Word Study (1)

So I was watching "The Colbert Show," honestly one of the smartest and funniest shows on T.V. in my opinion, and Stephen Colbert had Caroline Kennedy on the show talking about a new book of poetry that she complied and edited entitled, "She Walks In Beauty." (a title taken from a Lord Byron poem if you didn't know). They recited a poem I really liked titled, "I Like Americans" by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1924):

I like Americans.
You may say what you will, they are the nicest people in the world.
They sleep with their windows open.
Their bathtubs are never dry.
They are not grown up yet. They still believe in Santa Claus.

They are terribly in earnest.
But they laugh at everything…

I like Americans.
They give the matches free…

I like Americans.
They are the only men in the world, the sight of whom in their shirt-sleeves is not rumpled, embryonic and agonizing…

I like Americans.
They carry such pretty umbrellas.
The Avenue de l’Opera on a rainy day is just an avenue on a rainy day.
But Fifth Avenue on a rainy day is an old-fashioned garden under a shower…

They are always rocking the boat.
I like Americans.
They either shoot the whole nickel, or give up the bones.
You may say what you will, they are the nicest people in the world.

I love the whimsy, the simplicity and the love in this poem. I also love how innocent and naive Americans come off in the poem. There is something to said for words that get where they are going very quickly and entice easy thoughts and a smile. This poem is however very similar to another poem written a year earlier in 1923 by Ernest Hemingway of the same name:

I like Americans.
They are so unlike Canadians.
They do not take their policemen seriously.
They come to Montreal to drink.
Not to criticize.
They claim they won the war.
But they know at heart that they didn't.
They have such respect for Englishmen.
They like to live abroad.
They do not brag about how they take baths.
But they take them.
Their teeth are so good.
And they wear B.V.D.'s all the year round.
I wish they didn't brag about it.
They have the second best navy in the world.
But they never mention it.
They would like to have Henry Ford for president.
But they will not elect him.
They saw through Bill Bryan.
They have gotten tired of Billy Sunday.
Their men have such funny hair cuts.
They are hard to suck in on Europe.
They have been there once.
They produced Barney Google, Mutt and Jeff.
And Jiggs.
They do not hang lady murderers.
They put them in vaudeville.
They read the Saturday Evening Post
And believe in Santa Claus.
When they make money
They make a lot of money.
They are fine people.

Now you can tell that one is clearly influenced by the other, but the thing about the Hemingway joint is that it dates itself, and I'm not ashamed to say I had to google some of the names in it to gather the full weight of the poem. But I think every poet has to have works that transcend, works that you can read any where and any time, and they will still be relevant. But I think that all poets have to create poems that serve as time capsules, poems that force the readers of the future to look up what they are talking about to understand. It's the job of the poet to make the reader think, laugh, reflect, but it's also his job to educate.