Laura Rosenthal

Oral Interpretation: Poetry

Professor Gura
PROSODIC ANALYSIS: Words, by Vern Rutsala

Patterns of Structure
Words, a poem written by Vern Rutsala, is composed of blank, unrhymed, open
verse, as opposed to stanzas. There are no nonstanzaic divisions, or verse paragraphs.
Therefore, there are no spaces between each of the lines. There is no apparent pattern with
respect to words per line. The poem is 44 lines long, with no line carrying more than eight
words. The visual display on the page bears no obvious correlation to the meaning of the
poem. Words follows an "open- verse" pattern, meaning that it does not follow a strict
metrical pattern. Though it is free verse, it has recognizable patterns in the sense that it
would most likely be identified as a poem when viewed on the page. Rutsala may have
sought to subtly influence the reader's perception of what is written. There are no special
constraints on the poem except for those imposed by its meaning. As they run down the
page, the lines form a strip bearing the jagged right- hand edge that is commonly
associated with poetic verse.
Patterns of Rhythm
There is neither a foot pattern nor any apparent rhyme scheme in the poem. The
only phrase that is stated more than once is "They named," which doesn't occur in
succession, or at any specific point that is relevant to the rhythm of the poem. There is no
particular pattern or rhythm of accent.
1

Patterns of Sound
There is no rhyme scheme in this poem and therefore, none were charted. The vowel
and consonant sounds are charted in IPA and reveal no obvious patterns. Though not
alliterative, the devices of assonance and consonance seem to be employed volitionally in
some parts of the poem. In other parts, they may simply be included by chance. Similarly,
the elements of cacophony and euphony are used throughout the poem; at times they
appear to carry correlate to the inherent meaning of the words. The following are
examples of consonance, cacophony and/or consonance, and assonance and/or euphony,
respectively:
"the thin flicker Friday..."

(Here, the author may have intentionally used an

alliterative /f/, a fricative, in order to highlight the narrator's discontent with

the

poor quality of the film) ;

`"locked in books where they belonged" (The cacophony of the /k/ in 'locked' and in
'books' and the alliterative /b/ both stress the speaker's firm and possibly angry
attitude) ;
"our cold linoleum..." ( The /o/ in 'cold' and 'linoleum' may be employed to
emphasize the magnitude of the discomfort--i.e. very cold).

Patterns of Sense
In the beginning of the poem, the author introduces the reader to the metaphor that
is repeated throughout the poem. The "words" are consistently described as though they
are more than just letters on a piece of paper, or phonemes that are connected and spoken
aloud by a person. Lines 3-5 show how the "they" (the words) have the capacity to
embarrass the individual that says them--in this case, because they hold more value than
the constituents of the rooms that the narrator refers to. The fact that they name things
one "could only see in movies" serves to emphasize how little the narrator has and the
despair he feels upon walking in the cold weather after seeing a film (possibly poor quality),
realizing that the snow is the only thing he has unlimited access to. When he describes a
"language that names ghosts," the speaker is most likely referring to words that represent
things that are inaccessible to him. Rutsala reinforces this by stating that they named
"nothing you could touch. "This imagery of this phrase aids the reader in his conception of
something that cannot be attained, as in reaching out to touch a ghost--something that is
not tangible. The line that states, "We left such words at school, locked in books where
they belonged," may indicate the fervor with which the speaker wishes to eradicate the use
of words he cannot attach meaning to through experience. Words cannot literally be
locked away, so in this sense it is figurative, but the phrase shows the conviction the speaker
has towards doing so. The impact of the repeating metaphor is strong. The reader is
gradually intended to sense the speaker's urgency and need for justification, which is
ultimately rendered in the final line of the poem, which is the resolution.

Why the Patterns Exist

The open verse may serve to indicate the needs of the speaker. His plea is for
simplicity, or rather, for words that represent the bare minimum, which is what he has. He
wants to discard those words that signify the items he will never attain, because they only
draw attention to the vast difference between what he has and that which he will never
have. The fact that it is presented on the page as a poem might normally appear shows that
the speaker's thoughts are well conceived (that this is something he has spent a significant
amount of time theorizing about), rather than a random conglomerate of ideas. The length
of the lines is short, which renders the poem relatively easy to understand and allows the
audience to remember specific moments in the poem. While the poem is not complex, it
represents a highly significant notion--that of the paradox of the American language for the
speaker and perhaps, of the nature of the quality of American life itself.
I chose to highlight the elements of syllabic stress and alliterative devices when
preparing my performance in order to emphasize the speaker's despair and the
magnitude of his dissatisfaction. The poem is about the words that the speaker cannot
relate to, so these are the especially salient features of my performance, each one proving
how distant the speaker is from a true understanding of it. The lines that indicate sensory
involvement are emphasized by exaggerating the operative words (i.e see, touch). The final
line is pronounced loudly and clearly, with careful attention to reciting each word slowly, so
that the audience obtains a sense of resolution to the speaker's problem. It could be
analogous to an epiphany.