American Literature

Look What You Did, Christopher, is a poem that is typical of Ogden Nashs works. It does not follow many of the rules in traditional poetry.  It does not pay any attention to grammar and spelling. Instead, it creates its own brand of humor in trying push for rhymes at the expense of spelling and pronunciation.  In order to achieve that funny appeal to its readers or listeners, the poem also disregards standard vocabulary.  Nevertheless, it remains easy to understand, making a light narrative out of an otherwise heavy topic.

    The poem described in a somehow humorous way the events that followed Christopher Columbus discovered what is now known as America.  The dramatization was based on how Columbus and his men sailed west to prove that the world is round.  It was by accident that they discovered the Western Hemisphere. What occurred after this was that the discovery opened the new world to different nationalities.  The Europeans came in first, owing to the fact that the discoverers themselves were from Europe.  However, as years and centuries went by, more nationalities arrived, including those from Asia.  Hence, what is now known as USA is a melting pot of different races.  What accident Columbus caused in the past also prompted the advance of science and engineering that led into the industrialization of a once unscathed natural wonder then unknown to Europeans and Asians.  Now, in Nashs own words, the problems created by such progresses have clamped like corsets on me and you.  (Nash)  Although he pointed out the seriousness of these problems, Nash ended his poem with the premise that Americans will still overcome these.

    The speaker in the poem is an ordinary American who wants to put the blame on someone for the current day troubles in his country.  The tone of his voice in expressing his idea on Columbus accident as the main factor in history that triggered the present problems is light and filled with humor.  This only proves that the speaker, in the poets idea, is not someone who has an excellent academic background or someone who can be an authority in matters such as history. All he wants to say is that Americas social problems would not have existed had Columbus used another route in going to Cathay.  This is truly a very weak proposition but that is how an average, non-intellectual American in Nashs time would think if asked about his societys issues. 

    The poem is written in a narrative manner.   It arranges the lines and verses in a historical manner. It began by recounting the reasons why Columbus and his band of sailors left Europe.  The arrival of more people from other countries is given emphasis on the poem, allocating lines for each nationality that came.  Nash certainly did this to put more weight in the lines In a word, humanity shot the works And the country that should have been Cathay Decided to be The U.S.A.  Then he proceeded to forward his premise that population is not the only issue faced by the country.  The people made an industrial haven of what used to be a scenic natural beauty, which in Nashs words, Somebody, bored with rural scenery,

Went to work and invented machinery  From there, he continued to expound further on how this development has affected the ways Americans think, reiterating his point that all these happened because of what Columbus did.

    There is nothing in the poem that indicates a specific time.  However, by the description that the poet provides to emphasize on the progress that the US has achieved, it can be said that it was written at a time when consumerism has greatly shaped society.  With the obvious mood and the emphasis, it is clear that the speaker wishes to express his views on current American societys woes.  Although it lacks analytical sharpness, as seen in the way it concludes that Columbus shares the big part of the blame, its description of such problem makes it easy for the reader or listener to understand the message.  Therefore, its lack of depth encourages the audience to make their own analysis and conclusions.

    The poem is written in a very unique style, typical of Ogden Nash though.  It cannot strictly fall under any poetry form. However, it does appear to have some lines arranged in a manner of a sonnet.  Sonnets use iambic pentameter. (Fussel)  However, the poem does not have even lengths.  Some are longer than the others are although they do end up with rhymes.  Because of this, it is difficult to consider the poem to be under the standard meter in poetry.  This makes the poem unconventional because it does not comply with the traditional structure in poetry.

    In the strictest sense, there is no formal use of rhetoric in the poem.  To stress on its key points, it uses humor and irony.  Nevertheless, it is still able to achieve its objective just like the way rhetoric would.  There was not so much use of symbolisms and other literary devices but it still attained the desired effects of its message by simply using humor.

    The poem contains creative use of alliterations and rhymes.  For example, alliterations can be seen in the lines The Letts, the Lapps, and the Lithuanians
Regal Russians, and ripe Roumanians and The Tartars came And the Terrible Turks.  The former, however, obviously includes rhymes.  Another factor that makes the poem appealing to the listener is its unconstrained use of funny changes in the words pronunciations just to force the rhyme, such as These, with many another phobia We owe to that famous Twelfth of Octobia.

    The syntax of the poem is quite simple.  The construction of its lines and verses are far from complex. In fact, it can be considered conversational already if only it does not have the poetic elements of rhyme and metered verses.  The syntax is not convoluted at all. This certainly provides the audience an idea of a the speakers average background, one who does not even take his poetry seriously but still delivers it in an effective manner.

    The vocabulary used is plain and direct. Nowhere in the poem is a highfalutin word used for another. However, there are instances when metaphorical terms are substituted for some common ones.  Examples of these in the poem are Hades instead of hell and jocose to characterize good humor. These substitutions are necessary to create the rhyme Hades with ladies and jocose with dose.
    Unlike most traditional poems, this does not have a consistent sound. There is no pattern in the entire poem.  However, some uniformity may be seen in a few successive lines such as To view American rivers and rills  And justly famous forests and hills  But someone equally enterprising Had invented billboard advertising.  However, the succeeding lines will already have different sound patterns and meter. 

    The poem, however, obviously has a visual pattern.  When it tries to present an idea, it sticks to a certain style of mentioning details or examples for emphasis.  It does the same all throughout the poem.  For example, when it wants to point out who made the USA a country, he pointed out many nationalities that came after the Columbus delivery.  When it also wants to describe what level of development the country has achieved, it mentioned every new thing introduced, from platinum blondes to vice crusaders.  Again, this simplified the poem further.  However, because of rhymes and alliterations, it is able to maintain its aesthetic appeal for the modern audience. 

    Similar to most of Nashs poems, Look What You Did, Columbus has a consistent rhythm and meter.  In fact, the poem has a very lyrical quality because of this consistency.  To achieve this, the speaker or the author actually clips words or introduces new vocabulary just to fit the verses to the desired rhythm and meter. For an instance, probably was cut to probly.  Despite this, the audience or reader still finds it easy to comprehend with what is meant because of the lines simplicity.

    While this poem by Ogden Nash breaks many of poetrys conventions, its adherence to rhythm and meter remains factors why it can still be considered as a poetic work worthy of recognition.  This poem is indeed a proof that poetry has evolved into something less structured and more informal.