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The Statue A Modern Poem Essay Research

The Statue: A Modern Poem Essay, Research Paper


?The Statue?, by John Berryman, portrays the human race to be ignorant


and


uncaring. The poet bares a cynical attitude toward mankind. According


to the definition


of modern poetry, ?The Statue?, by John Berryman, is a modern poem.


Modern poets were inspired by Walt Whitman, who changed the form of


poetry


by choosing freestyle, and ?abandon[ing] the standard line lengths,


rhymes, and standard


forms of traditional poetry? (Jonvanovich 738). Capitalization,


punctuation, phrasing,


and sentences are all altered from their accepted form. Capital letters


appear in the


middle of a sentence, and periods appear in the middle of a stanza.


Sentences begin and


end in odd places, and normal syntax is disrupted. Modern poets rapidly


change subjects,


?producing the sense of dislocation that some poets think is


characteristic of modern life?


(Jovanovich 739).


The content of modern poetry also differs greatly from that of previous


styles.


Many modern poets have adapted a cynical outlook on the world.


According to


Jovanovich, the poetry is experimental and often dark, with anger


directed toward society


in general. Topics can include ?the lives and perspectives of the


disillusioned, [and] the


outcast? (Jovanovich 575). Poets realize how ?alluring, but how


destructively false [are]


the values and appearances of the few at the top of society? (Jovanovich


575). Modern


poetry is also rooted in French Symbolism, which portrays different


things, such as


material objects or the seasons to be symbols of something deeper.


Another important


element of modern poetry is the poet?s perception of reality. According


to Ellmann, the


modern poet questions reality and is unsure of the objective world.


Poets wish to express


?how important individual perception is in shaping reality? (Jovanovich


574).


The form of ?The Statue? shows John Berryman?s break away from


conformity.


Berryman himself said he wanted to write ?big fat fresh original and


characteristic


poems? (Bayley 86). Gary Arpin claims Berryman is fascinated with


technique.


According to Diane Ackerman, Berryman?s grammar use is different than


that of any


previous poets. Capitalization is found in the middle of a sentence and


in the middle of a


line. For example, the word ?Respect? is capitalized in the middle of


the sixth line of the


second stanza: ?For the ultimate good, Respect, to hunger waking.?


Punctuation in ?The


Statue? is also different than that found in traditional poems. For


example, Berryman


chooses to leave out commas in the sixth line of the sixth stanza:


?These thighs breasts


pointed eyes are not their choosing.? Berryman chooses to end his


sentences in strange


places. He places a period in the middle of the first line of the


fourth stanza:


?Disfigurement is general. Nevertheless.? According to Arpin, Berryman


experiments


with syntax. ?A deliberately ruptured syntax quarrels with the unbroken


surface of style?


(The Times Literary Supplement 67). In the sixth line of the second


stanza, ?For the


ultimate good, Respect, to hunger waking,? the word ?hunger? is stressed


by placing it in


front of the word ?waking.? These examples show that grammar is an


important part of


modern poetry.


The stanzas in ?The Statue? shape the modern poem. Berryman wrote


seven


eight-line stanzas. Joel Conarroe notices a pentameter form is


interrupted in each stanza


by the fourth line, which has a tetrameter pattern. For example, line


three of the third


stanza says, ?To spend its summer sheltering our lovers,? while line


four says, ?Those


walks so shortly to be over.? Conarroe also says that each stanza in


?The Statue?


completes a thought, and Berryman changes subject quickly from one


stanza to the next.


Stanza one is about the sad condition of the world, stanza two is about


yearning for


tomorrow, and stanza three is about romance. Berryman changes subjects


so rapidly to


symbolize the disheveled state of modern life.


?The Statue? is also defined as a modern poem by its content. One


major subject


in ?The Statue? is the difference between a poetic view of mankind, and


a worldly view


of mankind. Poets, according to Conarroe, look at mankind cynically.


This is


exemplified in the first stanza, when the statue, ?looks only, cynical.


. .? at the city filled


with disappointment. The poet is also tortured. He can not share his


feelings with the


world about, ?Wise resignation and world-weariness? (Conarroe 28). The


statue is also


trapped; he can not express himself either. According to John Bayley,


?The Statue? is


calling out to humanity, but no one will listen. Arpin says that


Berryman

wrote ?The


Statue? and other poems because he felt a loss of trust in his fellow


man, and a loss of


being cared for by his fellow man. ?The poet, rejected by all but


fellow poets, is forced


by hostile environment to the edge of madness? (Arpin 21).


The worldly view of mankind is different than the poetic view.


Berryman feels


that the people of the world are too materialistic and oblivious to


really understand each


other. He speaks of a world that has been ruined by man?s selfishness.


The city that the


statue looks upon is ravaged by defeat, failure, and frustration.


Berryman thinks mankind


is doomed because of its coldness. He also speaks of lovers, whose


?happiness runs out


like water,? because they truly do not care for each other, but the


statue can see. The


statue, ?has become a visionary figure that can see when those around


him are blinded?


(Arpin 19). Man?s attitude causes the poet to express his viewpoints in


modern poetry.


?The Statue? has elements of French Symbolism, which helped to start


the


modern poetry movement. In French Symbolism, common objects or elements


are


viewed as symbols of something deeper. The statue is the symbolic


center of the poem,


according to Conarroe. The statue symbolizes, of course, the poet. It


represents the poets


feelings and emotions. The statue represents a constant, while


everything else is


changing. It also represents pain, as it is falling apart, like the


poets hopes and dreams.


Winter is used as a symbol to develop the modern poem. According to


Arpin,


Berryman sees winter as loneliness and desolation. Winter brings the


destruction of


happiness and contentment. When Berryman says, ?Winters have not been


able to alter


its pride,? he is referring to winter as a destructive force that must


be overcome.


Spring and Summer are also used as symbols in the development of the


modern


poem. Berryman portrays these warm, cheerful seasons as a home to


lovers. However, it


is only temporary because, ?Their happiness runs out like water, of too


much sweetness


the expected drain.? Berryman even looks at Spring and Summer


cynically, saying they


hold false hopes for lovers. ?They trust their Spring; they have not


seen the statue.?


People of the world are even oblivious to their relationships.


The last element of modernism in ?The Statue? is man?s perception of


reality.


The poet sees reality in a different light than other men. Ellmann says


the poet questions


reality. This is evident throughout the whole poem, as the statue tries


to establish his


existence in this unstable world. John Bayley says that Berryman feels


the need to


establish his existence as a poet through the statue. According to John


Arpin, Berryman


fears the future, because he does not know what it holds. Jovanovich


says that individual


ideas are very important in the way one sees reality. In order to


discover himself and


reality, Berryman must ?cut himself [the statue] off? from the rest of


the world (Bayley


80).


The worldly perception of reality also greatly differs from the poetic


perception.


Once again, Berryman feels that people are too materialistic, this time


in their view of


reality. Joel Conarroe says that Berryman feels that man is too


materialistic to understand


reality. Berryman believes that man is ?animal?, and can only function


on the surface


level. They are oblivious to their fate. He says that their happiness


will soon run out, but


they are too ?blind? to realize what they are doing. Man has a false


perception of reality.


?The Statue? by John Berryman shows the differences between the poet


and the


rest of the world. It portrays the coldness of mankind, and the


bitterness of poets.


Because of form and content, ?The Statue? by John Berryman is a modern


poem.


WORKS CITED


Ackerman, Diane. ?Near the Top a Bad Turn Dared.? Modern Critical


Views. p. 101.


Arpin, Gary. The Poetry of John Berryman. New York and London: Kennikat


Press


Corporation, 1978.


Bayley, John. ?John Berryman: A question of Imperial Sway.? Modern


Critical


Views. p. 71.


Conarroe, Joel. John Berryman: An Introduction to the poetry. New York:


Columbus


University Press, 1977.


Ellmann, Richard,ed. and O?Clair, Robert,ed. The Norton Anthology of


Modern


Poetry. New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1988.


Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers. ?Literary Modernism.? Adventures


in


American Literature. p. 574.


Harcourt Brace Jocanovich, Publishers. ?Modern Poetry.? Adventures in


American


Literature. p. 738.


The Times Literary Supplement. ?The Life of the Modern Poet.?


Contemporary


Literary Criticism Vol. 3, pp. 67-68.

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