Mark McWatt’s Anthology “The Journey to Le Repentir”

THEME 1# Genesis In Mark McWatt’s anthology “The Journey to Le Repentir” McWatt examine various aspects of beginnings. McWatt skillfully uses a poetic device called imagery to emphasize the beginning of new life and sublime genesis. McWatt also makes use of a particular structure which is patterned by poets who dominated the early modern English period of poetry, called blank verses. However, by gracefully imbed images to illustrated diverse aspects of birth and creation of infinite potential.

This image of infinite potential is illustrated by a few personas in “The Journey to Le Repentir” and also various aspects of birth. In the poem “Universe” we see the persona expressing two separate themes of genesis, the first is the birth is one of the universe when he states “a place and a mined inter – / penetrated through a membrane of wonder (4)” [My footnote indicator]. This suggests that the persona “a mind interpenetrated through a membrane of wonder” to illustrate that mind overwhelms the membrane that constricts it from endless potential.

The second theme of the genesis is seen when this persona states “competitive learning, of the sensuous adventure of knowledge that has ”. The persona uses words like “competitive”, “learning”, “knowledge” and “Adventure” to create an image similar to the first birth, in that, “sensuous adventure” like “a membrane of wonder (4)” represents a gamble for unknown futures and prospect. However, the only variation between the two is that the genesis of the first stanza takes place physically and the other takes place in the mind of an individual.

Another poem in which we can see a transformation and genesis by an individual mentally is in the poem “Anatomical”. This persona creates an image of firstly the presence of innocence in himself, with the use of adjectival words like “mysteriously”, “smiling curiosity” “me in shock of the sudden transformation” giving a generalized understanding on his lack of knowledge. And it is in the final stanza the persona gives us a contrary image of the initiation of his “sensuous world of anatomical wonder”.

However, the way in he physically structure the poems with blank verse, gives us a psychological metaphor of beginnings. The poets use of iambic pentameters present us with metaphoric genesis and infinite potential as something that can not be predicted – in contrary to most poems that contain a chronological structure of rhyme and rhythm. This skill was used by world renowned poets of the early modern English period like William Shakespeare, John Donnie and John Milton who are poets who played an important part in the renaissance poetry.

Mark McWatt also makes use of the blank verse maybe to emphasize that like the renascence – also known to the French as “rebirth” – has some significance to the genesis he creates within his poems. While poet Mark McWatt uses metaphor on the blank verses to examine how new beginnings can originate from bad endings like the renaissance, the image of mental genesis and physical genesis can both be stepping stones.

Since each persona entails a theme that gravitates around both the mental and physical aspects of genesis, then it is only fitting to conclude that genesis takes both a physical and a mental shape. The poet Mark McWatt incorporates the use of metaphor and images to establish a concrete theme of genesis. And by using the Iambic pentameter he solidifies the metaphor of the renaissance period to maybe state that like the renaissance, new beginnings could be made in submission to please you either physically or mentally.