Reading Louis Zukofsky’s “A”-9 is not a passive activity. For readers who insist on a clear expression of meaning, it can be a frustrating experience. Filled with ambiguous statements, elusive grammatical constructs, and an increasingly insistent rhythm of sounds and structural wit, "A"-9 is as likely to confound as it is to enlighten.
Still, a path to social enlightenment appears to be at its core: sincere perception. Approaching this objective, Zukofsky creates verbal dichotomies that spin through formal structure, turning communicative language inside-out while creating an intricate soundscape that is as intriguing and dynamic to ponder as the world from which it springs. This article will examine a fragment of its ninth strophe to explore the meaning of the poem as a whole while demonstrating the expansive nature of thought instigated by Zukofsky's use of language.
“Virtue flames value, merriment love”
Beginning with the above quoted statement, the ninth strophe of "A"-9 asserts the opposition at the center of the poem as a whole: value versus love. Specifically, in its first half, "A"-9 borrows from Marx to demonstrate the modern alienating effect of exchange-value, wherein human subjects become subservient to the products of their own creation. Simultaneously, the meaning of an object is transformed - negating its physical properties and potential use – into an abstract object of an economy that frequently precludes human need, e.g. a global economy that creates the conditions for shanty towns and poverty-level wages while destroying pre-existing, self-subsistent economies. As an answer to this force of human alienation, the second half of “A”-9 counters value with love.
Simply stated, value depends on differentiation in a competitive “market” in which qualitative binaries (e.g. good and evil; value and worthlessness; us and them) come into play. Love, on the other hand, replaces the binary with intrinsic worth: to love something is to love it without reserve – regardless of performance in a defined market of social values. Where value establishes binary judgment, love encourages open-ended appreciation. In this sense, value divides and constricts, while love conjoins and expands. In terms of analysis, love (in the form of sincere perception) transcends value systems in the pursuit of a broader understanding of human experience.
Virtue and the Directional Force of Value
Relationships are at the core of all dynamics. When different entities come into relation, a dynamic force of change and growth - ripe with possibility - results from that relationship. In the context of human society, value systems frequently preclude (for good or bad) open relationships – whether of knowledge, or of interpersonal affairs. If we equate love to a practice of unconditional acceptance (regardless of conflicting value systems), then love encourages relationship and, hence, dynamic growth in human understanding and social existence. When Zukofsky applies sincere perception as the cornerstone of his poetics, the resultant work (an objectified poem) acts as a dynamic agent in relation to the reader and the reader's relationship to the world. It seeks to broaden perception and understanding, enacting an open-ended potential for meaningful experience through language.
While the quote cited above opposes “value” and “love,” it also treats them as grammatical objects. The subjects in each half of the statement are “virtue” and “merriment”. Beginning with virtue, we can say that it represents a movement from value system to its embodiment, or perfection, in the individual. Virtue has value only in relation to its lack – as defined by the binaries of a value system. Having embodied the delimiting definitions of a system, individuals become valued subjects within that system, projecting its definitions outward – both as a means of understanding the world, and as a means of reproducing the system in which personal value is achieved.
Directionally, it may be called a clockwise movement, wherein collective values shape individuals who then project those values outward as a screen which limits both action and meaningful comprehension of another's action. In this case, both the collective group and the individuals within that group derive value from what they are not – virtueless – and it serves as a barrier to those who are different, as well as an obstacle to unorthodox thinking.
Relationship and the Directional Force of Love
“Love,” on the other hand (in Zukofsky’s treatment) is the object of “merriment.” If virtue equates to the individual, then merriment equates to the collective: a movement from the subjective experience of love to its enactment in positive human interrelation. We’ll call this a counter-clockwise movement, cycling from the individual to the collective and back again into a well-rounded experience of communal joy. By representing these “movements” as circular, this article means only to express a directional attribute (not beginning and end points) that indicates two distinct, directional velocities: one that emphasizes the valued individual, and the other that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of human dynamics at play in a collective environment.
Considering the statement's single verb, “flames,” we find a multi-directional emphasis on two entirely different approaches to human interaction: “virtue flames value, merriment love”. Each half of the statement is opposed: the first moving from individual (subject) to collective (object); the second from collective (subject) to individual (object.) Further, considering the way the verb is applied in both halves, subject and object are effectively interchangeable - giving rise to the circular notion of their relationships, as noted above. What is significant in these circular movements is that they point in different directions, assigning grammatical agency to opposed subjects: "virtue" (individual) and "merriment" (collective.) To illustrate that opposition, consider the value-judgment that "virtue" frequently makes against "merriment." Or, in a political sense, consider "socialist" versus "capitalist" in a fight for economic power.
The beauty of “A”-9 as a whole is that many of its structural elements can be read in alternate ways that both enhance and expand simplistic meanings, giving rise to dynamic interplays between reader, text, and an ongoing understanding of a collective world in which we all, as individuals, play a role. Its semantics, rather than being confined to a specific meaning, expand outward into the realm of active involvement on the part of its readers.
Sincere Perception and the Poetic Device of Ambiguous Word-play
When establishing meaning within the communicative medium of language, the structure of a written work typically attempts to contextualize its elements so as to delimit alternate meanings, establishing a clear, differentiated use of words. As a result, statements are asserted and the progress of the written work depends on the reliability of those assertions - regardless of alternate viewpoints which might coincide in a sincere analysis of a written work's subject material.
In poetry, creating tension within the work is frequently used as a method of speaking beyond the words, reaching out to a world of shared experience and emotional resonance. Zukofsky takes this a step further, creating ambiguous contexts in which the words' internal conflicts are emphasized, allowing multiple readings to shape co-existing (even contradictory) meanings within a poem that supports (and encourages) alternate perspectives. He enacts the complexity of life and experience by unleashing the full potential of language - the primary tool of speech, interrelation, and reasoning. Elevating sound to the level of meaning, he creates beautiful, dynamic structures that lead outward to the world of human involvement, as opposed to the enclosed, individual space of authorial intent.
The reader of Zukofsky's poetry has a role on a par with its creator - and from that interaction, his poetry (almost merrily) takes its meaning. The ninth strophe of "A"-9 is no exception, working linebreaks against grammatical structures to shift the meanings of words into expanding contexts that draw a reader into a deeper relationship with its words and the structures of its sound. To enjoy "A"-9 is a matter of entering into an active, undelimited experience of its language - and from this experience an expanding sense of meaning is thus generated. Such is the nature of sincere perception when put into motion.
Note on the Lack of Substantial Quotations in this Series of Articles
Ironically, the opportunity to demonstrate the different ways in which Zukofsky releases the polysemic attributes of language, or the musical quality of his chosen words and their contextual arrangement, is severely limited by his son Paul Zukofsky, who owns the copywrite to all of his parents' written work. Out of respect for his wishes, this article quotes (under a solid assertion of fair use) only five words of a single stophe, of a single movement, of a nearly 800 page poem ("A") - despite the importance of quotation (unaddressed in this series of articles) to much of Louis Zukofsky's work. To see more, you are strongly encouraged to obtain a copy of "A" - whether borrowed or bought - and begin reading. To say the least, it will be an experience.
Further reading:
The first article in this series: Louis Zukofsky and the Objectifed Poem
Recordings of Louis Zukofsky reading his work (PennSound, the University of Pennsylvania)
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