Week 6, Sign Inventory

Page 366-367 in The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry
"Axe Handles" by Gary Snyder

In the spirit of "Thing Poems", I wanted to look at this one by Gary Snyder.

1. The mention of Ezra Pound instantly places this poem in literary history.

2. The tendency to mythologize past culture is strong here in this poem similar to Semaus Heaney's poem, "Digging".

3. The object is missing in the beginning of the poem. The speaker must go get the axe handles.

4. The idea of time moves from present "One afternoon last week in April" to "fourth century AD".

5. The speaker also moves place in this poem, from the stump to the shop, back to the stump. This enriches the reading of time movement because the speaker doesn't really go anywhere.

6. 7 lines begin with "and". This is the most consistent line beginning in the poem.

7. The use of "I" as the object: "I am an axe". The son becomes the object as well: "my son a handle". This metaphor confuses the simplicity of the object.

8. The speaker uses the axe to create it's handle. This poem makes a comment on the nature of creation.

9. The speaker references "Essay on Literature". Perhaps in the same way that "Digging" discusses the process of writing, this focuses on a different aspect, criticism.

10. Throwing hatchet heads with your son seems like a violent, manly, purposeless activity that leads to a cultural revelation. Why this activity specifically?