Essays

Original Essays by Warren Gaston

The Poet & the Irrational

“It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced the undefinable menace of total rationalism.” Czeslaw Milosz People do not appreciate modern poetry when they labor under the illusion that life is logical.  Just say what you mean, they say to the...

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An Explication of the Poem “God Is a Wolf”

The poem: 'God Is a Wolf" was posted on September 20, 2017 We approach a poem like a detective approaches a crime scene, looking for clues.  Discovery is in the details.  The clues are found in the very carefully chosen words the poet offers. The words show us...

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Found in Lost

“The poem must resist the intelligence Almost successfully.” Wallace Stevens Man Carrying Things   As soon as a reader is convinced he or she knows what the poem is ‘about’ he or she should stop reading. The poem will add nothing fresh to the reader’s life. The poem...

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Reading like Detective Columbo

Poetry is hard. Modern poetry is harder. Why do we read modern poetry? The poem gives us an experience made out of words.  In modern poetry the words are not given as straight forward information.  The words shake and shatter. The words did-organize our model of...

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An Explication of the Poem “Alfalfa’

see the poem 'Alfalfa' published February 11, 2017. This poem is a trick, a deceit to lure one from the obvious to the obscure.  The poem is not about alfalfa.  It’s about language. It is not about alfalfa the grass. It is about alfalfa the word. More specifically,...

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Poetry Every Day

Our everyday speech is salted and peppered with poetry.  Swear words are poetry. They pour verbal gasoline on whatever linguistic fire we have started. Compare “I hate you” with “F . . .  you”.  Which has more emotional punch? Every time we use ‘like’ to compare one...

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What Are Words Worth?

Why use unfamiliar words, strange words, foreign words, words spelled with the Greek alphabet? To show off – right? Wrong.   Not showing off  - but showing out and in. -Showing out to see the interrelationships of words with each other. -Showing in to see the deep...

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An Explication of:  The Dead

The main thrust of the poem is the preciousness of life. These subterraneans have learned so much about life from death, the brevity, the preciousness. From the grave the dead now realize how precious life is, and how much of their lives they have spent on petty...

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