I Keep to Myself Such Measures . . . by Robert Creeley
"I Keep to Myself Such Measures" by Robert Creeley explores the intricate relationship between language, perception, and the physical world. The poem emphasizes how language can shape and distort our experiences, suggesting that what we think often makes our perceptions less tangible. Creeley uses the image of accumulating rocks to symbolize the layering of experiences, while simultaneously acknowledging that these markers are inadequate as fixed points in a constantly changing reality. The poet grapples with the uncertainty inherent in existence, highlighting that the mind cannot return to a previous state and that traditional measures of understanding may be insufficient. Through vivid imagery and introspective musings, Creeley’s work reflects a deep engagement with the complexities of thought and language as they relate to the personal realm. Ultimately, "I Keep to Myself Such Measures" presents a delicate balance between the weight of experience and the fluidity of perception, inviting readers to contemplate their own processes of understanding in a transient world.
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I Keep to Myself Such Measures . . . by Robert Creeley
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1967 (collected in The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1945-1975, 1982)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
The nature of language and its relationship to the physical world and the individual self (“speech is a mouth,” Creeley exclaims with audacity in “The Language”) is the subject of the poem “I Keep to Myself Such Measures.” The title, which is completed in the second line by the very personal “ . . . as I care for,” is an expression of the poet’s interest in dimensions both in his art and in his daily life.
The completing line of the first stanza, “daily the rocks/ accumulate position,” uses a concrete object to stand for the accretion of experience, but then, in a dramatic reversal, Creeley qualifies the particularity of the rocks by observing, “There is nothing/ but what thinking makes/ it less tangible,” expressing one of his most basic principles: the concern that language is nebulous and that the thought it renders can never be precise or final. Nevertheless, a position is established through the direction ordered by experience, even though that position is never so solid that it cannot be shaken.
The consequence of Creeley’s perception that “thinking makes/ it less tangible” compromises sanity itself, leading to uncertainty as a principle of existence:
The mind
The “simple markers” to which Creeley refers are the mental coordinates that prove unsatisfactory as permanent guidelines because of the motion—external and internal—that is the source of change in every form of life. The realization that the mind “cannot” come back to a previous position is the burden and fascination of the entire process of perception.
Creeley’s attempts to deal with this transitory universe are the focus of his measuring; his creation of the measures in his poems is a figure for a method of seeing that requires a measuring of everything in the personal realm. The “rocks” or “simple markers” cause him to say “My mind sinks” because measure is both a restriction and a point of reference, but because there is no alternative (if the mind is to be maintained at all as a functioning entity), Creeley concludes that “I hold in both hands such weight/ it is my only description.” The word “such” retains the ambiguity of the shifting process of measuring, but the tangibility of “both hands” reinforces the importance of the process itself for the man and the poet.
Bibliography
Allen, Donald, ed. Contexts of Poetry: Interviews with Robert Creeley, 1961-1971. Bolinas, Calif.: Four Seasons, 1973.
Clark, Tom. Robert Creeley and the Genius of the American Commonplace. New York: New Directions, 1993.
Edelberg, Cynthia. Robert Creeley’s Poetry: A Critical Introduction. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978.
Faas, Ekbert, and Maria Trombaco. Robert Creeley: A Biography. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2001.
Ford, Arthur. Robert Creeley. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1978.
Foster, Edward Halsey. Understanding the Black Mountain Poets. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995.
Fox, Willard. Robert Creeley, Edward Dorn, and Robert Duncan: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1989.
Oberg, Arthur. Modern American Lyric: Lowell, Berryman, Creeley, and Plath. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1977.
Rifkin, Libbie. Career Moves: Olson, Creeley, Zukofsky, Berrigan, and the American Avant-Garde. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.
Terrell, Carroll, ed. Robert Creeley: The Poet’s Workshop. Orono, Maine: National Poetry Foundation, 1984.
Wilson, John, ed. Robert Creeley’s Life and Work: A Sense of Increment. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1987.