Literature and poetry analysis

¶ … American Poet Laureate Robert Hass to lift European impact from American English thus making the latter a truly original and authentic language. The paper also cites examples from his collection, Sun Under Wood (1996) and shows how the poet accentuates simplicity to reveal the beauty of American version of English language.

Robert Hass: shedding European influences from American English

Robert Hass is the former United States Poet Laureate who is known for his simple yet beautiful verses, some of them translations of Japanese Haiku while others simple expressions of his deepest sentiments. In his fourth collection of poems, Sun Under Wood (1996) Hass tried to encompass all his past experiences in 20 beautiful pieces, which moved back and forth in history. These poems reveal something truly amazing about the poet's command over the English language. Coming from a truly modern West Coast, he refused to use traditional or conventional poetic words in his works and instead focused on the use of simple terms, terms that everyone can relate to, and which sometimes appear oversimplified. But then that's the beauty of his work. He is known for simplicity and lucid fluidity of his verses, something that is often missing from the works of other modern poems. In this collection particularly, we notice a subtle transformation occurring in the poet when he focuses explicitly on the influence of various women in his life and his opinions on some famous female figures. All these figures have been provided with a feminine voice, which is strangely American, and thus show no European influence. This is an truly amazing thing about Hass's work. Not only does he take English as a tool for self-expression, he is also blessed with the kind of ingenuity, which gives his language a beautiful contemporary American touch. Unlike the earlier poets of our times, we notice Hass has deliberately tried to shed off past Europeans influences on poetry to reveal a new and rather fresh Western Coast language. (Wagner, 1995)

Hass is also responsible for creating awareness among public about the existence and significance of American poetry. Because of his own conscious effort to stay away from European influence, he has been assigned the task of advocating the use of American English in poetry. This brings us to the realization that Hass probably decided to translate Japanese verses to distance himself from European impact and to give his work a more original American tone. Hass' poems should be read for better understanding of beauty and simplicity of American language. It is indeed very heartening to see a poet making sincere effort to raise the status of American English as an authentic language, which doesn't need the support of traditional English to be recognized as a fully developed tool of communication. An in-depth study of his poems indicates that Hass has used his language for something more than poetry itself. He has explored various issues including life, love and death thus fully realizing the potential of his English language.

Some of us whispered 'art', he said, some of us 'truth'. A debate with cut vocal chords. You have to understand that, for all we knew, the Germans would be there forever. And if not the Germans, the Russians. Well, you don't 'have to' understand anything, naturally. No one knew which way to jump. What we had was language, you see. Some said art, some said truth. Truth, of course, was death. Everyone their own devastation.

Each on its own scale. I don't know what the key opens. I know we die, and don't know what is at the end. We don't behave well. And there are monsters out there, and millions of others to carry out their orders. We live half our lives in fantasy, and words." (Interrupted Meditation, 74-76)

Hass has tried to oversimplify his language, which is probably the reason many get a feeling that this poet doesn't take language seriously, but that is not true at all. 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,