Hass and Jones Poem

Hass believes that there is no accurate way to describe a tree. I found it difficult to extract the meaning behind what Hass was saying because of his use of words. Therefore, I did not get much out of this poem. However, this lack of clarity that I found is direct evidence of how sensitive words can be. They have the power to inspire and the power to confuse. Jones, on the other hand right away states that there is “no image like the image of language.” There is nothing that can compare to language because it is painted with one meaning in mind but can be interpreted in many ways. In the last portion of the poem James concludes that once you have an idea, if you let it go then you have lost it completely. The same notion applies to words; once they have been spoken they cannot be taken back.

Both of these poets perspective on making meaning of words correlate to the fact that language is a slippery vehicle. Language is essential to life because it allows for communication. The essence of language is words. However, words have multiple meanings and therefore can be taken out of context by the reader. Language is like a vehicle. We need to vehicles, or some kind of transportation to get around or else we would be stuck where we are. Or we could walk. Language allows us to communicate with each other just as vehicles give us mobility. If used properly language can help us get where we need to go. Language is a slippery vehicle because words have multiple meanings making language subject to miscommunication.