Explosions of My Human Mind

As I myself am human and was confronted with paints and some canvas, I found myself drawn towards the abstract expression of my thoughts. These paintings are explorations of movement with both paint brushes and tubes of paints used as markers on the canvas. In times of great mental distress, it feels as though the energy of my mind flows directly through these mediums and are expressed on the page before me. Just as American Modernist poets explored human minds through their poetry, so do these paints explore my own mind and emblazon it upon canvas.

Exploring "A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts"

A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts

by Wallace Stevens

The difficulty to think at the end of the day

When the shapeless shadow covers the sun

And nothing is left except light on your fur--

There was the cat slopping its milk all day,

Fat cat, red tongue, green mind, white milk

And August the most peaceful month.

To be, in the grass, in the peacefullest time,

Without the monument of cat,

The cat forgotten in the moon;

And to feel that the light is a rabbit-light,

In which everything is meant for you,

And nothing need be explained;

Then there is nothing to think of. It comes of itself;

And east rushes west and west rushes down,

No matter, the grass is full

And full of yourself. The trees around are for you,

The whole of the wideness of night is for you,

A self that touches all edges,

You become a self that fills the four corners of the night.

The red cat hides away in the fur-light

And there you are humped high, humped up,

You are humped higher and higher, black as stone--

You sit with your head like a carving in space

And the little green cat is a bug in the grass.

Wallace Stevens' poem A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts serves as a metaphor for the human condition within the dream state. Just as a rabbit lives in fear of its predators and longs for the time of day wherein he may take a rest from the strenuous task of avoiding predation, so also do people long for their time of rest where they no longer have to worry about what dangers or obligations lie around the corner. They enter their dream land in deep sleep where everything exists merely for them.

The first stanza of the poem alludes to that time where the day is ending and a sense of calm covers the earth. Stevens' diction calls to mind a feeling of melting as the structures of a stressful day dissolve into dreamlike peace. The only thing that remains is a gentle lightness that is relief.

The next stanza is a review of the fears of the day. The cat is representative of the ordinary stresses of the daytime: work, studies, survival in general. The colors emphasize the detail with which one sees one's fears, just as a prey animal views from a distance its known predator, observing it even until it understands its mind.

As the poem progresses, a sense of peace overcomes the detailed worry of the rabbit, representative of the peace that is offered by sleep. As the sun sets, the world is transformed into a place that is free of the fears that had so plagued humanity during the daytime. The memories fade into the background as the sense of peace pervades the stillness until there only remains one's own world, the world of dreams. Stevens' poem recalls the sentiment expressed by Joseph Conrad in his novella Heart of Darkness: "We live, as we dream alone." Within one's dream world, everything is, in fact, meant only to effect the dreamer. Dreams take the thoughts and imaginings of life and bring them together into a world that is not required to make the sense that daytime requires. The images and feelings fall together in a way that can only be expressed as a dream.

Within this ghost world, the dreamer is present in all things. "The whole of the wideness of night is for you/A self that touches all edges, /You become a self that fills the four corners of the night," (Lines 17-19). Unlike the waking world, the dream world is completely made up of only one person's existence. The night becomes fully one's own.

As the dreamer is pulled deeper and deeper into the land of dreams, the fears of the day recede into near oblivion. What once seemed a great thing to dread has become "a bug in the grass."

As an American Modernist, Wallace Stevens takes it upon himself to explore the workings of the human mind and the conditions that lead to these mechanics. Through A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts, Stevens delves into the relief experienced by entering the safety of dreams. He realizes that the need of an escape is an essential part of the human existence. His title for the poem establishes that as one enters the land of dreams, one sheds the demands of the day and becomes the ruler of the ghost world that has been created. The sense of peace that overrides all demands of the day captures the thoughts of the inner mind and develops a kingdom where even the smallest may rule in bliss.

An Interlude with USAmerican Modernist Poems

Humanity i love you
me up at does
next to of course god america i
pity this busy monster, manunkind
dying is fine but) Death

one t
-- e e cummings

Rhapsody on a Windy Night
What the Thunder Said
-- T. S. Eliot

These Fought in Any Case
The Logical Conclusion
--Ezra Pound

The Desolate Field
A Goodnight
--William Carlos Williams

A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts
--Wallace Stevens

A Million Young Work Men
--Carl Sandburg

Poems of the American Modernist movement place into vivid imagery, whether with form or with uses of the English language, what most people are merely able to describe as the human mind. These poets, however, take a step beyond what most people are able to comprehend on a direct, that is, a literal, level. Their works encompass the enigmas of existence, throw light into the unexplored recesses of the human condition, and reshape language to give readers glimpses into the mysteries of the mind.

By manipulating the shapes of words, American Modernist poets bring to life images that convey their messages in a powerful way. e e cummings, a leader in the Modernist movement and whose techniques many other writers chose to emulate, fused visual art with poetry. Many of his poems formed pictures that were shaped out of words, for instance, his poem one t, which depicts a snowflake falling. By creating visual interest for readers, the poets of the American Modernist movement were able to capture audiences and to spread their enlightenment.

In a similar way, the sounds and meanings of words were utilized in order to convey an alternate meaning to a poem. In cummings' pity this busy monster, manunkind, wherein he plays on the flaws of humanity. His opening lines "pity this busy monster, manunkind,/ not" warn of the disease that plagues mankind. Other poets also change language to establish their reasonings. Ezra Pound's dedication to the poem The Logical Conclusion expresses his distaste for the ruination of the pleasure that comes from literature due to overstudy and dissection of wonderful works. It reads: "Against the 'germanic' system of graduate study and insane specialization in the Inanities." Here, he plays with the word "Humanities", a word referring to reading and analyzation of literature. The authors of American Modernist poems are able to challenge society and expose the human condition by creatively manipulating language to make powerful assertions.

Other techniques of American Modernist poets include the use of vivid imagery and extended metaphors. In the Wallace Stevens poem A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts, a rabbit at night represents human being in a dream world. The vivid imagery of What the Thunder Said by T. S. Eliot conveys deep meaning rooted in religious stories of the Bible and Hindu mythology. Every word is carefully chosen to set the tone and asks readers to take a closer look at what is being said in each work.

Each poem that emerged from the American Modernist movement is heavy with deeper meaning due to the then-revolutionary techniques utilized by the writers of the time period. The poets' messages about the human condition and their explorations of human minds have touched generations of people and caused many to look past the surface of all works of literature and to explore their own minds. By using dynamic techniques, American Modernists brought to life ideas that had before then merely lain dormant in the minds of humanity. Using visual art in conjunction with words, transforming normal language to add greater meaning, and creating images through metaphors and descriptive diction the poets of the American Modernist movement impacted people throughout the world and brought to light both the flaws and unique abilities and thoughts of humanity.