A Close Reading of
"In a forest of..." from
Charles
Simic's
The World Doesn't End
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| I’ve always liked the idea of
language becoming tangible, when symbols shed their
abstraction and become solid, physical. I’ve wanted
to eat words since I read The Phantom Tollbooth as
a child… "In a forest of…" creates a world composed of and inhabited by typographical characters. I can only conceive of ‘type’ within the confines of its relation to the printing, to its visual image. Maybe it’s simpler to say that in order to comprehend this impossible world, I have to imagine the drama unfolding on the back pages of some forgotten book. This becomes a weirdly circular experience, as the poem I’m reading is, at the barest level, typographical arrangement on a page. It makes me wonder what fantastic worlds populate the book just beyond my vision. A forest of - a forest makes for a frightening setting. Dark and unknown, you often have the feeling that you’re being watched. Their shadowy confines and immense heights can disguise any number of invisible horrors. Curious adventurers are confounded by the labrynthian trails for the woods were designed to disorient. An explorer who enters faces the danger that they may never find their way out. Some unfortunates who reach the very blackest regions are devoured by the monsters and witches that live there. While it is tremendously dangerous, the forest is a grand natural cathedral; it’s a humbling example of the majestic and the beautiful in nature. question marks – typographical symbol of the unknown. A forest of question marks is a place where you feel lost and unsure. The question mark also suggests a healthy curiosity, a desire to know more. When children embark on journeys of discovery and imagination, they are entering forests of question marks. you were no bigger than – reinforces the possibility of a child or childish subject. The image of a child in perilous danger thematically echoed in several of Simic’s poems. an asterisk – an omission, a stand-in for something else. Asterisks are star-shaped. An asterisk in a forest of question marks is a noticeable "other" that doesn’t seem to belong there. This could be a negative situation (they are lost, powerless, alone) or an extremely positive one (great personal power, defiant, confident, transcendental). O – archaically poetic and contrasts with Simic’s frequent colloquialisms. O! often used as direct address to God in prayer and gospel. A capital O is also a wide-open eye. Vision/eyes are ubiquitous themes in most of the poems in TWDE and are given special treatment in this particular poem. Could abbreviate October, as in "October, the season of mists!" the season of mists – mist as obscuring vision. Suggests that the forest is most likely a place that you’re lost in. Mist can be a kind of camouflage that hides true intentions, a form of deception. Like the mist in Coraline, may be attendant to something unformed, unknown, or unimagined. See question marks. Mists used in the infrequent plural form, there may be several different elements at work here. Someone blew the hunting horn – further hints that this forest may be a dangerous place. Maybe our little asterisk is being pursued. By who? Who knows? Someone, maybe everyone. Eerie paranoia from an unseen oppressor. The dictionary said – in a world of typography, a dictionary is the ultimate authority on the nature of life. If the author is the Creator, the dictionary is the holy text. When lost in a forest of question marks, a dictionary could be your redemption. It ostensibly should answer big questions: why am I here? What’s my purpose? The dictionary as bible is both the good word and the last word. It is taken to be Absolute Truth. you were a sign indicating an omission – the little asterisk is being defined as a surrogate, a replacement. It is only because something else is not. Asterisks are sometimes used to censor, to hide meaning and truth. then it changed the subject abruptly – changing a subject abruptly is usually a method used to steer the conversation away from an uncomfortable topic. This is the first hint that the dictionary may not be infallible or wholly honest. and spoke of "asterisms", which supposedly have to do with crystals showing a starlike luminous figure – the "supposedly" in this line continues the theme of the author’s skepticism of the source. Typographical asterisms are three asterisks used to draw attention to following text. They’re a mark indicating that something important is approaching. They are opposed to obscurity and deception; their purpose is to disambiguate. Astronomical asterisms are star clusters ranked just under constellations. TWDE repeatedly references astrology and astronomy throughout the poems. Geological asterisms are, as the poem says, the "star" caused by light refracted through a stone or crystal. The star of these asterisms is, of course, a deception of the eyes, an optical illusion. Stars have overwhelmingly positive, even divine, connotations. Stars illuminate, they navigate the lost, they watch over the earth. Stars are gods: a great star led the faithful to the nativity. The many wondrous associations of stars lend an air of glory and power to our previously humble asterisk hero. You didn’t believe a word of it – because the common paradigm is false. The asterisk (the little star) is defying conventional ignorance and malicious deception. The question marks had valentines carved on their trunks so you wouldn’t look up and notice the ropes – the question marks offer sweet and hollow images of an asinine pleasance and empty love. If you avert your eyes from their standardized sentimentality, you discover the awful truth of their falsehood. This is the final, deadly deception. Greasy ropes with baby nooses – one definition of greasy is ‘effusively polite in a way that is felt to be insincere and repulsive.’ Using valentines as a subterfuge to hide the fatal ropes is a greasy trick. "Baby nooses" makes a horrifying image. Nooses for executing infants? Reminiscent of Simic’s many instances of children in mortal danger. Remember too, the suggestion that the poem’s subject is "no bigger than an asterisk." Juxtaposing baby and noose also reminds us of the forest’s predilection for disguising horrors behind innocuous artifice. It’s nothing to be scared of, they’re just baby nooses… In reviewing the above breakdown, I feel I should try to tie together these admittedly disjointed and confused ideas into an overall response with a bit more internal coherence. As I read, reread, and write about the poem, I keep coming back to the image of a defiant asterisk daring to challenge hegemonic structure in order to obtain the Truth. It is lost in a forest of question marks because it is surrounded by socialized ignorance, half blind eyes that refuse to see. It is also, by its pursuit of knowledge, destined to be the eternal interrogator, questioning the most fundamental assumptions of the world. Ultimately, its transcendental deliverance must also lead to its fate. A social outcast, the heretic must suffer a life of ceaseless persecution before the inevitable auto-da-fé. Galileo, Joan of Arc, Jesus, Rimbaud, and Dr. King were all brave little asterisks before the greasy rope found them. |