The Yogic Path

Evocatively Speaking

Subtlety in the Poet's Art

 Mira Mehta

Thought, that ingenious device

By which all boundaries are set at nought,

Commanded by the Thinker

To span the struts of days and distance,

Constructs bridges of brush strokes

And promenades with words for cobblestones,

Lanterning them with meaning.¹

Accepted that language is about conveying meanings, the artistry of language wields this purpose in such a way as to communicate the hidden thoughts and emotions behind explicit statements. Poetry, as the consummation of linguistic expression, is thus replete with implications, innuendoes, wordplay and figures of speech that suggest meanings beyond the superficial. Mastering the timeless language of poetry will make eloquence blossom; indeed, it will bring forth a whole bouquet of benefits, as an ancient author asserts:

Poetry leads to fame, to earning wealth, to knowledge of the ways of the world, to the removal of misfortune, to instantaneous sheer delight, to gaining guidance as from a  beloved. ²

Let me present a brief analysis of meanings - stated, implied and evoked - as set out in Sanskrit poetic theory. The Sanskrit literary tradition is comparable to the European in breadth and sophistication, and within it the study of poetics is of impressive antiquity and complexity. But, importantly, it has an extra dimension that makes it relevant to poetry of all languages, for it deals in principles.  One of its major contributions is an explanation of the evocative power of poetry, giving rise to a grading of poetry according to whether the evoked meaning is dominant, subordinate or absent.³

In presenting this theory, examples will be taken from classical rather than contemporary English poetry. There are two reasons for this: first, because a point is most effectively illustrated by familiar examples, and secondly, because these poems can be easily found in well known anthologies.

First, however, the question of relevance needs to be addressed. The purpose of poetic theory is to explain why poetry is acceptable to people and how it maintains standards of excellence and effectiveness. Of course it is not necessary to understand the theory in order to appreciate the beauty of words and images. But for practising and aspiring poets, as well as for the connoisseur, knowledge of how poetry works can only enhance composition and appreciation.

With this in mind, it makes sense to start with the fundamental framework from which poetry is created: word and meaning. The central place of these is picturesquely portrayed in a metaphor likening poetry to a person: "The body of poetry is the sentence; dramatic mood is its soul; literary embellishments are its ornaments like bracelets and earrings; excellent features are its virtues like valour, etc.; flaws are like squints, etc.; and styles are like the particular disposition of the limbs."⁴

Poetry in which evoked meanings are dominant ('Evocative' Poetry) is subdivided into several types according to the status and function of the literal meaning.

The first broad category is where the literal meaning is not intended at all. Here there are two important groups:

In the first group the literal meaning is transferred to another meaning without any contradiction. An example of this is Houseman's'Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries':

 These, in the day when the heaven was falling,

    The hour when earth's foundations fled,

Followed their mercenary calling

    And took their wages and are dead.

 Their shoulders held the sky suspended;

    They stood, and earth's foundations stay;

What God abandoned, these defended,

    And saved the sum of things for pay.

Through the two final words "for pay", the stated meaning elicits an evoked meaning: the bathos of high talk but low deeds. While the soldiers may indeed have "saved the sum of things", eulogising them is not the poem's intention. Instead, the explicit meaning is discarded in favour of the implicit one. It is not, however, contradicted.

In the second group the literal meaning is totally discarded because there is a contradiction between it and the intended meaning, as in irony.

Houseman's verses above provide an example of this too: the literal meaning of holding up the sky makes no sense. It therefore leads to the satirical suggestion that the mercenaries did what God could not, that is, hold the sky on their shoulders.

Another poem that discards the literal meaning is Swift's 'Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General'. The meaning opposite to that stated is conveyed by intonation. The invalidation of the plain meaning is shown by the exclamation marks which suggest the lampoon and the sarcastic tone intended.

His Grace! impossible! what, dead!

Of old age too, and in his bed!

And could that mighty warrior fall?

And so inglorious, after all!...

In the second broad category of evocative poetry, where evoked meanings are dominant, the literal meaning is intended but is not complete in itself; it is a contributory factor in suggesting an emotion or idea.

At this point it is necessary to bring in the concept of dramatic mood. Sanskrit aesthetic theory holds that drama and literature are a reflection of actual life. They try to induce in the spectator or reader a sustained mood that corresponds to an emotion in life and that is relished for the duration of the person's involvement in the work. Nine 'dramatic moods' are recognised: romance, humour, compassion, fury, heroism, terror, repugnance, amazement and tranquillity. Extensive works of literature may portray several emotions and combinations of emotions. Short works, such as poems, usually pick out one aspect of a dramatic mood, such as a transient emotion that accompanies a major one (jealousy or anxiety in respect of love, for example).

Emotions are always evoked; they cannot be induced by being stated.

A poem exemplifying the dramatic mood of love (one, of course, among legion) is George Meredith's 'Love in the Valley':

 Under yon beech-tree single on the green-sward,

    Couched with her arms behind her golden head,

Knees and tresses folded to slip and ripple idly,

    Lies my young love sleeping in the shade.

Had I the heart to slide an arm beneath her,

    Press her parting lips as her waist I gather slow,

Waking in amazement she could not but embrace me:

    Then would she hold me and never let me go?....

The poet's expressions convey his deep love. The emotion evoked in the reader is the dramatic mood of love. It is generated by the description of the causes, effects and supports of love: the beloved, the setting, love-struck behaviour and so on. These universal concomitants of love resonate with the readers' own experience and, by a process of empathy, awaken romantic feelings. Artful and graceful phraseology, while contributing to the beauty and enjoyment of the poem, are not the primary reason for its effectiveness in stimulating an emotional response. Sentiments are evoked because of the mirroring of life situations.

The emotion of grief is exemplified in Campbell's 'Lord Ullin's Daughter', where the flight of lovers from the girl's father ends in their death. The evocation - the dramatic mood of compassion in the face of tragedy - is engendered by the plain statement that the father is "left lamenting":

 'Twas vain: the loud waves lash'd the shore,

    Return or aid preventing:

The waters wild went o'er his child,

    And he was left lamenting.

The poem's method of creating the mood of compassion in the reader is to narrate the factors that contribute to that mood: the inclement weather, the father's angry pursuit, the girl's fear, the tragic end and the father's ultimate grief. Pity is aroused because the reader identifies with the common human experiences of sorrow at bereavement and regret for anger and rash actions. The poem does not verbalise these feelings but leaves it to the imagination of the reader, and herein lies its effectiveness.

In all compositions involving dramatic mood, the sequence through which the mood is suggested is not perceived: the mood steals up on and overtakes the reader or spectator unawares.

However, there is another type where the poet's intention strikes the reader after a gap of time. The sequence of the stated meaning leading to the evoked meaning is perceptible, and the poet's intention is understood subsequently after intellectual analysis: the penny drops, as the saying goes. Often this underlying meaning is evident only to a connoisseur familiar with the conventions of literature and poetry.

An example is Shelley's 'Ozymandias of Egypt'. Here the suggestion is the vanity of man: the vainglorious king's statue lies in ruins and his proud works are unknown to posterity:

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal rock, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The meaning of this poem, that all human works come to dust, emerges from the whole composition through the cumulative effect of all the statements. By contrasting the king's boast of greatness with his fate of oblivion the poet encourages the reader to interpret these facts; only when the reader has done so does the poet’s meaning become apparent. This subtle, non-verbal dialogue between poet and reader is the main reason why the poem gives delight; it is like a puzzle pre-set to provoke a cry of "Eureka!" when it is solved.

Another situation where the poet's meaning sinks into the reader's mind only after reflection is that where a poetic conceit is used. Here the imagination of the poet runs riot and the reader has to make an effort to follow the line of thought. A charming example is Lyly's 'Cupid and Campaspe'. The poet imagines his beloved playing cards with the god and winning from him all his assets. After losing his bow and arrows and his mother's doves, Cupid stakes

The coral of his lip, the rose

Growing on 's cheek (but none knows how);

With these, the crystal of his brow,

And then the dimple of his chin;

All these did my Campaspe win:

At last he set her both his eyes -

She won, and Cupid blind did rise.

    O Love! has she done this to thee?

    What shall, alas! become of me?

The fanciful description of the card game - a gallant's compliment on his lady's beauty and acuteness - is used as the basis for the final, leading question. Alarm for the plight of the god of love is transferred to alarm for the poet's own fate. With this pointer the reader is directed to imagine the poet's feelings of unease, self-pity or the like. As these feelings are not openly portrayed many interpretations are possible - including irony, if it is felt that the poet is inviting enjoyment of his absurdity.

As a final example of the poet's meaning expressed through a conceit, consider Blake's 'A Poison Tree'. Anger, fear, grief and pretence are the nourishment for a tree which bears a deadly apple that kills the eater, causing the poet to exult:

 In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Underlying the theme that revenge is sweet are the unstated emotions of anger and ferocity; they are, however, evoked and give the poem its fierceness. The process is as follows. Starting with a straightforward description of anger concealed, the poem then describes its growth metaphorically as a tree with poisonous fruit. By means of this image ("I watered it in fears... I sunnèd it with smiles") it implies the various factors associated with revenge, such as nurturing, patience, cunning, entrapment and the relishing of triumph. This in turn opens the door to the evocation of the emotions that occasioned the poem. The reader becomes engaged in the poem because interpretation is required of its many layers of meaning. Its suggestiveness - the eliciting of thoughts from the reader's own mind - is the major source of its appeal.

This short overview has, I hope, made clear that the ability to convey the unstated - be it emotions or ideas - is a supreme power of language. While this is fairly obvious, it is rarely nowadays stated: but to neglect the eternal verity of this principle is to risk triviality and dullness.  It is the recognition of the power of suggestion that makes the Sanskrit authors praise poetry that is richly evocative as the best, for

An intended thought is quite different [from an expressed thought]; in the words of great poets it outshines the beauty of any other conspicuous aspects, as does beauty in comely women.⁵

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Notes

¹ Mira Mehta, 'The Conqueror's Causeway' in Cascade of Stars (2002).

² Mammata, Light on Poetry (Kavya Prakasha), 1.2 (11th century).  Mammata is the most celebrated Sanskrit author on Poetics; his work remains a standard textbook on the subject to this day.

³ The analysis of evoked meanings in poetry was first made by Anandavardhana in the 8th century.

⁴ Vishvanatha, The Mirror for Literature (Sahitya Darpana), 1.3-5 (14th century).

⁵ Anandavardhana, The Splendour of Evocation (Dhvanyaloka), 1.4 (8th century).