How to Deconstruct a Text

How to Deconstruct a Text : Deconstructive Reading of Three Poems by Shakespeare, Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams

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This blog is part of the task of How to Deconstruct a Text in which three poems, 'Sonnet 18' by Shakespeare, 'On a Station in a Metro', and 'The Red Wheelbarrow' by William Carlos William. will be deconstructed.

How to do Deconstruct a Text:

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Deconstruction of Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare :

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Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Deconstructive meaning of the poem:

Sonnet 18 is widely loved as a poem about love, but when we look closely, it reveals deeper meanings. It starts by comparing someone beloved to a fleeting summer day, showing a contrast between human beauty and nature. At first, it seems to prioritize the beloved's everlasting beauty, but by using "I" at the beginning, the poet asserts their own presence alongside praising the beloved and nature. This suggests a complex relationship where the poet's voice influences how beauty is seen and preserved.

Using Derrida's idea of different meanings, we see that the poem's ranking of beauty isn't fixed. While the beloved seems better than the temporary summer at first, words like "temperate," "rough wind," and "fade" subtly connect the beloved's beauty with the impermanence of nature. The poem promises the beloved eternal beauty, but this promise depends on how they are described in the poem itself. This suggests that immortality is created through the poet's words, showing a situation where the poet controls the story of beauty and love.

So we can say that, Sonnet 18 shows the poet as a powerful person who shapes how people see the beloved's beauty. It explores themes of authority and the creation of lasting beauty through poetry, showing how ideas of beauty and the lasting nature of love are shaped by language and how people see things.

Deconstruction of In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound

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The apparition of these faces in the crowd:

Petals on a wet, black bough.

Deconstructive meaning of the poem :

The poem shows us a crowded metro station and compares it to petals on a dark tree branch. At first, we might think it's just about the difference between busy city life and quiet country life. The metro is noisy and chaotic, while nature seems peaceful. But when we look closer, the poem isn't that simple. The word "apparition" makes the faces seem ghostly, not just busy. This hints that city life might be dreamlike or unreal in some ways. The poem doesn't tell us exactly how the metro station and the petals are connected. This leaves room for many different interpretations. Some readers might see it as criticizing city life, while others might find beauty in the unexpected comparison.

A deconstructive reading asks us to question our first impressions. Maybe the city and nature aren't as different as we think. Both the crowd and the petals are temporary, appearing and disappearing quickly. The poem's short, simple structure actually makes its meaning more complex. It invites readers to fill in the gaps with their own ideas and experiences. This means the poem can have many meanings, not just one.

So we can see that deconstructing the poem shows us that its meaning isn't fixed. It changes based on who's reading it and how they see the world.

Deconstructing William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow":

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so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

Deconstructive meaning of the poem :

As we read the poem, we can find that it seems to show a simple farm scene with a red wheelbarrow and white chickens in the rain. It looks like it’s celebrating everyday things and telling us to appreciate what’s around us. The bright colors and common farm items make it feel real.

However, the poem describes the wheelbarrow as very clean, "glazed with rain water," which is strange for a real farm where things are usually dirty and messy. This perfect image makes us wonder if the poem is talking about a real place or just an idealized picture of a farm.

The first line, "so much depends / upon," makes it sound like these ordinary objects are very important. This might be true, or it could be the poet’s way of making a simple thing seem too important. The way the poem is written, with few words, allows for different interpretations. One person might see it as appreciating simple moments, while another might see it as questioning how we use words to describe reality.

People might understand the poem differently based on their backgrounds. Someone from a farm might see it differently from someone in a city. The poem doesn’t tell us exactly what to think, so we have to use our own ideas to understand it.

So we can say that the poem isn’t just about a wheelbarrow and chickens. It’s about how we see things, how we describe them, and how different people can find different meanings in the same words. The poem makes us think about the relationship between words and reality, showing that even a simple poem can have deep meanings.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, analyzing the poem shows its complex meanings, the use of opposites, and the play of different interpretations. When one meaning is focused on, other interpretations are pushed to the side. This offers new ways to read and understand the poem.

Thank you for reading 😊

References :

Barad, Dilip. “Deconstructive Analysis of Ezra Pound's 'In a Station of the Metro' and William Carlos Williams's 'The Red Wheelbarrow.'” ResearchGate, July 2024, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381943844_Deconstructive_Analysis_of_Ezra_Pound's_'In_a_Station_of_the_Metro'_and_William_Carlos_Williams's_'The_Red_Wheelbarrow'. Accessed 04 07 2024.

Pound, Ezra. “In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound | Poetry Magazine.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12675/in-a-station-of-the-metro. Accessed 4 July 2024.

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s….” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45087/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summers-day. Accessed 4 July 2024.

Williams, William Carlos, and Christopher MacGowan. “The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams.” Poetry Foundation, 1909-1939, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45502/the-red-wheelbarrow. Accessed 4 July 2024.