Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota

"Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota" is a poem by American poet James Wright. It is one of his best known poems, partially because of the tonal contrast between the content of the poem and its final line.

History

The poem was first published in The Paris Review.[1] It was later featured in a short story by Ann Beattie also published in The Paris Review.[1] The poem was included in Wright's collection This Branch Will Not Break.

Content

The poem is a description of a pastoral scene from the perspective of a person in a hammock.

Final line

Much of the critical attention focused on the poem has concerned the last line. Dan Piepenbring, writing for The Paris Review, summarized the criticism in a 2010 article:

Since [the poem's publication], that last line has inspired reams of analysis and debate—is it a lament? Is it a joke, a kind of boast? Did Wright intend to undercut or to bolster his pastoral scene with it? Could it be a winking response to Rilke, whose “Archaic Torso of Apollo” concludes with the imperative “You must change your life”?[1]

Thom Gunn, in 1964, dismissed the line as "...certainly meaningless. The more one searches for an explicit meaning in it, the vaguer it becomes. Other general statements of different import could well be substituted for it and the poem would neither gain nor lose strength."[2] Robert Bly, a friend of Wright, wrote in defense of the line a year later, and criticized Gunn for being unable to relate to the emotion expressed by the line.[3][1]

David Mitchell has said that the line is a happy one, writing: "...I hear him exhale it with a wry laugh".

The line is discussed in Ann Beattie's short story "Yancey".

Influences

Wright acknowledged that he was influenced by Chinese poetry in writing "Lying in a Hammock..." in an interview with Dave Smith.[4] This influence has been discussed by academics including Sven Birkerts.[5]

Reception

The poem has been widely anthologized.[6] It is one of David Mitchell's favorite pieces of writing.[7]

References
  1. Piepenbring, Dan (23 June 2015). "I Have Wasted My Life". The Paris Review. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  2. Gunn, Thom (1964). "Modes of Control". The Yale Review.
  3. Bly, Robert (1966). "The Work of James Wright". The Sixties (8).
  4. Smith, Dave (1980). "James Wright: The Pure, Clear Word, an Interview". American Poetry Review. University of Illinois Press: 29.
  5. Birkerts, Sven (1984). "James Wright's ``Hammock: A Sounding". The Agni Review. Agni (21): 121–135.
  6. Temple, Emily (24 July 2017). "The Most Anthologized Poems of the Last 25 Years". LitHub. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  7. Fassler, Joe (23 September 2014). "David Mitchell on How to Write: "Neglect Everything Else"". The Atlantic. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
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