings and leaving it pretty much up to us is smart because the poem will mean more to the reader personally and give them a 1st person perspective as opposed to a 3rd person perspective if it were shrouded in mystery or not easily relatable, BUT they also provided their intended meaning in case the reader didn’t have their own or didn’t want to look for their own. This makes the poem accessible to everyone.
Anna Johnson
“The Promise” by Howe was both complicated for me to read but also telling after reading it a few times. This was a story about a dream, where a man looks at him in some coat and goes on to say how he can’t speak, but he tells him a bit about death instead. All to end that the man seems like he has something important to say but still can’t.
The use of imagery really helped me capture this poem. “He looked at me as if he couldn’t speak”. I am well aware that this is a dream and the look and the man who is staring. I kind of get tension from this. The biggest part that I saw as figurative language was the portion about death and that when we die we don’t die, that there is more to it than an event. A part that I appreciated was the ending. “It was the look we’d pass across the kitchen table when Dad was drunk and dangerous, the level look that wants to tell you something”. I think this look can be portrayed differently and it helped me imagine this dream more. The use of imagery made it real for me and the figurative language helped me understand the depth of it. It took me a few times to read it and grasp what it was about.