Ars Poetica?

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1968

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form & Meter

Before beginning a discussion of the form or meter of “Ars Poetica?”, it is crucial to acknowledge the status of this poem in English as a translation. Although Miłosz himself (with the help of an apprentice translator, Lillian Vallee) translated his poem into English, it is unclear from the English text alone whether the original poem was composed in regular meter, in a rhyme scheme, or with any other formal elements.

Considering the English text alone, the poem is largely conventional open verse. “Ars Poetica?” is composed of nine regular four-line stanzas made up of lines that generally hover around five metrical feet (that is, about 10 syllables) in length. The lines themselves do not conform to any traditional metrical scheme, largely eschewing metrical flourishes or strategies. Instead, the poem is notable for its conversational, almost essayistic tone. While the text looks like a poem on the page, the lines are so metrically irregular that they read like prose at times, reinforcing the speaker’s opening claim to be part of a more expansive tradition than “poetry or prose” (Line 2).

Internal Rhyme

End-rhyme—the rhyming of words at the ends of poetic lines with one another—is commonly associated with poetry. Miłosz makes use of the more subtle internal rhyme—the rhyming of words within the lines of a poem—to give musical cohesion to “Ars Poetica?” The first stanza introduces this poetic device by rhyming “free” with “poetry” (Line 2). Miłosz avoids the overly singsong tone that placing these words at the ends of line would create, instead seasoning his more prosaic style with a hint of rhyme. The end of the first stanza recalls the internal rhyme, echoing it with its final “agonies” (Line 4).

Miłosz scatters this device throughout the poem, contrasting his conversational tone with a background singsong more generally associated with poetry. In the seventh stanza, “the world is different from what it seems to be / and we are other than how we see” (Lines 25, 26). This seems to create a neat, almost aphoristic singsong phrase if the concluding “ourselves in our ravings” (Line 26) is omitted. The effect is partially masked under the unrhymed lines. Miłosz even concludes the poem with this technique, rhyming several words in the final stanza— “agree, poetry” (Line 33), “rarely and reluctantly” (Line 34). Here, the rhymes are impossible to ignore but remain outside of any structural pattern of the poem, allowing it to aspire to freedom “from the claims of poetry” (Line 2).

Alliteration

The poem’s sonic landscape is even more dotted with alliteration, or the repetition of consonant sounds. For a poem that largely eschews traditional rhyme, meter, and structure, the use of alliteration serves the important role of maintaining musicality and aural cohesion in the text. For example, the “l” sounds in “light, lashing his tail” make the image of the tiger more vivid (Line 8).

In the third stanza, the poem amplifies its alliteration by compressing phrases to memorable, pithy statements— “dictated by a daimonion” (Line 9) or “pride of poets” (Line 11). These alliterative phrases bubble up in a poem composed of a largely arhythmic, prose-adjacent casual tone. Their appearance reminds the reader of traditional poetic devices, locating the poem in poetic traditions even as they alienate it from traditional sound devices. In the concluding stanzas, Miłosz includes the phrase “purpose of poetry” (Line 29) as such a reminder. While the final stanza is absent of pithy alliterative phrases, it still uses alliteration as a unifying tool. The “r” sounds in “written rarely and reluctantly” ease the reader’s exit of the poem, adding just enough poetic sweetness for Miłosz’s reflective medicine to go down.