Waring Cuney’s poem “No Images” is by most standards a short poem of only 12 lines that ironically packed with images. The reader may find him or herself at a bit of a loss upon the initial reading, but after some reflection there is a definite message that is delivered. The message being, that even the beautiful female in the poem is not able to see herself as she is and that is related to where she is.
In “No Images” Cuney states “She does not know / Her beauty,” (1-2), which seems absurd at first, but after some thought the reader realizes it is possible. There is no doubt that the female in the poem is told that she is beautiful. One is nearly certain that the persona (or speaker) in the poem would tell her that she is beautiful. The reader is left with the idea that she must be told otherwise by some other person or group of people, or she may have been treated poorly from an early age, in order to not believe she is truly beautiful. Next, Cuney offers “She thinks her Brown body / Has no glory.” (3-4) In these lines Cuney reveals that the female has a brown body. This allows the reader to see more clearly why she may not see herself as beautiful. She may be subject to discrimination or ridicule, and she may even feel being born brown is ugly.
Toward the end of the first stanza Cuney reveals more about the female in the story, “If she could dance / Naked / Under palm trees / And see her image in the river, / She would know.” (5-9) In this part of the poem the reader is likely to have images of a tropical paradise, with all the trappings of a wonderful existence and no few worries. The word Naked is emphasized by being on a separate line all alone. This provides the reader of an image of a place where the beautiful female would be free to see herself as she truly is.
In the second and final stanza the reader can finally figure out what the true theme of the poem is. Cuney ends with, “But there are no palm trees / On the street, / And dish water gives back no images.” (10-12) In the closing lines much is revealed. First the reader imagines that the female lives in the city, with mention of the street. The reader is also confronted with the idea that it is a dirty place, and the street is covered in dish water. The lack of a proper sewage system implies to the reader, either a time in the past, or a poor part of the city, possibly both.
For this reader the feeling of the poem, over all, is one of sadness, but not for the beautiful female or the persona (or speaker). The sadness is for those that have spent their energy masking the truth. The truth of “Her beauty”(2). The final image that this reader has is one of the persona and the female in a loving embrace, and they are –beautiful.
Written 10/22/2010 by Robert N. West
It's a good poem and in my educated opinion an excellent, in fact a marvelous analysis my dear lady.
ReplyDeleteonly i would say, that the "dirty dishwater" implies that she is a maid or some other servant who has to clean up after others.
ReplyDeleteI in comment I say concerned on the dishwater. We are people on different societies and also people with many views. So I say we should not judge one another based on our backgrounds. My true comment is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the true judge of that is God.
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