CONSTANTLY RISKING ABSURDITY VS YOU, READER Constantly Risking Absurdity by Ferlinghetti

Constantly Risking Absurdity is one of the most famous poems by Ferlinghetti. The poem discuses and at the same time illustrates various elements of poetic art of the poet. It begins with focusing on the person who creates the poem as on an individual who creates a kind of entertainment: Constantly risking absurdity And death Whenever he performs Above the heads Of his audience. Ferlinghetti involves a theme in the poem, which becomes parallel to the statement of Robert Frost that a poem is a performance of words. Ferlinghetti sets an image of a circus, which maintains values and perspectives of the artist, for whom the absurdity, which is described in the poem, is the most serious threat which is not being accepted as something serious. This line is broken by Ferlinghetti after the skills of the poet are shown by the performs; then a pause follows and it brings a kind of modification or qualification on a notion which is apparently established. The sequence which is used as an introductory one could have been ended after the line number three the forth and the fifth lines let the readers know about concerns of the poet about intelligibility which is addressed to the masses, average readers; at the same time he maintains the conforming to the controlling image of the top. Ferlinghetti continues with the description of the artistic performance: The poet like an acrobat Climbs on rime

CONSTANTLY RISKING ABSURDITY VS YOU, READER To a high wire of his own making And balancing on eyebeams Above a sea of faces Paces his way To the other side of day Performing entrechats And sleight-of-foot tricks And other high theatrics And all without mistaking Any thing For what it may not be.

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that Ferlinghetti creates assonance of rime, climbs, high, and wire in order to tighten the patterns of the sound of the lines of the poem. Thus, echo of sound in climbs and rime promotes underscoring of the line image. As critiques state, The wire is of his own making as the poet, attempting to discover and embody his own voice, creates his own challenge. The eyebeams reflect the need of the poet for an audience and are also I-beams, the subjective aspects of the poets creation. The next two lines show a familiar Ferlinghetti technique of rhyming the last word of a line with the first word of the next line. Whitson states that the true rhyme of way and day also carries on the assonance of faces and paces and the other side of day is the world of art, the world of darkness, of dreams, of danger, of images. The phrase sleight-of-foot tricks, perhaps with a glance at Wallace Stevens The Sense of the Sleight-of-Hand Man, reveals the poet taking on a common phrase and altering it slightly to make it appropriate for the acrobat-on-a-high-wire

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image, but also for the poet performing his sleights on feet metrical feet. The last lines of this section emphasize Ferlinghettis obsession with accurate observation and with the dangers induced by the pathetic fallacy. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact the the following section of the poem develops the artistic role importance, creating an allusive bow to the truth and beauty of Keat: For hes the super realist Who must perforce perceive Taut truth Before the taking of each stance or step in his supposed advance toward that still higher perch where Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap. A glance at surrealism is created by the first line, which at the same time focuses on the sound and structure echoes of perforce perceive in order to clarity perception of the poet. It is suggested by the context of truth and beauty that the taut truth might also be taught truth if to follow the tradition of the part performers of the literature. Stance and step are alliterated and sounds of the stance and advance make a rhyme, thus calling attention to the artistic process deliberation. As for beauty, it perches above the artist, in this particular case it is characterized by the critique as something which is ready to defy, in a multi-level pun, gravity, as well as death, in the Grecian-urn sense of immortality. In the last section of the poem, Ferlinghetti focuses on the human artist: And he

CONSTANTLY RISKING ABSURDITY VS YOU, READER A little charley chaplin man Who may or may not catch Her fair eternal form Spread-eagled in the empty air Of existence.

It is suggested, that the image of Chaplin is used to bring spirit of proletariat, or a proletarian artist who is engaged in some action or even and he may not be able to reach success in it. However, the artist dares to become involved even with no benefits for oneself and even with no guarantee that he is safe (in the empty air); thus, he has no means to save himself or his beauty. Finally, the poem can be viewed as some testimony to its author. He believes that he dares to make more tricks and more risky steps than any of the contemporary poets. However, sometimes he loses the balance, so he tries to catch the image of beauty, its form in the poem (Skau, 1989). Analyzing the poem it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that it has some resemblance to accentual verse. It is also important to mention that the poet does not make e very line to be double stressed, syllabic, or alliterative. However, the style is used in order to suspend the readers and later cast their gaze over all people from some height. Ferlinghetti decided to separate the lines by the stresses amount, but not by counting syllables, as many poets do. If an audience would be listened to while watching a high wire act, it would be possible to notice that all the people are held in some kind of suspense by the performer theatrics. The performer sways all the time and sometimes it feels that one is nearly falling. However, later the balance is restored again, the moves become more confident and then the

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balance is lost again. Surprised inhalations represent the responds of the audience and each time after the balance is obtained again, the audience gives exhalations of relief. All these features of a performance were taken into account by Ferlinghetti when composing the poem. He used a strongly stressed line to demonstrate the sway of the poem and make the readers inhale. Then the poet makes the lines slide to the left of the paper very slowly, calming the reader down. Ferlinghetti uses less stress lines to reach such effect. Later the poem regains its balance and the readers give an exhale. The poem does not have any particular amount of syllables counted, which is common in syllabics, neither has it had any specific amount of metrics which are stress and not stressed. This pattern cam be compared to actions of an artist who planning his theatrics and does his best to prevent the audience from being bored. Hypnotic affect of suspense is realized by the artist, and the poet places the readers in the trapeze artists shoes. From such height the readers can see all the truths of humanity. The poem is opened by the words that the poet is risking death and absurdity above the audience and above his readers. Ferlinghetti does not main to claim that poets make some exploits due to their physical powers and because of this risk their lives, but his aim is to explain the risks to put ones thoughts and feelings into a poem. It can be compared only to walking on a high wire which is at the same time a dangerous and terrifying journey which is undertaken to find ones own beauty and truth in people. Some critiques believe, that theatrics of acrobats are used by Ferlinghetti as a devise to fool the audience, to make a show for them, to amaze them and also get a great attention. Constant struggle of the acrobat is used to find even more risky obstacles and actions which

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are aimed at creation of entertainment and showing that the poet is still in his journey towards vitally important answers. As it has been already mentioned above, the poet is compared to Charley Chaplin in order to show the readers that there is nothing supernatural about the character, but he is a usual person. The poem is ended by showing readers that the end of the rope might never be reached. Thus, the questions remain to be unanswered and the poet remains to be spreadeagled in the empty air of existence. It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that the poem explains that very often poets are lonely in their search for the truth and beauty this loneliness is demonstrated by the acrobat on the rope (An analysis of Lawrence Ferlighettis Constantly Risking Absurdity). You, Reader by Billy Collins Biography of Billy Collins is very important to be taken into account in order to understand the spirit of the poem better. The poet was born in 1941 and his first collection of poems which was called Pokerface was published in 1977, having gathered more than 200,000 sales. The poet was born in New York City, where he attended College of the Holy Cross. Later he receives PhD degree in Romantic poetry at the University of California. In academia he spends a lot of time, teaching English. In 2001 he was appointed as the American Poet Laureate and received a national profile for the warmth and humorous poetry which inspires. As his biographer, notes, An aiding legacy of his laureateship is the Poetry 180 project and resulting anthology which encourages high school students to read contemporary poems for pleasure.

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Numerous awards have been received by Collins, including fellowships, which he received form the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Collins continues his close association with the city and he was elected as the New York state Poet for 2004. As it is mentioned in his biography, he prefers the term hospitable to accessible for his poetry and the experience of reading his work is indeed asking to be invited into the home of a cordial and considerate host. Collins frequently addresses the reader directly, thereby establishing what he has described as a temporary companionship. His poems characteristically open with a specific domestic context which creates intimacy, but the initial premise, that little common ground, develops into something much stranger by the close: as Collins has said his poems might unfurl logically but the progress is usually toward something that is beyond my sense of logic. The journey is often by way of humorous; few poets are as frequently hilarious as Collins, but this is entirely compatible with depth and his poetry is not afraid to explore our most serious preoccupations (You, Reader by Billy Collins). The collection of poems which involve You, Reader is set up in a chronological form. Before the poems, start, the reader is addressed by the poem You, Reader. Some experts interpret it with a tone which is taunting as Collins describes the readers, provides some details of their characters, mentioning that they should be creative to the same extend as he is. However, his nervousness remains to be open, and it gives hints on the emotional reaction of the whole collection of the poems. It is a very courageous step to address the readers directly; at the same time it is an effective way to approach them. Some irony and very clear sincerity can be found in the poem. The poet creates atmosphere of a usual day, mundane routines, challenging imagination of the readers.

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Starting the poem, Collins does not hide his curiosity or attitude towards the readers from the very first lines it is seen that he views the readers as people who can do the same as he does: I wonder how you are going to feel when you find out that I wrote this instead of you. It is very likely that this way he expresses not only his attitude to people, but also demonstrates that all of them are equal in their abilities. However, because of some reasons they do not devote their time to the same issues, even if they are considered to necessary. Collins continues: that it was I who got up early to sit in the kitchen and mention with a pen The lines above start demonstrating that the poet is not in a good mood and there is a kind of reproach to the readers. Comparing You, Reader with Constantly Risking Absurdity, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the poem by Collins does not raise him above all people; of course, it demonstrates some difference, but it is not similar to Ferlinghettis attempt to high the poet above other people to the height of an acrobatic rope. The rain-soaked windows, the ivy wallpaper, and the goldfish circling in its bowl Collins describes the environment he finds himself into. It does not differ from the environment which many people find themselves in it is grey, there is nothing special about it, and in the current case even the goldfish which is circling in its bowl represents daily routine. The poet continues:

CONSTANTLY RISKING ABSURDITY VS YOU, READER Go ahead and turn aside, bite your lip and tear out the page, but, listen -- it was just a matter of time before one of us happened to notice the unlit candles and the clock humming on the wall.

Similarly to Ferlinghettis poem, Collins demonstrates that all the life and finding answers to the questions is just a matter of time. However, unlike Ferlinghetti, Collins suggests that answers can be found, while Ferlinghetti emphasizes the fact that in many cases something might happen and life of a poet breaks or finishes even before he reaches his aim. Plus, nothing happened that morning-a song on the radio, a car whistling along the road outside-The lines above contribute to creation of the routine atmosphere which looks like unchangeable it might be an attempt to demonstrate negative mood of the poet, and at the same time an attempt to picture dullness of life, which is not changeable regardless of the fact if anything is done or by whom it is done.

and I was only thinking about the shakers of salt and pepper that were standing side by side on a place mat. Environments described by two poets differ a lot the first one places the poem in a circus, while the second one prefers choosing home, and particularly kitchen. However, both images are aimed to picture life which has many sides and it is necessary to see them. At the same time they demonstrate that it is necessary to act and take into account numerous factors

CONSTANTLY RISKING ABSURDITY VS YOU, READER to reach the

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I wondered if they had become friends after all these years or if they were still strangers to one another Similarly to Ferlinghetti, as well as many other poets and writers, Collins asks questions in the poem. These are aimed at further description of the situation which the protagonist like you and I who manage to be known and unknown to each other at the same time -And again, more and more issues which the poet want to address are arisen in the You, Reader in order to challenge those who read the poem. After this Collins gives clear pictures of self and of the readers: of the poem finds oneself in.

me at this table with a bowl of pears, you leaning in a doorway somewhere near some blue hydrangeas, reading this. Wiring this way, he, similarly to Ferlinghetti demonstrates the difference between the readers and himself. In the case of Ferlinghetti, he poses poets to be above the readers, but he allows them to rise to his height and shows what his life is like. While Collins does not claim himself to have some significant distinctions from usual people, he just mentions that he, through his poetry, helps people to realize the things they could have been realized on their own.

CONSTANTLY RISKING ABSURDITY VS YOU, READER References An analysis of Lawrence Ferlighettis Constantly Risking Absurdity. Retrieved from http://jhamann.hubpages.com/hub/An-Analysis-of-Lawrence-FerlinghettisConstantly-Risking-Absurdity Skau, M. (1989). Constantly Risking Absurdity: The Writings of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Troy, NY. You, Reader by Billy Collins. Retrieved from http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=6479

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