Deathly Imagery
In their poem “Way out West”, Amiri Baraka uses simple diction to invoke a simple yet complex image of death.
In the first stanza, Baraka writes
“As simple an act
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as opening eyes. Merely
coming into things by degrees” (Baraka 341).
The first sentence “As simple an act / as opening eyes” (Baraka 341) is the lens I will be using to see this complex image of death.
Lines such as “Like old junkies on Sheridan Square, eyes cold and round” (Baraka 341), “shadows will creep over your flesh & hide your disorder, your lies” (Baraka 341), and “I am distressed. Thinking / of the seasons, how they pass, / how I pass, my very youth, the / ripe sweet of my life; drained off…” (Baraka 342) create this sorrowful and regretful image which the speaker seems to feel and make present throughout the poem. Words like “youth”, “life” and “shadows” helps reinforce this idea of sorrow and death.
Going back to my lens, “As simple an act / as opening eyes” (Baraka 341), if we see death and/or even sorrow as a simple act or emotion, then we, as the reader, can see that this image of shadows creeping over you, youth passing by and draining your sweet life, creates this deathly and sorrowful image which is echoed throughout the poem. This is complex because while death and sorrow are simple in that they are quick and/or sudden, how you get to these acts is complicated cause it varies from person to person in that some die young, others die old, some die of sorrow, etc. There is no one way to experience death which is what makes it complicated to understand and grasp, but in this poem, Baraka creates or writes a pretty good explanation of/way of describing death. With simple phrases and words that have deep and complex imagery and ideas to them, Baraka helps us think and feel sorrow and has us question and think about death.
Baraka, Amiri. “Way out West”. The Portable Beat Reader, edited by Ann Charters, Viking Penguin, 1992, pp. 341–342.
