There is a problem describing trees according to Robert Hass' poem, The Problem of Describing Trees. In the poem, his argument is that we can only say so much about the tree in written language. Furthermore, Hass is also saying that poetry sometimes cannot describe the tree either. As writers, we can try to follow the poet, but words can only describe a certain extent of emotions or feelings.
Dance with me, dancer. Oh, I will is a compelling line to analyze in Robert Hass' poem. As a reader, we may wonder who is speaking this and who it is addressed to. I believe we are speaking to the tree without even realizing it. Could this possibly be the case? Well, before the italicized line the poem says "It is good sometimes for poetry to disenchant us." Therefore, since we realize that we often have difficulty describing things such as a tree, we are talking to the tree directly; we are asking the tree to help us better describe it by telling the tree to dance with us. One of the lines in the poem even says "And the tree danced," which would further prove my point that we are speaking to the tree. This may sound a little asinine, but if you think about it, doesn't it make sense?
Thank you for the intelligent, thoughtful post. Hey, have you thought about the possibility that Hass might be trying to disenchant the reader? I ask this because he states that "It is good sometimes for poetry to disenchant US" and then proceeds to, in my opinion, throw out a random phrase that might work better in a different poem, thus freeing us from the illusion. You might want to take a look at the use of the words "us" and "you" in the poem. I recommend you keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your considerate post. I recently changed my poem quite a bit- please take a look and check it out. In my opinion, Hass is trying allow us to see our direct interaction with the poem, or tree itself. Because he says "it is good sometimes for poetry to disenchant us," I wonder if he is trying to get us to think about the difficulties of describing objects with words; so much so that we need to talk directly to the tree for help. Is this possible?
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