Thoughts on "Objectivist Lamp"

As the object was the point of interest for Carl Rakosi, so "Objectivist Lamp" is my point of interest this week.

On a first reading this poem seems exceptionally simple. Rakosi devotes twelve lines to the description of an ivory lamp with a "batik lamp shade" (L. 10-11) that rests on top. Significantly, this description is not made in comparative or contrasting terms. While the lamp is described as if it has hands and a breast this is owing to the fact that it is a female figurine. Rakosi does not attempt to invest the lamp with any definition outside direct description.

The structure of this poem is in line with these thematic issues. The inter-locking lines of the poem are a physical representation of the "hand crossed" (L. 5) figurine that the lamp is styled after. In the same way that the ivory woman holds the illuminating light bulb, the poem holds the illuminating title "Objectivist Lamp". The poet uses the structure of the poem to highlight the importance of the singular item that is described throughout.

Each of these issues underline the now useless division of form and content in the modernist and post-modernist period. While we can identify different formal and thematic techniques, their results are inextricably linked and impossible to separate. Although many have questioned the worth of such objectivism as art, it is hard to conceive of a poem that more closely captures every aspect of its object.

By adapting Rakosi's direct approach, literary criticism could create a more coherent and useful accompaniment to literature.

-The English Student