Word: poems
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...poetry, continue to have a strong influence on his verse. For Paterson, poetry is first and foremost a transcription of music—“sing me that old silent song,” he writes. His ear for music is evident in the formal construction of his poems, in which he often employs straightforward rhyme schemes. His poem “The Swing,” for instance, strictly follows the ballad form. He writes, “the bright sweep of its radar-arc / is all the human dream / handing us from dark to dark / like...
Just as he uses easily-recognizable forms, Paterson also takes on a familiar, didactic voice. The poem “Correctives” depicts the narrator’s son who uses his right hand to support his left in an effort to write more neatly. As he describes this boy, Paterson derives a broader conclusion about humanity from the image: “the whole man must be his own brother / for no man is himself alone.” It would be easy to imagine this brief poem as a sort of family maxim delivered from generation...
...attitude and a variety of witticisms. In the montage-like sequence “Renku: My Last Thirty-five Deaths,” Paterson at times sounds almost too playful to be taken seriously. “If I had a happier dream / this might have been a better poem,” he writes. However, it is precisely this addition of levity that offsets the often overly-sentimental voice that takes precedence in some of his other poems. Another large portion of “Rain” is composed of mysterious narratives. Paterson’s mystery, however...
...Trees” is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Paterson’s straightforward rhythms, earnest tones, and candid narratives are equally approachable to poetry novices and veterans alike. Paterson shows a consistently genuine and honest appreciation of ordinary human life. In the title poem, Paterson writes, “I love all films that start with rain... / However bad or overlong / such a film can do no wrong.” Like the images of rain that Paterson admires, his own brand of poetic sincerity, “however bad or overlong” still manages...
...Catullus 101,” the Roman poet writes an elegy for his brother, who died alone and far from home. This poem, which famously ends “Ave atque vale,” or “hail and farewell,” has inspired the elegies of generations of poets, from Alfred Lord Tennyson to Billy Collins. In her latest book, “Nox,” poet Anne Carson uses Catullus’ elegy as a lens through which to understand the death of her own brother. “I have loved this poem...