Get the Gasworks
Get the Gasworks is a poem by David Ignatow. It is about the areas of industrial America and the life around them. In Get the Gasworks, Ignatow shows that he doesn’t believe poetry should be solely about beauty, but it should be based on reality.
The title of the poem uses the word gasworks. Gasworks are the areas around industrial areas. His use of the word gasworks gives the reader a picture of a dirty area. That was his goal because he is showing the reality of the area and not just the beautiful areas. Before you even read the poem he puts an image of a filthy area in your head.
Line two reads, “and you’ve got the smoke and smokestacks, (2).†He uses smoke and smokestacks to cast an image of smog and a dark sky with pollution coming from these smoky towers. It makes the reader think that no one would ever want to visit an area like this and that there is a lot of sickness. The smoke and smokestacks he writes of seem to cloud over the whole area with darkness.
The next image Ignatow shows is “ and mottled red and yellow tenements, (3)†This image makes the housing in the area seem shabby and gross. He uses the word the word mottled which means splotched or blotted with different shades of colors. This word casts a powerful image on the houses in the area. It makes the housing seem like it has bad paint jobs that are peeling up and have places where the colors don’t necessarily match. The word makes me think that the smoke and pollution in the area may of had something to do with the houses shabby appearance. He also uses the word tenement to describe the houses. His using of the word tenements display the houses as rundown. A tenement is usually used to describe a house that is low rent and somewhat dilapidated. This line shows that the area is far from beauty and that the people are by no means wealthy. The next lines demonstrate how the children of the area speak. Ignatow writes, “grimy kids
The title of the poem uses the word gasworks. Gasworks are the areas around industrial areas. His use of the word gasworks gives the reader a picture of a dirty area. That was his goal because he is showing the reality of the area and not just the beautiful areas. Before you even read the poem he puts an image of a filthy area in your head.
Line two reads, “and you’ve got the smoke and smokestacks, (2).†He uses smoke and smokestacks to cast an image of smog and a dark sky with pollution coming from these smoky towers. It makes the reader think that no one would ever want to visit an area like this and that there is a lot of sickness. The smoke and smokestacks he writes of seem to cloud over the whole area with darkness.
The next image Ignatow shows is “ and mottled red and yellow tenements, (3)†This image makes the housing in the area seem shabby and gross. He uses the word the word mottled which means splotched or blotted with different shades of colors. This word casts a powerful image on the houses in the area. It makes the housing seem like it has bad paint jobs that are peeling up and have places where the colors don’t necessarily match. The word makes me think that the smoke and pollution in the area may of had something to do with the houses shabby appearance. He also uses the word tenement to describe the houses. His using of the word tenements display the houses as rundown. A tenement is usually used to describe a house that is low rent and somewhat dilapidated. This line shows that the area is far from beauty and that the people are by no means wealthy. The next lines demonstrate how the children of the area speak. Ignatow writes, “grimy kids