Archibald Macleish
Ars A poem should be palpable and
mute
Poet As a globed fruit,
Dumb
ica 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 climbs.
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.
"Ars Poetica" (Latin for "The Art of Poetry") is a lyric poem of twenty-four
lines. It describes the qualities a poem should have if it is to stand as a
work of art. MacLeish wrote it in 1925 and published it in 1926. Archibald
MacLeishs imagist idea of art for art's sake is expressed in the poem 'Ars
Poetica'. The central theme of "Ars Poetica" is that a poem should
captivate the reader with the same allure of a masterly painting or
sculpturethat is, it should be so stunning in the subtlety and grace of its
imagery that it should not have to explain itself or convey an obvious
meaning. Oddly, though, in writing that a poem "should not mean / But
be," Archibald MacLeish conveys naked meaning, namely: Here is how you
should write a poem. In other words, in "Ars Poetica," we are privileged to
behold the strange phenomenon of didacticism in the guise of ars gratia
artis. Nevertheless, "Ars Poetica" is a wonderful poem that speaks with
the quiet eloquence of Rodin's Thinker and da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
The Rock In The Sea

Think of our blindness where the water burned!

Are we so certain that those wings, returned
And turning, we had half discerned
Before our dazzled eyes had surely seen
The bird aloft there, did not mean?
Our hearts so seized upon the sign!

Think how we sailed up-wind, the brine

Tasting of daphne, the enormous wave
Thundering in the water cave
Thunder in stone. And how we beached the skiff
And climbed the coral of that iron cliff
And found what only in our hearts wed heard
The silver screaming of that one, white bird:
The fabulous wings, the crimson beak
That opened, red as blood, to shriek
And clamor in that world of stone,
No voice to answer but its own.

What certainty, hidden in our hearts before,

Found in the bird its metaphor?
Throughout this poem, Archibald MacLeish utilizes the use of rhyming and a random amount of
syllables, which vary on each line. Within the poem, MacLeish uses imagery to describe a certain
bird; for which he has not named. The bird symbolizes an object that has appeared multiple
times, for MacLeish writes, "and we are so certain that those wings returned." So when "our
dazzled eyes had surely seen the bird aloft there, did not mean?" it reverts to how this bird
"seized upon the sign," and has a greater meaning. The "tasting of Daphne" reverts to the
utilization of allusionto Daphne, a nymph that associates herself with water. However the poet
missuses the reference to Daphne because Greek Mythology associates her with freshwater, the
poem's story revolves around the sea. The use of diction shows when the poet utilizes the word
"thundering"; which may be expressed in a different way, but the poet chooses not to. This word
choice shows how one may go through hardships own the way to see the bird because we
climbed the coral of that iron cliff. The bird as a symbol relates to a nonexistent object because
MacLeish says, "and found only in our hearts we'd heard." The listening of hearts shows how the
bird never existed. Also when it shrieks it has no voice to answer but its own, therefore shows
how the people cannot answer back because it doesnt exist. With the description of "that one,
white bird" with a "crimson beak", one deducts that it may be a stork; which associates with a
story on how the storks bring babies to families. Then one can reason that this poem may be a
verypeculiar love poem, for it depicts of the metaphor found in the bird.
http://
archibaldmacleishisawesome.pbworks.com/w/page/62715034/P
oems%20found%20by%20Anna%20Zmich
https://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides5/ArsPoetica.html