It's like This | Introduction
"It's like This," originally published in 1980 (and collected in 1994 in Velocities: New and Selected Poems, 1966–1992), is a not-so-pleasant look into the not-so-inspiring life of some undefined every-man. Even if it is taken on a metaphoric level, the outlook as espoused by Stephen Dobyns's poem is not good. There is existential angst lingering here, to which almost everyone can relate at various times in a lifetime—those moments when everything seems to be going wrong or, worse yet, when nothing seems to be happening or, even worse than that—as in this poem—when something is going on but it is difficult to express it and no one else seems to care.
"It's like This" is a philosophical poem that might have been written to frighten people into waking up from the stupor that a modern, mechanized existence can induce. It is not clear if the nondescript protagonist of this poem even knows who he is. Instead, he seems to be trying to become what he thinks other people want him to be. His only solace appears to come at nighttime, when he sinks into the nothingness of sleep.
Dobyns's poems have been studied and applauded by literary critics, other poets, and scholars. He is an award-winning writer, whose language and style are down to earth and whose subject matter is easily understood. He is a philosopher and writer, but his topics are not hidden behind abstract thoughts. "It's like This," for example, can be read by anyone and from whatever philosophical stance, and it can be used as a meditation. As Dobyns often does, in this poem he opens his soul and invites his readers to take a peek inside. It is as if he is saying, through this poem: This is how one man's life is going. Then, after one reads the poem, it seems that Dobyns might be encouraging other people to ask themselves: How is my life going in comparison?
It's like This Summary
Stanzas 1 and 2
"It's like This" begins by introducing what the speaker of this poem refers to as "the man." He "rises from bed" and begins his day, not of his own free will but by a cord that is wound around his neck and is pulled "tighter and tighter" until the man is disturbed enough by it that he awakens. The speaker makes no comment concerning how the man feels about this situation. He does not mention any anxiety or frustration or anger. The man in the poem merely seems to accept the cord's existence as something he has to tolerate without complaint, as if it is a part of him.
In the second stanza, the man "greets his family," but there is no sense of his acknowledging them or of their acknowledging him. The speaker mentions the family only in relationship to the man's "looking for himself in their eyes." This man, it seems, does not have an identity of his own. He looks into the eyes of his family to find himself. Although he might not know who he is, he does know what he is not. The speaker states that the man cannot find himself in his family's eyes when he looks into them. Instead, he sees men who are shorter or taller than he is. The man also has a sense of his own inner life, because when he looks into the eyes of the members of his family, he also sees "men with / different degrees of anger or love." Of course, he would not recognize this if he were not in touch with his own emotions.
This is an ordinary man who does ordinary things, like waking and sleeping, going to movies, and catching a bus. But he is not ordinary in other ways. People try to define him, but the speaker points out that these people never quite get it right. They do not know him, no matter how much they think they do. This is evident when the man states that all he sees when he looks into the eyes of other people is "the kind of men / that people who hardly know him often mistake / for him." In other words, all he sees are stereotypes of himself. No one knows his inner self. It is not clear whether the man knows himself much better than his family or friends know him. If he did, why would he be looking for himself in someone else's eyes? Or is it that he is looking for himself in their eyes to discover whether they know him? Maybe he does know himself but just cannot find his definition of himself in the people around him.
Stanza 3
The third stanza starts off with a concrete statement: "He has a job." But quickly following this comment is an abstraction. The concrete job that this man has "could be at a bank," the speaker... » Complete It's like This Summary
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