Hello Bob,
Thanks for your feedback. The name Ariel in the poem makes a reference to the spirit Ariel in The Tempest who was imprisoned within the trunk of a tree before Prospero came along and waved his magic wand, also to Sylvia Plathīs Ariel which ended up in the cauldron of morning as well as very nearly breaking her neck by all accounts. Iīm interested by your comment about the title. Iīll give it some thought. As Iīve mentioned when others have raised the point, I donīt think itīs a problem for readers to make a link to Peter the Greatīs statue in St. P, but that isnīt the subject of this poem. As you rightly point out the poem is also about the granite rock, the horse, the horseman....and beyond. And it is that beyond which is much more to the point for me and which relates to the opening of the poem. It is not so much that the statue has come from space as that the material from which it is composed, along with all other matter, had its origin in the interstellar dust that existed before the earth was formed. The matter has been transformed, through stone, ore, metal, alloy to statue. At the end the horseman is looking back to the beginning of the poem giving, I hope, a sense of closure. Articulating, in fact, what is a basic urge of the human psyche. And thatīs of course the other subject of the poem - articulation, consciousness, the human mindīs response to the chaos of the universe - the urge to create order and with it closure. Wow! All of that in 14 lines. Iīm afraid though that it sounds once again more like philosophy than poetry, or at least it would do if it made any sense. Does it make sense?
Best wishes, Mike
--- Alkuperäinen viesti ---
Hi Mike,
I like this poem, its blends of descriptive and conjectural works well for
me. And I like the way the slightly absurd idea that statues come from outer
space becomes reasonable!
I notice the cliche (book title - reach for the sky!) but the line break
almost hides it... it only hits me when I say the poem to myself...
The Ariel bit is fascinating too. I don't know what it means. But I'm
convinced by its inclusion - and feel all I have to do is look it up and I
sense I won't be dissapointed.
I think the title's OK... but, perhaps in the light of the comments in other
e-mails about other statues in St. Petersberg, and because this poem is also
about the stone plinth and the horse, as well as the horseman, it might be
worth a bit of thought to see if anything else also works as a title for the
poem. (It could be that the poem raises our sight up to the horseman - and
beyond, anyway... so the title might take something else to introduce us to
what we'll find...
Bob
>From: Mike Horwood <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New sub: The Bronze Horseman
>Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 14:19:54 +0300
>
>The Bronze Horseman
>
>As if stone had become articulate
>after its journey from interstellar dust,
>across the galaxy, through ore and metal
>to alloy, the body of his horse,
>balanced on its hind legs and tail,
>grows out of rock from which it rears up.
>Granite springs into the upward surge
>of starting muscles and bursts like Ariel
>out of rigid space into the movement of bronze.
>He sits astride the beast, the pinnacle and triumph,
>his arm raised along the line of stoneīs leap,
>metalīs surge, the force that placed him there
>to shout into the night, strain to reach
>for the sky, those very stars whence he came.
>
>
>
>Mike
_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself with cool emoticons - download MSN Messenger today!
http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger
|
