Of course, the reader must remember that the president was only around twenty years old when he composed both “Underground” and “Pop,” his versifications that are floating about the Internet.
Problematic Title
The title, “Underground,” signals location under the earth. But it might also be functioning metaphorically signaling something not open to public scrutiny or awareness, for example, a secret network organization like the Underground Railroad. It will be realized that no such meaning can be discerned from this verse, however.
The first line, “Under water grottos, caverns,” reveals that the location and setting for the event is not actually “underground”; it is underwater, “Under water grottos, caverns.” The preferred spelling for the plural of “grotto” is “grottoes,” but that is a minor issue compared to the repetition of the similar terms, grotto and cavern. There is a difference in the denotative meanings of those two terms: grotto can be man-made and decorative while cavern is natural.
The speaker confuses the reader immediately by giving those two terms, which because of their differing denotative meanings imply different connotations. Is the cave decorated by humans or not?
“Filled with apes”
The reader then is accosted with the fact that those underwater caves, which may be decorated or not, are filled with land-dwelling, air-breathing mammals. Thus, the piece becomes a fantasy verse or does it? The reader suspends belief and continues, learning that those animals, “apes,” eat figs. This fact is nothing extraordinary; apes love fruit, but why the versifier chooses “figs” remains a mystery.
Who Steps on the Figs?
The speaker reports, “Stepping on the figs / That the apes / Eat, they crunch.” This misplaced modifier muddles the message: who is stepping on the figs? It would seem that the ages do, because no one else with feet is placed in the grotto, other than the apes. But the subject of the clause “they crunch” is the figs. The figs surely are not stepping on themselves.
“The apes howl, bare”
Apparently, that crunch sound excites the apes so much that they begin to “howl” and “bare their fangs” as they “dance.” The only motivation for this ape-dance is that someone stepped on figs and made them crunch. Are the apes angry or gladdened by the crunching of their figs?
“Tumble in the”
A sure sign of an amateur poet is the line that ends with “the”: “Tumble in the / Rushing water.” The distraction of this awkward enjambment interferes with the catalogue of activity performed by the apes after having their figs stepped on.
But returning to the apes, the reader summarizes that they “howl, bare / Their fangs, dance, / Tumble in the / Rushing water.” They do all of this while their “Musty, wet pelts / [are] Glistening in the blue.” It is not clear to what “blue” refers—it could be the water, but the scant amount of light peeping into the underwater cave could afford only enough to allow the water to appear black.
Commentary
This versification fails on three important levels: misuse of grammar/diction, awkward enjambment, lack of meaning. While the apes are charming and endearing with their figs and their musty pelts, the reader leaves them sadly wondering what they might have conveyed through the hand of a genuine poet.
Sources:
- Barack Obama, "Underground," Library of Congress, Presidents as Poets.
- Linda Sue Grimes, "Tools for Poetry Commentary," Suite101.com.
Linda Sue Grimes - As a writer, researcher, and SRF devotee, Linda Sue Grimes has studied poetry and practiced Kriya Yoga for over thirty years..
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