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The poem of the mind in the act of finding
What will suffice. It has not always had
To find: the scene was set; it repeated what
Was in the script.
Then the theatre was changed
To something else. Its past was a souvenir.
It has to be living, to learn the speech of the place.
It has to face the men of the time and to meet
The women of the time. It has to think about war
And it has to find what will suffice. It has
To construct a new stage. It has to be on that stage
And, like an insatiable actor, slowly and
With meditation, speak words that in the ear,
In the delicatest ear of the mind, repeat,
Exactly, that which it wants to hear, at the sound
Of which, an invisible audience listens,
Not to the play, but to itself, expressed
In an emotion as of two people, as of two
Emotions becoming one. The actor is
A metaphysician in the dark, twanging
An instrument, twanging a wiry string that gives
Sounds passing through sudden rightnesses, wholly
Containing the mind, below which it cannot descend,
Beyond which it has no will to rise.
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The poem begins with the assertion that modern poetry is not about static formula . It is the mind in a dynamic process (act) of discovering (finding) what is necessary (will suffice) for creating modern poetry with meaning for the modern age. It was not always dynamic (to find). Traditional poetry relied on formula (the scene was set). It didn’t have to invent new meanings; it [just] repeated what /Was in the script. In Line 4, Auden then uses *enjambment*1 to create an abrupt shift in both form and meaning.
Was in the script.
Then the theatre was changed
Poetry changed to something else, and the past formulas became relics (souvenirs) of what used to be. This introduces the extended metaphor of the stage, which continues for the rest of the poem.
It has to be alive (living), not static, using everyday speech (the speech of the place), not contrived language, and represent (face, meet) men and women of the time, not preconceived notions of them. It has to confront realities (what will suffice), even if harsh (war). With the theatre changed, it has to construct a new stage, a new life-platform, and it has to be on that stage as an actor, constantly seeking meaning and relevance (insatiable), speaking deliberately and thoughtfully (slowly and/With meditation) into the most sensitive (delicatest) ear of the mind, must repeat exactly what the mind wants to hear, i.e., the honest and truthful state of its condition, listened to by a collective consciousness (invisible audience) that hears itself in the poem, expressed in a conjoined emotion (poet and audience?) as of two becoming one. The poet (actor) is a philosopher (metaphysician) who, in the darkness of the theater, twangs upon a wiry string, i.e., creates new sounds that directly (sudden rightnesses) encompass (containing) the mind, striving neither below nor above the rightness of the mind. Finally, with Stevens using another enjambment for emphasis, the poet must discover (finding) an accurate reality (satisfaction), a true simulation of life in its intricacies: a man skating, a woman dancing, a woman/ Combing. The poem of the act of the mind.
(Note: One of the criticisms of modern poetry is that, as it progressed, in some cases it became increasingly oblique. A much discussed example of this is with James Joyce’s novels: Portrait of an Artist is relatively accessible; Ulysses, with its prolonged stream of consciousness, is often found to be “difficult”; and Finnegans Wake, which, in all honesty, hardly anyone reads. Wallace falls somewhere along that spectrum in Of Modern Poetry. Word usage and metaphors are used to express what, admittedly, can hardly be expressed. This exegesis, for instance, can be re-interpreted in a number of ways [though, hopefully, with the same major intents], It’s a problematic issue.)
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- Breaking a poetic line in half; splitting a sentence or phrase across two lines ↩︎
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(Note: You can view most poems on the website, Poetry Foundation.)
(Note: My Poetry Recordings Playlist: At the very bottom of the post Is a recording. To view my entire playlist of poetry recordings, hover over “1/18” in the upper right corner, then click on ‘My Poetry Recordings Playlist:´and make selection.)
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