Donna Masini, one of my poetry teachers at Hunter College, offered this rule of thumb for use of a particular word in a poem: the word should serve the poem in (at least) two ways -- in meaning and sound, or sound and motion, or motion and image, or . .. .
Richard Wilbur (1921 - ) is a former US Poet Laureate (1987-88), a prolific translator, and one of my favorite poets -- and perhaps this is because he seems to maximize his word-choices with multiple uses. When I read Wilbur, I see and hear and feel -- and, after multiple readings, these sensory impressions coalesce into understanding. Here is one of his sonnets, a poem of the geometry of absence:
Showing posts with label multiple meanings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label multiple meanings. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2012
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