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The Peculiar Use Of Punctuation In A.R. Ammons' "So I Said I Am Ezra", Malek Zuraikat, Faisal Rawashdeh

Association of Arab Universities Journal for Arts مجلة اتحاد الجامعات العربية للآداب

In his poem "So I Said I am Ezra," A.R. Ammons employs a peculiar nopunctuation strategy to represent his speaker's unique terms of association with the natural elements. This kind of punctuation marks, we argue, allows for two opposed, yet interdependent, interpretations of the poem. While the one interpretation underscores the speaker's progressive but eventual isolation from Nature, the other explains his growing sense of belonging and resulting mutuality. We trace this ambivalent attitude to Nature in the poem's appropriation of the Romantic mode of poetic meditation and showcase how a twofold standpoint for thematic interpretation can be yielded by …