Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Ars Poetica: A Stone Soup" by Norman Dubie is an inventive and allegorical exploration of the poetic process, using the metaphor of stone soup—a folk tale about making soup from a stone to teach about sharing—to delve into the nature of creativity and community in poetry. Dubie blends the philosophical with the culinary to illustrate the essence of poetic creation, which, much like the making of stone soup, involves transforming simple elements into something nourishing and greater than the sum of its parts.

The poem opens with a vivid image: "the obese three-quarters moon of Aquinas obsessed with the burning crescent that will, within days, complete it!" This introduction sets a tone of completion and cyclical fulfillment, suggesting that poetry, like the moon, is ever-evolving and becoming whole. The reference to Aquinas introduces a philosophical depth, implying that poetry, too, wrestles with large, existential questions, striving to encapsulate and illuminate them.

Dubie then introduces the central metaphor of the stone soup. The "very confidence of stone soup offered, in a gentlemanly contract, to the dead farmer's wife" suggests an act of faith and generosity, themes central to the act of poetic creation. Poetry is presented as an offering, a gift that requires acceptance and participation to realize its full potential.

The ingredients of the soup—leeks, venison, potato, beans, spices, and cream—are listed with precision, reflecting the careful selection of words and images in a poem. However, it is the "beggar's alchemical contribution of the worn limestone weight" that is pivotal, transforming the ordinary broth into something magical and sustaining. This stone, bearing "something of the salts of a long-dead sea," symbolizes the poet's unique contribution: the ability to infuse the mundane with profound, historical, and elemental significance, thereby enriching the communal pot.

Dubie cleverly addresses the reception of poetry through the guests' reactions to the soup. Some leave "pleased with the wisdom and generosity of the widow," appreciating the communal and enriching nature of the poetic exchange. Others feel "cheated," unable to see beyond the material components or the absence of expected elements (like carrots), symbolizing readers who miss the deeper essence of a poem, focusing instead on what they perceive as missing or inadequate.

To underscore this point, Dubie references his friend and fellow poet, Marvin Bell, who said, "Every poem is an ars poetica." This quote serves as a reminder that all poems are self-referential to some degree, each one a statement about its own making and an embodiment of the poetic principle that creation is inherent in every act of poetry.

"Ars Poetica: A Stone Soup" is thus a layered reflection on poetry itself. It suggests that poetry, like stone soup, is a communal creation that relies on the alchemical transformation of simple elements into a complex whole. It is a celebration of the poetic process as one of communal sharing and transformation, where the poet’s role is to enrich the communal cultural broth, and where the ultimate creation is greater than its parts, resonant with the depths of shared human experience.

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