The Art of Imitation In Poetry Between
Pablo Neruda & Frank Stanford
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” — from a 16th century English nursery rhyme
“If whispers were horses, cowards would ride”
— Frank Stanford line found in his archives at Beinecke library
It’s no secret that artists inspire each other, but how does this inspiration unfold in an artform like poetry?
It’s a common tradition in poetry where poets speak to other poets, past or present, often in the form of another poem. A poet can learn a lot by practicing the craft the same ways his or her predecessors practiced their craft, and this is often done by imitation.
An American writer like Frank Stanford could express his point of view in a new way by imitating a Chilean writer like Pablo Neruda. For instance, Stanford’s poem “Blue Yodel of Her Feet[2]” reflects Neruda’s poem “Your Feet[3],” showing how necessary and inspiring imitation is for artists to create something new.
Reading the poems, one after the other, some of the relations are clear; other times, they are dissonant, even jarring:
“Blue Yodel Of Her Feet”
Frank Stanford
Times I can’t look at you
In the face you’re a wolf
That’s killed things I once loved
So I look at your feet
Dark from summer like paws
Soft as buds
Hard as branches they hold
The weight of your body
Cold naked statue I like to frighten
Your waist is a place of solitude
Briars in the forest
Your chest gives ground
Like an island on a river
And as they yodel in the song of songs
Your nipples taut as raisins
Killdeers try to fly from your eyes
I wish I could nail your shoes to the floor
And lose your socks
Good plants bearing in bad soil
So hard to raise my eyes
Over the rest of you
So I look at your feet
They walked over the ground when you found me
They’ll cover the same terrain
When I lose you
“Your Feet”
Pablo Neruda
When I cannot look at your face
I look at your feet.
Your feet of arched bone,
Your hard little feet.
I know that they support you,
And that your gentle weight
Rises upon them.
Your waist and your breasts,
The doubled purple
Of your nipples,
The sockets of your eyes
That have just flown away,
Your wide fruit mouth,
Your red tresses,
My little tower.
But I love your feet
Only because they walked
Upon the earth and upon
The wind and upon the waters,
Until they found me.
Where do the poems end, where do they begin, and how do they get there (the “arc”)?
Neruda’s poem ends on an uplifting, romantic note, whereas Stanford’s ends on a note of loss instead of found. At the beginning of both poems, the speaker struggles to look at a beloved’s face and instead stares at the beloved’s feet. From there, each speaker methodically describes the different landscapes of their lovers’ bodies. The images of body parts arc like ribs through the poems, both of which start and end with her “feet.” The addressee, the “you,” becomes very different by the end of each poem.
Stanford’s imitation creates new meaning while, at the same time, enriches the meaning of Neruda’s poem through their stark differences. The despair and insecrity in Stanford’s poem throws into relief Neruda’s meaning and shows how messy, yet enlivening, love can be. Neruda’s experience of adoration is something to aspire to, something to make what the speaker in Stanford’s poem goes through worthwhile.
Both poems use the beloved’s body to get from start to finish, though both poems end radically different — one expressing the heights of love, the other expressing its depths.
What is the basic tension of the poems?
One of the most enjoyable aspects of these poems are the layers of tension they create. Both poems emerge from a need to understand the tension each speaker feels towards a cherished one. There’s a tension in being afraid of what you see in someone’s face while still entranced by their body.
In “Blue Yodel of Her Feet,” the relationship between speaker and addressee is strained and ambiguous. An example of this is seen in the speaker’s early description of her feet— the phrase “soft as buds” is followed by “hard as branches.” The tension on the surface language sinks deeper, affecting the speaker’s ideas.
In “Blue Yodel of Her Feet,” the speaker’s ideas shed light on the anxiety growing in their relationship. He says he wants to “nail [her] shoes to the floor” and to “lose [her] socks,” which is kind of creepy and romantic at the same time. At the end, he says those feet will take her back to where she came from. As captivated as he is by her, he feels unable to walk off the painful feeling that she will inevitably leave.
In “Your Feet,” the speaker cannot look at his darling’s face for a different reason. He can’t look out of sheer astonishment for her love, which creates a seductive kind of tension. Though he can’t look into her eyes, he is confident and his desire burns. The repetitive use of “you” or “your” creates a sense of urgency — “your face, your weight, your eyes, your mouth, your tresses.” That repetition creates a tension in the language.
In “Your Feet,” tension bursts. The “you” gains even more importance at the end. Finally, the recognition of her journey, how far she had to travel and how much she endured until they found each other. After all, she “walked upon the earth and upon the wind and upon the waters.” Neruda’s rhythm, even in translation, his line breaks and punctuation, create a tension in the rhythm of the poem. The culmination elevates the importance of her feet, as the speaker struggles to put her strength and his gratitude into words.
There is even tension between the poems themselves — what Neruda “knows” about, Stanford “wishes” for.
What’s at stake?
Helping gauge what’s at stake, Neruda and Stanford engage with language, structure (arc) and various techniques, such as simile, metaphor, line breaks— not merely the subject matter of love poetry. Both poets approach the subject of love by having a specific person in mind. Their relationships are what’s at stake.
Neruda might want to share his poem with his dear one, but Stanford might be telling us what he cannot tell her.
The speakers in the poems are trying to fill some kind of void, loosen some kind of tension. To help get their ideas across, they juxtapose ideas with concrete images, specifically with body and nature. While both poems work to elevate their respective addressees, Neruda’s poem ends tenderly and Stanford’s poem ends hauntingly.
Neruda and Stanford use language as a vehicle to express hard-to-understand feelings. The progress of time and the risk of loss compel them to write their poems. That’s also at stake here, trying to say the unsayable so others might learn from their experiences.
“Blue Yodel of Her Feet” intensifies the rhythm by omitting punctuation and enjambing lines. The poem imitates some ideas from Neruda’s poem but turns them on their head and brings them into a very different world. For Stanford, there was a lot at stake in writing this poem.
“Blue Yodel of Her Feet” and “Your Feet” offer a fresh look not only at love poetry but also the art of imitation. Imitation is a generative process and it enriches the art that precedes it. It’s vital to the way artists grow and create new art.
[1] Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, when Stanford would have been twenty-three years old — a book of Stanford’s archival material was published by Third Man Books, 2015.
[2] As found in What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford published by Copper Canyon Press, 2015.
[3] As found in Pablo Neruda’s Love Poems trans. by Donald Walsh and published by New Directions Publishing Company, 2008.
Related links:
Frank Stanford: In His Own Words
Frank Stanford: In Leenus Orth’s Words
Frank Stanford Chapbook Assignment
Frank Stanford’s The Battle Field Where The Moon Says I Love You Notes
Frank Stanford’s The Battle Field Where The Moon Says I Love You Outline
Conversation About The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You Pt. 1
Conversation About The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You Pt. 2
