Yesterday was Richard Wilbur's birthday, his 88th, God bless him. On the phone he reminded me of how strongly he feels about riddles as a legitimate poetic form.
Dick provided a bunch of them in a great talk he gave at the Library of Congress when he was Poet Laureate twenty-one years ago.
I propose to post some of them on the blog with thanks to the gracious Mr. Wilbur.
Ok, here's today's -- a "great two-line enigma," as Dick says:
I tremble at each breath of air,
And yet can heaviest burdens bear.
-- DL
An oak tree?
Posted by: Laura Orem | March 02, 2009 at 03:04 PM
A suspension bridge?
Posted by: Dan Brady | March 02, 2009 at 03:21 PM
The ocean?
Posted by: jsc | March 03, 2009 at 07:42 AM
No, no, not an oak tree - David Lehman!
Posted by: Laura Orem | March 03, 2009 at 08:24 AM
Several of these are great answers, but "ocean" is the one that comes nearest to the correct solution, which is "water." Richard Wilbur explains: "A fruit tree, its leaves fluttering and its boughs heavy with apples or pears, could be the answer. . . But if we are lucky, we see at last in a flash that the optimum answer is 'water,' whose surface trembles at each breath of air and which can bear the burden of the heaviest ships."
Posted by: DL | March 03, 2009 at 12:01 PM