George Bowering’s "A Sudden Measure" is as crisp as the wintry day it depicts. We’ll perhaps sully the poem’s pure beauty by trying too hard to analyze it. Let’s tread lightly and try to leave it as pristine as freshly fallen snow.
The poem’s simple images and stark diction (including abrupt but wholly appropriate colons)…
George Bowering’s "A Sudden Measure" is as crisp as the wintry day it depicts. We’ll perhaps sully the poem’s pure beauty by trying too hard to analyze it. Let’s tread lightly and try to leave it as pristine as freshly fallen snow.
The poem’s simple images and stark diction (including abrupt but wholly appropriate colons) imprint with striking visual impact on one’s mind. Bowering’s painterly approach places those clear images – “sudden snow”, dark houses, a footpath that is a “bare line / across white” – on a canvas made wide and spacious by short lines and generous spacing and indents.
The poem’s final punctuation is the blaze of the woman’s red coat. It’s as sudden as the snow, contrasting with the monochromatic scheme of the snow, houses and clouds. It’s breathtaking and immensely satisfying.
