What He Thought

What He Thought

By Heather McHugh

for Fabio Doplicher

We were supposed to do a job in Italy
and, full of our feeling for
ourselves (our sense of being
Poets from America) we went
from Rome to Fano, met
the mayor, mulled
a couple matters over (what’s
a cheap date, they asked us; what’s
flat drink). Among Italian literati

we could recognize our counterparts:
the academic, the apologist,
the arrogant, the amorous,
the brazen and the glib—and there was one

administrator (the conservative), in suit
of regulation gray, who like a good tour guide
with measured pace and uninflected tone narrated
sights and histories the hired van hauled us past.
Of all, he was the most politic and least poetic,
so it seemed. Our last few days in Rome
(when all but three of the New World Bards had flown)
I found a book of poems this
unprepossessing one had written: it was there
in the pensione room (a room he’d recommended)
where it must have been abandoned by
the German visitor (was there a bus of them?)
to whom he had inscribed and dated it a month before.
I couldn’t read Italian, either, so I put the book
back into the wardrobe’s dark. We last Americans

were due to leave tomorrow. For our parting evening then
our host chose something in a family restaurant, and there
we sat and chatted, sat and chewed,
till, sensible it was our last
big chance to be poetic, make
our mark, one of us asked
“What’s poetry?”
Is it the fruits and vegetables and
marketplace of Campo dei Fiori, or
the statue there?” Because I was

the glib one, I identified the answer
instantly, I didn’t have to think—”The truth
is both, it’s both,” I blurted out. But that
was easy. That was easiest to say. What followed
taught me something about difficulty,
for our underestimated host spoke out,
all of a sudden, with a rising passion, and he said:

The statue represents Giordano Bruno,
brought to be burned in the public square
because of his offense against
authority, which is to say
the Church. His crime was his belief
the universe does not revolve around
the human being: God is no
fixed point or central government, but rather is
poured in waves through all things. All things
move. “If God is not the soul itself, He is
the soul of the soul of the world.” Such was
his heresy. The day they brought him
forth to die, they feared he might
incite the crowd (the man was famous
for his eloquence). And so his captors
placed upon his face
an iron mask, in which

he could not speak. That’s
how they burned him. That is how
he died: without a word, in front
of everyone.
And poetry—
(we’d all
put down our forks by now, to listen to
the man in gray; he went on
softly)—
poetry is what

he thought, but did not say.

Summary of What He Thought

• Popularity of “What He Thought”: “What He Thought” by Heather McHugh, an American poet, is a beautiful piece of poetry. The poem first appeared in 1994 in his collection, Hinge and Sign. It recounts the story of Giordano Bruno, the supposed anti-Church philosopher who was burned with an iron mask on his face. The conclusion, however, is that it is poetry that a poet thinks and is unable to say or does not say. The popularity of the poem lies in its narrative of a writer’s workshop held in Italy that McHugh attended as a poet.
• “What He Thought” As a Representative of Freedom of Expression in Poetry: The poet opens the poem “What He Thought” after attributing it to an Italian poet and critic Fabio Doplicher. He states that he was with many of the American poets who went to Italy and visited Rome and Fano. They met many people, including the mayor with whom they discussed everything. They also met the literary people of Italy and held polemics with them. However, what surprised them was an administrator, a man with a calculated voice, measured tone, and neatly fitted attire. He discussed politics, history, and sights with the people.
  However, he did not seem to them a literary person. After living in Rome for a few days, others left the author with his three friends after which he found a beautiful poetry book. He came to know that some German visitor who could not read it, has left it in the wardrobe. When the next day, they were going to depart the restaurant, the host came to bid them goodbye when they chatted for a while and talked about poetry at which they talked about the statue.
  The host told them about Campo dei Fiori and his statue and his story of how he was killed with an iron mask on his mouth due to his eloquence and his different views. He used to berate the government, the religious authorities as well as the religious deity, he tells them. The host, then, told them that the government masked his face with an iron mask to make him stop speaking. This is the poetry that he could not say but only thought.
• Major Themes in “What He Thought”: Poetry, freedom of expression, and story writing and narrating or three major themes of this poem. The poet clearly states that the main objective of their visit to different Italian cities was to discuss poetic talent. However, they discussed everything as they had had freedom of expression but left poetry out of this. Contrarily, the person, their host, not supposed to talk about poetry, told them by the end when telling about Campo dei Fiori that poetry is what stays in the thinking and that does not come out in words. This also shows them how to tell an unforgiving story.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “What He Thought”

literary devices make poetic or prose writing beautiful and readable. The analysis of these devices in the poem as given below shows it.

1. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /o/ in “We were supposed to do a job in Italy”, /a/ and /e/ in “Of all, he was the most politics and least poetic” and the sound of /e/ in “when all but three of the New World Bards had flown.”
2. Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the successive words such as the sound of /w/ in “We were”, of /h/ in “he had” and /b/ in “be burned.”
3. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /w/ and /s/ in “We were supposed to do a job in Italy”, /h/ and /d/ in “to whom he had inscribed and dated it a month before,” and the sound of /f/ and /l/ in “and, full of our feeling for.”
4. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

he could not speak. That’s
how they burned him. That is how
he died: without a word, in front
of everyone.

5. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The poem shows the use of imagery such as “the universe does not revolve around”, “They day they brought him / forth to die” and “put down our forks by now, to listen to / the man in gray; he went softly.”
6. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poem shows the use of poetry as a metaphor for some ideas after comparing it with vegetables and fruits.
7. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of symbols of fruits and vegetables to point out the serious topics of poetry.

 Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “What He Thought”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Diction and Tone: The poem shows figurative language and very simple diction. Its tone, however, is exciting and thoughtful.
2. Free Verse: The poem does not follow any metrical pattern or rhyme scheme. Therefore, it is a free verse poem.
3. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are nine stanzas with a different number of verses as well as short lines.

Quotes to be Used

These lines from “What He Thought” are relevant to use when discussing poetry.

And poetry—
(we’d all
put down our forks by now, to listen to
the man in gray; he went on
softly)—
poetry is what
he thought, but did not say.