Romping with Rhetoric: Negative Imagery

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Brian James
Member

since 2005-06-26

Posts 147
Winnipeg

0 posted 2006-01-18 12:37 PM

Hello, class!

In an attempt to renew some of the old vigour of this workshop, I'm going to start a series of assignments on basic (and not-so-basic) rhetorical devices in poetry.  Since Nan has so thoroughly briefed everyone on poetic forms over this forum's history, I thought it might be nice to move into another stage in the development of poetry and introduce a set of assignments more specifically based on the thematic elements of the poem, the things that make basic techniques like imagery, alliteration, metaphor, rhyme, etc. effective in the poem itself.

For the first assignment in this field I'd like to introduce a rhetorical device that's somewhat uncomplicated and easy to grasp, but often overlooked.  It's something I think we'll call negative imagery, a kind of imagery that operates by describing in detail something that is absent from the present scene of the poem, and so is either future or past.  What makes negative imagery effective is its use of vivid description to communicate the emotional weight of its absence.

To make this a bit easier to understand, I'm going to give a few examples from the Western canon as well as some examples from piptalk.

This tradition is most obviously connected with poetry of the "golden age," which was popular in ancient Rome.  Poets like Ovid and Virgil, when describing the greatness of a former age, would do so by attributing to it descriptions of what it is not---for example, people did not dig up metal from the ground and build weapons, did not kill animals and eat them, et cetera.  The point of this kind of description is to burden the reader's imagination with the impossibility of forgetting the baggage with which one approaches a "golden age."

For this kind of poetry, you might consider reading Geoffrey Chaucer's poem "The Former Age" in which he recreates this ancient sentiment, as inspired by the philosopher Boethius in one of his meters.  Read the following two stanzas (which I will try to translate into modern english afterwards) mindful of the vividness of what isn't actually in the scene Chaucer describes.

quote:
Yit nas the ground nat wounded with the plough,
But corn up-sprong, unsowe of mannes hond,
The which they gnodded and eete nat half ynough.
No man yit knew the forwes of his lond,
No man the fyr out of the flint yet fond,
Unkorven and ungrobbed lay the vyne;
No man yit in the morter spyces grond
To clarre ne to sause of galantyne.

(But corn up-sprung, unsown by man's hand
The which they gnawed and ate not half enough.
No man yet knew the furrows of his land,
No man the fire out of the flint yet found,
Uncarved and uncultivated lay the vine;
No man yet in the mortar spices ground
To clarre or to sauce of galantyne [sweet seasonings for food])

Here the effect of the negative imagery is to comment on the reader's own guilt in being distant from the ideal past, for being familiar with things that were not known to man in his previous, ideal state---we know what fire is, what these sauces are, what the cultivation of the vine is, that fire is found "out of the flint." Our knowledge of the former age's end is what involves us, here, in its destruction, and causes us to be aware of our share in the responsibility for its coming apart.

This can also be used to a less political end in poetry that attempts to communicate personal sorrow. The Old English poem "The Wanderer" accomplishes this by contrasting the life of the court in times of prosperity to a life of exile:

quote:
But he who this wall'd place         wisely devis'd,
and this dark life         profoundly contemplates,
wise in spirit,         afar oft remembers
his many battles,         and these words utters:
Where is horse, where is man?         where is the treasure-giver ?
where are the festive sittings ?         where are the joys of the hall?
Alas bright cup !         alas mail'd warrior !
alas chieftain's splendour !         how the time has pass'd,
has darken'd under veil of night,         as if it had not been.
Stands now behind         the beloved warriors
the wall of wonderous height,         with worm carcases foul.
The men has swept away         the spearmen's band,
the slaughter-greedy weapon,         and fate omnipotent
and these stone shelters         storms dash,
fierce-rushing;         binds the earth
the winter's violence;         then comes dusky,
darkens, the shade of night,         from the north sends
the rough hail-shower,         to men's grievance.

In this translation (by Benjamin Thorpe, see the link above), the effect is clearly emotional rather than moral---by giving parallel images of a happy and a sad life, the Wanderer allows us to see the weight of his sorrow.

Here are a couple of examples of this kind of imagery being used by piptalk poets along the same lines as "The Wanderer."

Martie's poem "Michelle Sleeps" puts an immediate image at odds with an ideal image from memory, by allowing them to exist side-by-side and interpret one another, with the use of grammatical tense:

quote:
Michelle sleeps
her features cloudy
and just the slightest trace
of light where
the fine hairs curled.

Similarly, in Janet Marie's poem "Forever September"the effect is likewise personal, but dealing with the cycles of the seasons. Instead of grammatical tense, Janet Marie uses lyric expression to elaborate her desires for something different, and does so by describing the preferred alternative.

quote:
The crackling crunch of dried leaves
can't content me the way walking barefoot
in the tide with you by my side did.

Try as they might, the musk and smoky smells
of this season are simply no match for the
dusky scent of wet sand and surf.

Here, the personal images are equated with the difference in seasons---what she is experiencing is different from what she wants, and so the parallel images of the summer and winter (the winter being that which is, the summer and the presence of the elusive "you" being that which should be).  Like Martie, Chaucer, and the Wanderer, nostalgia and dissatisfaction are expressed by Janet Marie through vividly imagining both that which is, and that which is not.

I think this is probably enough explanation of what I'd like us to try tinkering around with.  As Martie and Janet Marie have shown, a good choice for form in this kind of poem is short stanzas---you might start by drawing an image of something that is and what you prefer it to be (Janet Marie), what you remember it to be (Martie and The Wanderer), what you know it once was (Chaucer).

There's a great deal of freedom in the way you choose to do this, and I hope to see as many different takes on this application of imagery as possible.  Remember that the key is vividness, of allowing the things that aren't there to be clearly imagined so as to communicate the weight of their absence.  Have fun, and thanks for expressing interest!

Brian

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

1 posted 2006-01-18 03:04 PM

Hi Brian...I'm very glad we have such a good TA here. Thank you for using my poem, Michelle Sleeps, as an example.

Janet Marie
Member Laureate

since 2000-01-22

Posts 18554

2 posted 2006-01-19 09:08 AM

a little bird told me i needed to see this thread. *S*
Bri?

first of all thank you (you know all the reasons)
and ...as I was reading your post it occured to me (as the ole saying goes)--
"you have forgotten" more about poetry than I ever knew or will know"

trust me--any technique in my work is accidental, lol
I just write emotions and stick in some seasons and allits. yaya

yer the poetically brilliant one

thank you for teaching an old moth new tricks.

anyone ever tell ya that you're groovy?
yeah..me thinks youve heard that before.

Mysteria

Member Laureate

since 2001-03-07

Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada

3 posted 2006-01-19 12:22 PM

Well Jan I know he heard it from me that he is a groovy guy

I was so delighted to see he picked two of my favorites to use as examples, and I shall now go with my new-found knowledge and see if I can find any more in here to draw from to learn this negative imagery.

Brian, you rock!

Poet deVine

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-26

Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley

4 posted 2006-01-21 08:54 AM

Ok..I'm ready. Is this what we're looking for? Or did I confuse negative imagery with just plan negativity?

*feel free to rip it up!

Mundane tasks done in mundane ways
Accompanied by sighs of regret
If there had been enough time
We wouldn’t have to forget

We would have been ballerinas
Or famous writers of mystery books
We’d have fine homes in Hollywood
We’d have fame, fortune and looks

If only we didn’t have to work
Instead of seeking passions desire
We’d all be famous in our time
Rising higher and higher

If only gets the blame of course
For unfulfilled dreams of glory
If only we had pursued the goal
We’d dance, we’d write a story

So blame it on that two word phrase
Regrets are easy to find
Never blame yourself at all
If only in your mind

I come from a long line of
women of unrealized dreams
Each struggling to accept
Life’s forgotten schemes

If only, if only.

Poet deVine

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-26

Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley

5 posted 2006-01-22 07:16 PM

Hello? Did I do this wrong? Wasn't I supposed to post here? Please advise me and I'll fix it!!

Brian James
Member

since 2005-06-26

Posts 147
Winnipeg

6 posted 2006-01-22 09:07 PM

PDV---

I was expecting people to post in separate threads to this one, but this works alright too.

You have done a good job of creating two separate scenarios, one realized and one unrealized, and describing each in an "if...then" manner.

If I were to offer you any suggestions at all, it would be to try and use more imagery the next time you try to realize this ideal---saying what one would do in an alternative scenario doesn't necessarily conjure strong imagery unless it is accompanied by some tangible description.  For the most part, your description is abstract (we'd be famous, we'd have fine homes, etc) rather than visual (cameras would flash wherever we go, our houses would be studded with gems, etc).  It's hard to create the phantom vision of a negative image without more concrete, physical description.

This is just a suggestion.  All the same, thanks for taking my topic for a spin!

Brian

"To me, the thing that art does for life is to clean it, to strip it to form."
~Robert Frost

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