Amir Abou-Jaoude Assignment 1

Susan Ludvigson's poem Inventing My Parents is inspired by the Edward Hopper painting Nighthawks. Hopper created Nighthawks in 1942, and around that same time, a new aesthetic was coming into use in Hollywood--film noir. The plots of films noir were recycled from old gangster or thriller pictures. The femme fatale, the laconic private detective, and the hard boiled killers had all been haunting movie houses for decades. What was new about film noir was its style. It was distinguished by high contrast, expressionistic lighting. These films took place in deserted alleys and bars, in the underbelly of society. Much of the look of film noir derives from the contrast between little pockets of light and the pervading darkness, and a theme that surrounded these films was the consequences of bringing "dark" attitudes into generally, respectable "light" places.

Certainly, a distinct feature of Nighthawks is the juxtaposition of light and dark. Inside the bar, there is bright light and three or four people. Outside, there is nothing but quiet and darkness. However, it seems that some of the darkness has crept in along with the people. There is very little movement or conversation. Everything is still.

Everything is not still in Ludvigson's poem. In fact, she goes out of her way to describe movements--the "mother's face, lit by ideas," or the "father's gestures [which are] a Frenchman's." At one point in the poem, the father "shrugs, an elaborate lift of the shoulders." According to Ludvigson, this gesture connotes that he has "an open mind." There is artificial light, but its bright light nonetheless, and even the dark night is "warm as a bath." How is Ludvigson to connect her idealized depiction of her parents to Hopper's masterpiece?

The answer is an allusion to John Donne's "The Canonization." Ludvigson quotes the first line, but reading Donne's poem, more important are the lines that come after that. The narrator of Donne's work admits that he has palsy, gout, and gray hairs. He is imperfect. He pleads with his lover to overlook these imperfections so that they can love. After a couple entendres, however, Donne moves from how the situation really is to how it should be.

Donne believes that poetry can make nearly anything romantic. If reality fails the lovers, they will "build in sonnets pretty rooms." The bumbling lovers will become canonized, like saints. Donne writes that by "these hymns, all shall approve us canonized for Love." Their incompetence will be forgotten. Instead, their eloquence and verbal wit will be imprinted upon the minds of thousands of English students around the world.

The title of Ludvigson's poem is "Inventing My Parents", and like Donne, she believes that poetry can be a transformative tool. Maybe the relationship of the narrator's parents in Ludvigson's poems matches Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. Maybe they were truly creatures of noir and night, downing a few drinks without speaking to one another. Maybe they was serious trouble in their relationship. However, Ludvigson can use her poem to glide over these imperfections, to focus on how she would like the relationship between her parents to be. She can canonize her parents, just as the narrator in Donne uses poetry to ignore the comical ineptitude of his love. Hopper's painting is very much a film noir on canvas, and Ludvigson's poem is the polar opposite--a romantic, warm depiction of love. The allusion to Donne's "The Canonization" links the two together. The allusion speaks to the power of juxtaposition and art.