English 1B
Ted Kooser was born in the year 1939 in the town of Ames, Iowa (Baker, 2016, p.1). His poetry usually reflects regional life in America, much like the paintings of Grant Wood. He was a poet laureate, and he centered on giving life to objects and images, thereby giving special meaning to them through direct connection to things that are totally different. This is seen in his poem, entitled “Lantern”, in which he gives emphasis on human transience, particularly on the creation of the world, when the Creator bearing the light shares it to the creatures in the barn, and tries to preserve the light even beyond their existence. It reflects that humans, although they live, would also leave the earth at one point in their lives. Ted Kooser’s Lantern depicts an advanced, radical speaker talking about the way of the world in which human life is transient; yet, leaves a mark for each and every individual (Kooser 139).
In the first two lines, the speaker introduces the setting by using a metaphor to present an inanimate object, which is light. The speaker uses meticulous description in presenting this object (i.e., light) to the reader, which gives better understanding of the object or image being described. It uses meticulous description to present the setting, in which it says: “In the predawn cold and darkness, / It was only a pinch of light” (1-2). In these lines, the lantern is described as one that is minute and small, as if describing the birth of that given light. The speaker uses metaphor in these lines, comparing “predawn cold and darkness” (1) to the time when the world was born and everything started in cold and darkness.
The speakers further describes the setting in lines 3-6 when he says: “not more than a cup of warmth, / as a farmer carried it over the snow / to the barn where his dozen cows / stood stomping, heavy with milk” (3-6). Here, the speaker uses metaphor in depicting the light as something that is being shared to the world. A farmer takes it over to the snow to give warmth to the cold and dark world. In these lines, light is being depicted as hope or enlightenment by using metaphor. He refers hope or enlightenment as one that was introduced to farmers and those who were lowly, the poor and the neglected. The light may also pertain to the Light of the World or Jesus, as the Holy Bible introduces Him. It may also refer to knowledge and wisdom, or life, such that it allows the lowly to use it in their livelihood for them to survive and exist. The speaker also uses metaphor to depict the cows that are heavy with milk as a time when blessings were abundant because of the light. Yet, the light was only a cup of warmth—still minute only to cover a small barn with the animals. By using metaphor, Kooser efficiently presented an inanimate object, which is light, in order to present the state of affairs during the past, in which light was made useful by men.
In the second part of the poem, Kooser uses metaphor to present an animate object, which is the mouse. Again, he uses meticulous description in presenting the image of a mouse, which in this part, plays an important role in revealing the theme of poem. As presented in the second part of the poem, Kooser mentions the following lines: “But that was many years ago, / and his lantern has rusted, / its last fumes lost on the seasons / like the breath of those cows” (8-11). In this part, it becomes clear that the speaker is referring to the farmer as the Creator carrying the light, which he uses in his barn that stands for the earth. However, as these lines mention, those days were long gone by, and the light of the Creator has rusted and has grown old, and his Words are no longer being listened to by the people of the earth. The last fumes of His Word had disappeared like the breath of the cows, which stands for the people of the earth. Metaphor and personification are being used here to indicate that the people of old are no longer living, and the light is nowhere to be seen.
In the third part of the poem, Kooser continues his story in the poem by presenting the picture: “But at the last he thought to leave / a fresh ribbon of wick coiled up / in the chimney in case it was ever / needed again” (12-15). In this part, the speaker mentions that the farmer, which stands for the Creator, has thought of living a fresh ribbon of wick in the chimney, coiled up just in case somebody would need to have light. It uses metaphor in trying to depict how the Creator has not yet forgotten about the creatures of the barn, or of the earth, and He has left a wick, which can be used in bringing light again to the lantern. From this, it is possible that the speaker uses metaphor to pertain to the “fresh ribbon of wick” (13) as one that is being unraveled like a mysterious air of wisdom. Using metaphor, the speaker insists that although the light of the Creator has gone, the people have unraveled the mystery behind the world, and has advanced in wisdom out of what the Creator has given them long ago.
In the last part of the poem, Kooser presents an animate object, which is the mouse, by connecting it with the inanimate object, which is light. Based on the poem, it says: “And, getting prepared / for a later winter, a pregnant mouse / was able to squeeze through a vent / and unravel that wick and make / a cottony nest” (16-20). Here, a mouse preserves the usefulness of the light by making use of the lantern’s wick coiled up in the chimney. The lantern should have been forgotten but with the help of the mouse, preserves a thread of history by making use of the lantern’s wick. Here, the speaker uses metaphor to refer to the mouse as the new generation of people. However, there is to come another cold, dark winter, which is indicative of the time when the earth perishes again in darkness. At this time, the creatures of the world will use the thread of light to make shelter—to form “a cottony nest” (20), where a pinch of light is again being born to bring light to the world.
Works Cited:
Baker, David. “Ted Kooser.” The KR Conversations. Kenyon Review, n.d. Web. 3 March 2016.
Kooser, Ted. “Lantern.” The Pushcart Prize XXXVII: Best of the Small Presses. Ed. Bill Henderson. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 2013. 339. Print.
Other Sources:
Crews, James. “Splitting an Order by Ted Kooser.” The Rumpus. 2012. Web. 3 March 2016.
Walkin, Greg. “Book Review: The Life and Poetry of Ted Kooser by Mary K. Stillwell.” The Journal Star. The Lincoln Journal Star, 13 January 2014. Web. 3 March 2016.
