Hayden Carruth

Hayden Carruth, a well known poet, writes on a vast amount of topics. His styles and mood change through out these poems from happy to hurt and back again. I would like to focus on "Wife Poem" and "I Could Take." Both of these poems are about his wife. I would like to discuss how these poems are different: narration, line length, and stanzas.

Even though both poems seem to be about his wife, "Wife Poem," is written in the third person: Carruth uses terms like he or she, and we never fully get into the head of either character. Where as in "I Could Take" Carruth uses first person saying I and You. And we know the feelings of the narrator.

With the two different points of view, I feel that "Wife Poem," is more generalized, with a bit of humor in it. Take these two lines for instance: "of her sleep in her half (two-thirds really)/ of their bed..."Even though there is love within these lines, I get a feeling of distance between the reader and the narrator.

"I Could Take" has a feeling of love and devotion, and is showing the meaning of what love is. The ending lines of "I Could Take" show us how one man has symbolized his love to his wife: "one leave (one word) from the two/ imperfections that match" (75). Beautiful imagery, gives us a feeling of warmth, love and happiness. Give hope to those still looking for that special someone.

I find it interesting that Carruth does not stick to one style of poetry. In "Wife Poem" there are no breaks between the lines, or you could say it has one stanza. This gives the reader a sense of reading a story more than reading a poem. You feel as if you are watching it rather than living it.

Where as in "I Could Take" the lines are broken and set up differently. This allows us to put more time in-between the lines; or more time to process what has been said. I feel that even though these