September 2025 Editor's Choice : Poetry between the Clear Word and the Hidden Echo

Poetry has always lived in the tension between what is declared and what is suggested, between the unveiled word and the veiled image. Some poets speak plainly—their voices are direct and unmistakable—while other poets prefer subtlety of metaphor and symbol, giving the reader the role of unraveling hidden meanings. This interplay between allusion and explicitness is not a minor stylistic choice; it is the very throb of poetic expression across centuries.

The Meaning of Allusion and Explicitness

Explicitness speaks with a naked voice, unadorned and unmistakable. It’s used in various contexts—conversation, writing, art, or instruction—to describe content that’s straightforward and leaves nothing to interpretation.Explicitness: When a poet expresses his idea or feeling directly, without symbols or obfuscation. For example, he might say, “I love you deeply.” The meaning here is clear and direct.Allusions are quick references to well-known things—books, movies, people, or events—that add meaning without including extensive detail. Allusions make writing or speech more powerful, relatable, and emotional by connecting to shared knowledge.Allusion: Indirect expression through symbols, images, metaphors, and suggestions. Instead of saying, “I love you deeply,” he might say, “The moon melts in my veins when you appear.”

A Journey through Western Poetry

The balance between allusion and explicitness has shifted with time, leaving its trace on every literary movement.1. Classical Poetry (Shakespeare, Milton)Explicitness prevails—love, grief, or praise appear in unclouded form. Yet even here, poets wove metaphors and similes, sprinkling allusion upon direct speech.2. Romanticism (Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley)It alludes to nature; love or sadness is symbolized by a natural scene—a withered flower, an autumn forest, or a migratory bird.3. Modernism and After (T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Sylvia Plath)Allusion and symbolism predominate, sometimes reaching extreme ambiguity. The meaning may not be direct but requires interpretation—a small word or a fleeting image that references cultures and myths.The difference between allusion and explicitness in their effect:- Explicitness creates a direct connection with the reader (ease of understanding—immediate impact).- Allusion creates depth and ambiguity, leaving the text open to multiple interpretations (the pleasure of discovery—rereading).A small comparative example:Statement (direct/romantic): “Without you, my heart is broken.”Allusion (symbolic/modern): “A shattered mirror holds the face of absence.”

Illustrative Examples

Straightforward ExpressionFrom a poem by Lord Byron (Romantic poet):“She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;”Explanation:Here, Byron expresses the beauty of a woman by comparing her to the beautiful night. Clear, direct, and understandable, requiring no interpretation.Symbolic ExpressionFrom a poem by Emily Dickinson (American poet):“The soul selects her own society—Then—shuts the door—”Explanation:The poet does not directly state loneliness or isolation, but alludes to it by speaking of a “soul” that chooses and thus shuts the door. The reader takes part in the process of discovery.Dense SymbolismFrom T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land:“April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land…”

The Effect of Both Methods

Explicitness creates immediacy. It gives the reader quick access to meaning—a sense of intimacy, of being spoken to without disguise.Allusion, at the other end, generates depth and mystery. It opens the door to rereading, to multiple interpretations, to the pleasure of progressive discovery.Together, they form the two poles of poetic expression: one offering clarity, the other resonance.

Critical Perspectives

This interplay between the direct and the indirect has long occupied critics. Cleanth Brooks, in The Well-Wrought Urn, reminds us that “poetic language is the language of paradox,” where connection often matters as much as denotation. Kenneth Burke, in Language as Symbolic Action, explores how words do not merely state but act, embodying symbols in every utterance. Arthur Symons, in The Symbolist Movement in Literature, traces how Western poets gradually embraced suggestion over declaration, paving the way for modernist density. Erich Auerbach, in Mimesis, shows how literature reflects reality in ways that oscillate between the straightforward and the symbolic. Even C. S. Lewis and E. M. W. Tillyard, in The Personal Heresy, debate whether poetry is the direct voice of the poet or something larger, veiled in universality.Each of these perspectives confirms that the tension between allusion and explicitness is not peripheral—it is central to how meaning is created in poetry.

Conclusion

Poetry, then, is never purely one or the other. Even the clearest statement may carry echoes, and even the most obscure symbol may conceal a direct emotion. The history of verse is the history of this dialogue—between clarity that binds us instantly to a poet’s heart, and the mystery that draws us deeper into the labyrinth of interpretations. To read poetry is to walk this path, sometimes guided by the light of explicitness, sometimes wandering through the twilight of allusion—always discovering anew.

© NASSER ALSHAIKH AHMED, KSA