Have you ever decided to sit down and watch a movie with a friend or family member and you get about 3/4 of the way through, only to find out something came up and the movie cannot be finished? Say this movie was a total cliffhanger and not seeing the end of the film would drive you crazy until the next time you decided to sit down and view it again. For most people this would be total travesty.
Ok, let's take it one step further. have you ever been so caught up in a movie or piece of literature that had the makings of a great ending but instead the piece just ends? It leaves the reader with so many questions and they are left in total confusion.
For some of the poems written by William Carlos Williams, they tend to give off this exact feeling for the reader. "The Red Wheelbarrow", for example, is a very short promising statement or poem. "So much depends upon the red wheelbarrow, glazed with rain beside the white chickens." Sure, this is a complete thought, but what is he writing about? What is he trying to do with just this one statement? What happens to the red wheelbarrow? Some people would go insane over lines like these because the poem doesn't give off any more information than it needs to. William's takes a step out from norm when he writes little statements like these and turns people's heads in the process.
This style of poetry is really popular in today's culture. In my opinion, poetry in this style urge a person to think rather than everything set out before them. Don't get me wrong, most poetry of any style gets me thinking in any which way. But I guess the fact that most of the thinking relies on the abrupt ending leaves me to question more about the purpose rather than what the figurative language expressed in other works. Jennica Harper writes a poem by the name of "Every Good Boy" that has a very modern tone to its alliteration. She expresses the subject of the title and then leaves the reader with an ending that leaves the reader wanting more. The poem is really a bunch of generalized statements but its the way the author ends the poem that wants the reader wanting more.
http://lemonhound.com/2014/04/23/jennica-harper-three-poems/
HA! I thought the same thing about William's poetry. It was almost ALWAYS a cliff hanger. I wanted him to explain the rest of his thoughts to me. I wanted him to answer his questions, but he never does. Yet, while it was frustrating to me, I LOVED it. Your movie analogy was spot on, its EXACTLY how I feel after every episode of Breaking Bad...
ReplyDeleteYour comments on the style of poetry forcing people to think is, again, spot on. I think that style is a clever way to communicate longing and desire to an audience without telling them how to feel it. Instead they just leave you hanging, evoking the feeling without having to say a word more.
I really like that comparison! I do know exactly how that feels, and I get the same feeling from this poetry! But I guess that's part of poetry...having to find out what it means by ourselves. If not, we wouldn't have to work at all in the relationship between author and reader, right?
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