Keeping Things Whole byMark Strand

Keeping Things Whole
by:Mark Strand
p.381


In this poem, the end-stopped lines happen three times in the first stanza and likewise in the second stanza. This was perhaps purposely manipulated in order to have the each stanza in proportion to each other. Due to the short lines, I tended to read faster and it seemed gradual to me. The ideas seem to intertwine much faster than if it had been laid out like in a narrative sense. After the first propositions introduced, the line breaks perhaps to give that feeling of respite to the reader and letting him focus on the nakedness of the field before he enters the poem. (The field seemed naked to me because he showed no precise description of it ;thus, the reader has free reign to roam in it.)Also, there is a parallel between field and absence since both are the words that BOLD out since they are the last words of the sentence. Another line breakage after the words “this is” shows a starting point for which the reader to relax in again. The last word “missing” in the first stanza is of importance because it is where the line ends and also the last word of the stanza; thus, emphasizing that he is missing in this field The last line “I am what is missing” is significant towards the meaning of the poem. The next 2 lines in the second stanza show movement through the words “walk” and “air” which are the last chosen words in the lines. He especially wanted to point out that he does this always not several times, but always… The line “the air moves in” has an idea trapped in that line and cannot be joined with the other line such as “to fill in the spaces” because that is a different image in the readers mind. The next line “We all have reasons” stops with that word “reasons”:which makes us want to ask immediately what reasons may you be talking about? His simple answer: I move (in one separate line to emphasize his diligence in moving) to keep things whole( second line-which is the title but written slightly different-perhaps to emphasize the idea of wholeness and its constant motion.