Explication of poem "Ars Poetica"

In the piece “Ars Poetica,” Archibald MacLeish explores the nuances of poetry and deems the way it should be written. The opening lines of the poem are: “A poem should be palpable and mute / As a globed fruit.” This simile is utilized to give an image to the reader, causing them to bring a “globed,” “palpable,” and “mute” fruit to mind. At first the comparison appears confused and nonsensical but in the entirety of the poem it makes the statement that poetry is a combination of words on paper, a silent object, that is brought to life. The exploration of silence continues in the verse with the phrases: “Dumb / As old medallions to the thumb, / Silent as the sleeve-worn stone / Of casement ledges where the moss has grown.” MacLeish isolates the word “dumb” to the third line so as to create the effect of quiet and continues with a simile “As old medallions to the thumb.” The image of holding a medallion is the author’s way of conveying that there is interest, value and longevity in poetry. Longevity of poetry is also explained with MacLeish’s line “as the sleeve-worn stone / Of casement ledges where the moss has grown,” where a rock has had such time to settle that it has gained a coating off moss. With the final line “A poem should be wordless As the flight of birds,” a new dimension is added to the imagery. Not only are the images’ silence symbolic to a poem’s lack of voice, but the imagery itself is what inspires poetry to be written. Things such as fruit, medallions, rocks and birds in flight are all subject of poems, if they are used as such.

The poet’s second verse is an extended metaphor of the moon’s rise at night. The stanza opens and closes with the line “A poem should be motionless in time / As the moon climbs,” this is referencing poetry’s tendency to capture particular experiences and suspend them in time with language. MacLeish uses the lines “Twig by twig the night-entangled trees” and “Memory by memory the mind—” to also depict the capture of  moment by a poem. The repetition of words indicates the building of poetry with word selection, it moves slowly as the moon does to it’s place in the sky.

The final paragraph portrays the meaning and reasoning behind poetry. MacLeish asserts “A poem should be equal to: Not true.” Here he defines that a poem can be seen by many readers in many perspectives. A poet’s message is never exactly translated into a reader’s mind, but it can be close or “equal to.” MacLeish continues with the claim that poems can stem from all areas of life such as “all the history of grief,” or simply “An empty doorway and a maple leaf.” MacLeish closes the poem with the lines “A poem should not mean / But be.”  The concept of poetry being representations of things and experiences culminates in MacLeish’s affirmation that a poem cannot be composed of language that does not provide the reader imagery, it must be so concrete and real that it does not “mean,” but it simply is. The make-up of the poem is simply because poetry should be simple, simple in that it speaks for itself and does so successfully.