The Building of the Skyscraper (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: George Oppen
- First Published: 1965
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Language or languages, Twentieth century, Art or artists, Poetry or poets, Architecture or architects, Buildings, Sky
Oppen's fascination with the meaning latent in an individual word, and his interest in the manner in which meaning is established and explored through the arrangement or construction of the words in a poem, led him in many works to compare the artist to an artisan or builder. In “The Building of the Skyscraper,” Oppen begins with a rather specific image, a steelworker who has “learned not to look down,” suggesting a kind of focus or concentration on the task at hand. Then, in a characteristic shift in vision, Oppen moves directly to his philosophic position, extending the poem...
[The entire page is 579 words long]
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