Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charles Olson’s "Put Him This Way" is a dense and evocative exploration of identity, rebellion, and the forging of selfhood through both familial constraints and external resonance. The poem uses the metaphor of an arrow striking iron to encapsulate the life and essence of the figure at its center, likely the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Through this lens, Olson investigates the interplay between personal defiance, cultural influence, and the inescapable impact of formative relationships.

The metaphor of the "red-hot arrow" is central to the poem’s depiction of the individual—fiery, driven, and inherently directed toward a target. However, this arrow is "bound in the family like an iron ring," suggesting a tension between inner potential and external limitations. The familial constraints, symbolized by the iron ring, evoke a sense of imprisonment or stasis, where the force of the individual’s trajectory is absorbed and repelled rather than allowed to achieve full outward expression. Olson frames this familial dynamic as one defined by absence: "there was no more a father present than there was in the case of Christ." The absence of paternal authority creates a vacuum, leaving the individual to wrestle with both the limitations and influences of family, much like Christ navigated his relationship with a divine, intangible father.

The world outside the family ring, described as "the world" or "all that (?ithyphallique?)," introduces another layer of tension. The use of the term "ithyphallique," referring to erect phallic imagery, suggests a world charged with vitality, desire, and aggression. This external reality, in its wild and unrestrained nature, is positioned in opposition to the static and restrictive familial sphere. The world’s "outrage" resonates with the arrow’s own intensity, creating a dynamic interplay between internal drive and external chaos.

Olson identifies two key movements that define the arrow’s journey. The first is its striking and rebounding against the iron ring, representing the repeated clashes between individual ambition and familial or societal constraints. The arrow "does not go out, it cannot," indicating that the individual’s drive remains contained, unable to escape its cyclical confrontation with the boundaries imposed by its origins. This confinement generates a powerful resonance, through which "the world…came in." Here, Olson suggests that the energy of the world, with its influences and forces, is absorbed through the arrow’s frustrated momentum, shaping the individual in profound and often destructive ways. This absorption includes elements as vast and diverse as "Africa" and "money-making," highlighting the broad, almost universal scope of the external forces that imprint themselves on the individual.

The second movement, which Olson emphasizes as the more significant, is one of piercing rather than striking: "Not by impulse but by repulse he totally pierced childhood." This suggests that the figure in question, Rimbaud, achieves a kind of radical self-realization not through straightforward action or outward rebellion but through the sustained, painful process of grappling with resistance. The notion of "piercing childhood" carries dual connotations: the destruction of innocence and the penetration of formative experiences to their core. Rimbaud’s poetic and existential insights arise from this process of repulsion, where the energy redirected inward burns away illusions, revealing a raw and unvarnished reality.

Olson’s treatment of Rimbaud’s return to his mother and sister with a "gangrenous leg" further deepens the poem’s meditation on the cost of such radical self-exploration. The gangrenous leg becomes a physical manifestation of the damage incurred through repeated friction—"as though it were from rubbing too long on iron." This image encapsulates the toll of internal conflict and external engagement, where the intensity of the individual’s drive erodes the very body that carries it. The return to the familial sphere, laden with physical decay, suggests a tragic reconciliation between the individual and their origins, one marked by irreparable loss.

Structurally, the poem mirrors its thematic content through its fragmented and elliptical style. Olson’s use of enjambment and abrupt shifts in focus creates a sense of instability and tension, reflecting the restless energy of the "red-hot arrow" and its inability to escape its confines. The poem’s rhythm, with its sharp breaks and resonances, evokes the repetitive striking and rebounding of the arrow against the iron ring. Olson’s language is simultaneously precise and abstract, demanding that the reader engage actively with the interplay of imagery and allusion.

"Put Him This Way" ultimately stands as a meditation on the cost of radical individuality and the forces that shape it. By drawing on Rimbaud’s life and work, Olson situates the poem within a broader exploration of artistic and existential struggle. The arrow’s journey, marked by resistance, resonance, and eventual decay, captures the paradox of selfhood: the simultaneous need to break free from and remain bound to the forces that define us. Olson’s invocation of mythic and historical dimensions, from Christ to Rimbaud, elevates this personal and poetic struggle to the level of universal human experience, offering a compelling reflection on the nature of identity, creation, and endurance.

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