Last week, Ron Silliman posted "Julia’s Wild" a poem from the new Zukofsky Selected Poems, the text of which is the same line taken from Act IV, Scene 4 of Shakespeare’s Two Gentleman of Verona and morphed 19 different ways.
Zukofsky, starting and ending the poem with the same line, creates a concentric circle in which the front of the poem is wittled down into a tightening point and the backside works from that tightly-sounding sentence (and completely opposite in structure)"Shadow this, take and com up shadow, come" until it seems to unravel back to the "Come shadow, come, and take this shadow up."
I simply find the machinations of this poem clever. And it makes for a fascinating case study of the grammatics of the English language–how the rearranging of words can alter, even if just slightly, the sentence’s meaning, figuratively or literally.
Side note: I’ve been gathering quotes about shadows for my appendix to 40. This is an excellent addition. Thanks Ron for introducing it to me. Speaking of Ron, his critical reviews of poetry, film, literature, and even tv are astute as they are fascinating. Don’t take my word for it, click here and read his thoughts regarding this poem.
(Julia is the name of the character in the play.)
"Julia’s Wild"
Come shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
Come shadow shadow, come and take this up,
Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
Come, come shadow, and take this shadow up,
Come, come and shadow, take this shadow up,
Come, up, come shadow and take this shadow,
And up, come, take shadow, come this shadow,
And up, come, come shadow, take this shadow,
And come shadow, come up, take this shadow,
Come up, come shadow this, and take shadow,
Up, shadow this, come and take shadow, come
Shadow this, take and come up shadow, come
Take and come, shadow, come up, shadow this,
Up, come and take shadow, come this shadow,
Come up, take shadow, and come this shadow,
Come and take shadow, come up this shadow,
Shadow, shadow come, come and take this up,
Come, shadow, take, and come this shadow, up,
Come shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up.
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