Poetry: Playing with Language

“Beautiful Woman” by A.R. Ammonds

The spring

In

Her step

Has

Turned to

Fall

ü How do you read this? Like a sentence? With pauses between lines and stanzas (in free verse, lines and stanzas dictate pauses since there is no rhythm scheme)? With rhythm?

ü Theme is rather simple: decay of beauty (an elegy with a touch of regret).

ü Playful & cunning use of language

ü Relationship between verbs and nouns – ambiguous meanings

o Spring & Fall are seasons

o “The Spring” sort of matched, but not completely matched by “Fall.” Why not “the Fall”?

o One verb = “has turned to” = has become, has been transformed to – indicates “Fall” is a noun as the object of a preposition. However, “turned” also suggests that “Fall” is a verb – to fall. “Spring has turned for the purpose of falling.” Indicates that the inevitable progress of human aging has been allied to the seasons of nature.

ü Title suggests any beautiful woman. Not “A Beautiful Woman,” not “The Beautiful Woman.”

ü Matching female beauty with nature suggests (doesn’t mean the author specifically intended it) themes of Greek mythology: The beautiful woman could be Persephone or Dionysus or another goddess closely tied to nature or the turning of the seasons.

ü “Beautiful Woman” is described by the entire poem – she is still beautiful even after her fall, her aging.

ü Foot stands for the whole woman – Synecdoche.

posted by Jeffrey @ Wednesday, November 30, 2005