Contrasting the Natural and Mechanical Worlds in Hathaways Oh, Oh Essa

Contrasting the Natural and Mechanical Worlds in Hathaways Oh, Oh The French poet and litterateur Louis Aragon, in his Paris Peasant, wrote that light is meaningful only in comparison to darkness, and truth presupposes error--we only exist in terms of this conflict, in the partition where black and white clash (Aragon 18). Aragon noted that the human being is full of contrasts, and it is through those contrasts that we live and conceive who we be and why we are here. Without an understanding of light, Aragon argues, we cannot understand what darkness really is. Or, without an awareness as to the concept of truth, one cannot by chance error, for the act cannot be defined. In William Hathaways numbers Oh, Oh, the poet uses language, word choices, images, onamatopoeic descriptions, and even the cognomen of the poem to define the intrusion of the mechanical harshness of the world into the unworried land of nature. The images, content, and focus of the poem change with the i ntrusion of the modernize. Before the protagonists lady friend notices the train, the cardinal characters are concerned with the cows, grass, and simply ambling down a boorish lane. But, as soon as the train approaches, and as it passes, the characters are no longer concerned with nature. Rather, they suddenly begin dreaming of being prexy (11) and of wonderful, faraway places (14). This switch from the serenity of nature to the dreams of the world finally ends with the poems dwell line -- a punishment or at least a warning. The tranquil and peaceful nature suddenly becomes filled with fifty Hells Angels (17). But, more than simply motorcycles waiting at a railroad crossing, Hathaway has personified the motorcycles creating the mechanical Hell... ...orld where two universes are defined through their contrast. Through his world choices, images, and even his title, we are transported to a picturesque country landscape with moo cows chew daisies (2) and maple dappled summer sun light (7). Standing at a staring(a) contrast to this land is the lit headlight (8) of a passing train and growling ... Hells Angels (17). Hathaway, through his firm grip of language, has recorded a poem that, through contrasts, gives us an understanding of both the natural and mechanical world in an attempt to show us how we can look / eagerly to the road ahead (16-17). Works Cited Aragon, Louis. Paris Peasant. Oxford Oxford UP, 1926. Hathaway, William. Oh, Oh. The Bedford Introduction to Literature Leading, Thinking, and Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. quaternate ed. Boston Bedford, 1996. 593-94.