Term Paper on "American Poet Laureate Robert Hass"

Term Paper 4 pages (1297 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Hass views English language as a device to explore and analyze his innermost feelings and doesn't use it for its own sake. This is something extremely important to remember. Hass viewed language as a weapon, which helps him express his sentiments on various subjects, some of them having a very haunting quality about them. For example in the poem titled Interrupted Meditation, the poet uses words and language, which not only flow easily but also manage to grasp every emotion that the poet feels with incredible ease. Reading the following lines from the poem indicate that Hass was more interested in accurate expression of emotions than anything else. Thus he seems to view English language as a tool, which helps him reach the very core of his heart.

We live half our lives in fantasy and words...

I'm a little ashamed that I want to end this poem singing, but I want to end this poem singing the wooly closed-down buds of the sunflower to which, in English, someone gave the name, sometime, of pearly everlasting."

Interrupted Meditations)

In the Sun Under Wood for example, Hass used his views on English language to express the emotions of various men and women and explored their psyche using simple everyday American terms. This is an effort worth praising as Gail Wronsky (1997) writes, "...what is profoundly revolutionary than the giving up of space on the page to these female voices is the fact that Hass has given the anima psychic space as well - has explored, as a poet, subject matters and emotions traditionally the provinces of women writers; he risks sentiment, for crying out loud! In "Regalia for a Black Hat Dancer," for example, among so many other things, we find "children's crayon drawings on the wall."

Hass has probably learned more about his language when he took up the task of translating Japanese haiku in English. This must have been an experience of profound impact because it taught him the importance of simplification of words in poetry. We notice that most Japanese Haikus are so simple they appear to have been falsely translated. But it is true that Japanese haiku poets use much simpler language than European poets who are responsible for heavily influencing American poets. In his collection of Japanese translation known as The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho,

Busan, and Issa, we notice how simplicity of Japanese language has left an indelible mark on Hass's use of language. Verses like: "It's not like anything they compare it to - the summer moon. / Lighting one candle with another candle - spring evening / New Year's Day - everything is in blossom! I feel about average" are beautiful examples of unfussiness of Japanese haiku. This simplicity is then highly evident from verses, which appeared in his collection Sun Under Wood.

Light a fire, thin smoke, not an ambitious fire, and sit before it and watch it till it burns to ash and the last gleam is gone from it, and dark falls.

Then you get up, brush yourself off, and walk back to the world.

If you're lucky, you're hungry."

["Regalia for a Black Hat Dancer"]

Hass is and will always be remembered as a great American poet who does not view English language as European asset but is trying his best to help Americans win their fair share of claim on this language. While there are several great examples of prose in American English, there are very few truly American poetry collections present and thus Hass efforts are likely to go a long way in eradicating this serious dearth of genuine American poetry.

References

Wronsky, Gail, Sun Under Wood.(book reviews). Vol. 55, The Antioch Review, 06-22-1997, pp 381(1)

Robert Hass, Sun under Wood Ecco Press, 1996 77 pp.

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