Ars Poetica

By Archibald Macleish

A poem should be palpable and mute   

As a globed fruit,

Dumb

As old medallions to the thumb,

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone

Of casement ledges where the moss has grown—

A poem should be wordless   

As the flight of birds.            

A poem should be motionless in time   

As the moon climbs,

Leaving, as the moon releases

Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,   

Memory by memory the mind—

A poem should be motionless in time   

As the moon climb          

A poem should be equal to:

Not true.

For all the history of grief

An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love

The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—

A poem should not mean   

But be.

1.Reading this poem aloud I am very aware of the amount of pauses and breaks throughout the poem. It gives it the feeling of a developing thought. The feeling throughout when it is read aloud is disjointed and as if this is a thought coming to life that perhaps still has room to be added upon. 

2. Now I expected this to be a poem about poetry due to the title Ars Poetica. After the first few lines it became pretty clear to me that this was going to be a lot of different thoughts and metaphors about what poetry is or about how the author feels poetry should be. 

3. The syntax of this poem is surprisingly ordered it seems that each stanza is its own sentence. Although the theme of the poem is a series of thoughts building upon each other the sentences and thoughts are very well laid out and organized and each stanza does leave the reader with a sense of completeness, there are no thoughts that are left incomplete or unfinished. 

4. There are a lot of very excellent words used throughout this poem that made it very interesting. For example the word palpable, which means a feeling or atmosphere so intense it can almost be touched. I thought it was interesting to use this word in reference to a fruit as well when referring to fruit. Although when this word is used in reference to fruit it means that it is touchable and intense. These types of words with double meanings or usage are used throughout the piece and really layer the poem with meaning. 

5. The speaker in this poem seems to simply be Archibald MacLeish, it feels like the thoughts about poetry that he has floating around his head. This is a timeless piece that expresses ones thoughts on what poetry should be and the power that good poetry can hold over an individual. It is obvious that this poem is written to educate readers on what poetry can be and the diverse effects on people. 

6. I think that this poem matters because it demonstrates just how many different effects and forms poetry can take. A globed fruit is very different from a flock of birds and like wise the way that one person responds to poetry can be completely different from the way that I respond to a piece of poetry. It also shows how powerful a string of thought can be and when it is written down it can influence people in a way that we could never have imagined. 

7. The short stanzas and the spaced out thoughts really add to the idea that this whole poem is being made up or thought out on the spot. I think this really adds a lot to the meaning of the poem. 

8. I think the way that is poem followed a pretty consistent pattern of presenting one short thought per stanza was very effective. I think that it is also effective in the way that it backtracks at points and repeats the same stanza as if he was stuck on this thought and trying to find something appropriate to follow it.