Analysis
Historical Context
Unraveling the Shockwaves of History
In her poignant verses, Addonizio unveils a world scarred by "some terrible act that sends you reeling off." These staggering moments, she reveals, have punctuated her lifetime and the haunting years that preceded her birth. Despite knowing the depths of human potential for cruelty, she muses on how some acts remain unfathomable. The twentieth century, in many respects, was marred by horrific genocides—from the Armenian tragedy in Turkey (1915–1918) to Stalin's brutal suppression of the Ukrainian uprising (1932–1933), the chilling Nanking Massacre (1937–1938), the ghastly Holocaust (1938–1945), the Khmer Rouge's barbaric purge in Cambodia (1975–1979), the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis (1994), and the Bosnian Muslims' massacre (1992–1995). These grim chapters saw the annihilation of over seventeen million lives, solely due to their race, ethnicity, or faith.
Amidst these horrors, individual acts of terror also etched their mark. The Palestine Liberation Organization orchestrated the heinous murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 and continued violent campaigns across the Middle East. Simultaneously, the Irish Republican Army executed numerous attacks in Great Britain. By 1995, terror breached U.S. borders when an American extremist obliterated the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, claiming 168 souls.
The Continuing Tale of Tragedy
The dawn of the twenty-first century ushered in an era equally besieged by violence and terror. On a fateful morning—September 11, 2001—nearly 3,000 lives were lost as the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., fell under attack, alongside a doomed plane crashing in Pennsylvania. These acts of terror cast a more profound shock than those of yesteryears, echoing Addonizio's ominous reflection on the lingering fear that "there is more to know." The reverberations of that day propelled the U.S. into conflict with the Taliban, who then governed Afghanistan. This group's name, rooted in an Arabic word for "religious students," originally described insurgents who rebelled against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979–1989). Upon seizing power, they imposed stringent Islamic laws while battling the Northern Alliance, who held sway over parts of the country. Aligned with al Qaeda, they provided sanctuary to its zealous leader, Osama bin Laden, whose organization orchestrated the September 11 attacks.
The Unyielding Shadow of Terror
Even after the Taliban was deposed, its operatives remained elusive, plotting further devastation across the globe. The years following witnessed terror's dark touch in Istanbul and Casablanca (2003), Madrid (2004), and London (2005). Numerous other assaults reverberated worldwide, and though America saw no new strikes after 2001, sporadic warnings of impending attacks surfaced. These alerts heightened vigilance yet sowed seeds of vulnerability and anxiety. As Addonizio poignantly reminds us, humanity's cruelty is "endlessly apparent," a dire testament that warns of even harsher realities lurking on the horizon; her final line forebodes that "one day" humanity may face cruelty of an unprecedented scale.
Style and Technique
Unchained Rhythm: Free Verse
Free verse is poetry liberated from the shackles of structured patterns, traditional rhyme, or consistent meter. It grants poets the freedom to shape their verses in harmony with the essence of their message. This artistic liberty means the poet is not confined by rigid metrical constraints, allowing for the creation of intricate rhythms and complex syntax. Unlike blank verse—which typically adheres to the rhythmic structure of iambic pentameter, with its ten-syllable lines composed of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables—free verse prioritizes the rhythm of the poem through strategic line breaks. This form is quintessentially modern, often associated with contemporary poets like Addonizio, whose "Knowledge" eschews predictable patterns in favor of an unpredictable cadence best appreciated through the spoken word.
The Art of Line Breaks
Line breaks stand as a cornerstone of poetic expression. They...
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serve not only to endow lines with nuanced meanings but also to draw the reader's gaze to pivotal ideas, foster rhythm and rhyme, or craft a distinct visual presentation on the page. Addonizio employs line breaks with particular finesse to convey meaning and highlight ideas. For instance, the deliberate dash at the end of line 11 accentuates the subsequent list of impactful words in line 12—"solitary, poor, nasty, brutal, and short"—underscoring their significance. Moreover, the line break at the close of line 5 intensifies the impact of "even now," with the clause's resolution deferred to the following line, heightening the suspense.
Telling Tales: Narrative Poetry
Narrative poetry unfolds stories within its stanzas. Much like a short story, it often features a clear beginning, middle, and resolution. Yet, some narrative poems challenge this convention, embracing the poet's unique artistic perspective. In such narratives, structure becomes fluid. Had Addonizio opted for a straightforward recounting of a specific fearful moment, followed by an explanation of her ensuing dread for the future, the poem might have lost some of its potent impact. Instead, she opens with the disillusionment she felt upon realizing the once-trusted world had vanished. While actual events remain unspoken, the suggestion of a significant occurrence pervades the narrative. This method allows Addonizio to cast her artistic vision broadly, culminating in a foreboding prophecy of potential future calamities, rendering the piece all the more resonant with the reader.
Echoes of Meaning: Parallelism
Parallelism involves the deliberate repetition of style or words within a poem, serving to convey ideas of equal significance in a unified manner or to highlight a particular concept. Addonizio deftly uses this technique to establish her poem's tone and build tension. The initial words of line 1, "even when," find their counterpart in line 5's closing, "even now." This mirrored structure draws the reader's focus to these pivotal lines, marking them as crucial to the poem's framework. Furthermore, the repetition of "even when" at the start of line 2, and "even now" at the beginning of line 13, underscores their thematic weight, ensuring these elements resonate deeply within the reader's mind.
Adaptations
Audio Poetry Collection
- Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing (2004) emerges as an evocative audio CD that captures the essence of poetry through the voices of Addonizio and Susan Browne, enhanced by melodic tunes. This production, crafted by Dan Brown, can be acquired from Speakeasy Literary Audio.
Bibliography
Sources
Addonizio, Kim, "Knowledge," in What Is This Thing Called Love, W. W. Norton, 2004, p. 71.
Addonizio, Kim, and Jalina Mhyana, "Interview with Kim Addonizio," in Rock Salt Plum Poetry Review, Spring 2004.
Addonizio, Kim, and Leza Lowitz, "Coming Out the Other Side: Talking with Kim Addonizio," in Poetry Flash, No. 289, January-March 2002.
Addonizio, Kim, and Tod Marshall, "Kim Addonizio," in Range of the Possible: Conversations with Contemporary Poets, Eastern Washington University Press, 2002, pp. 3-15.
Booth, Wayne C, The Rhetoric of Fiction, 2d ed., University of Chicago Press, 1983, p. 97.
Karp, Jerry, "Kim Addonizio Tells Us," in the San Francisco Reader, No. 1, July 2002, available online at http://www.sanfranciscoreader.com/profiles/addonizio%20profile.html.
Logan, William, "Jumping the Shark," in New Criterion, Vol. 24, No. 4, December 2005, pp. 75-76.
Review of What Is This Thing Called Love, in Publishers Weekly, Vol. 250, No. 51, December 22, 2003, p. 54.
Scharper, Diane, Review of What Is This Thing Called Love, in Library Review, Vol. 129, No. 1, January 2004, p. 118.
Seaman, Donna, Review of What Is This Thing Called Love, in Booklist, Vol. 100, No. 8, December 15, 2003, p. 720.
Van Cleave, Ryan G., "Kim Addonizio: A Poet with Duende," in Iowa Review, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2002, p. 126.
Further Reading
Behn, Robin, The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach, Collins, 1992.
This book is ideal for anyone who wants to learn to write poetry. The book consists of a series of exercises designed to help would-be poets find their own poetic voices and begin writing.
Germin, Pamela, Sweeping Beauty: Contemporary Women Poets Do Housework, University of Iowa Press, 2005.
This appropriately titled collection focuses on what women most often do in the home: housework. Many of the poems will make readers laugh, but many more will cause readers to sit up and take notice of the exceptional women poets who have written them, turning even housework into art.
Giunta, Edvige, Writing with an Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Writers, Palgrave, 2002.
This book examines the ways in which Italian American women poets use their poetry as a way to identify and explore their Italian heritage. Although the author mentions Addonizio several times, none of her poems is discussed in depth.
Mullaney, Janet Palmer, ed., Truthtellers of the Times: Interviews with Contemporary Women Poets, University of Michigan Press, 1999.
This collection of fifteen interviews includes a broad spectrum of women's voices, with diversity of race, ethnicity, and age. Although Addonizio is not among them, the poets speak of topics that interest all women poets, such as women's stories and women's survival as writers.
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, W. W. Norton, 2004.
This book presents an unbiased, well-researched study of these terrorist attacks by a foreign entity on U.S. soil. The work is very readable, is written in easy-to-understand prose, and provides one context for understanding the fear that Addonizio mentions in her poem.
