A Study Guide for Charles Wright's "Words and the Diminution of All Things"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Charles Wright's "Words and the Diminution of All Things," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535843331

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Words Are the Diminution of All Things

Charles Penzel Wright

2004

Introduction

In 2004, Charles Wright first published Words Are the Diminution of All Things in his book Buffalo Yoga. This volume is a later one of his over twenty books of poetry, starting with The Grave of the Right Hand in 1970 and continuing through Littlefoot: A Poem in 2007 with more expected to come. Buffalo Yoga can be obtained through any number of bookseller outlets.

The poem is set on an afternoon in December, both the December on the calendar and the December of the poet's life. The word diminution, not a common word, means the process of diminishing or decreasing. The poem contains typical Wright themes about time, darkness, and the winter of life. The latter is described as a time when energy and ability tend to lessen and, according to the poem, leave the person without much left to do, without much left to say. The narrator is watching the sky, the weather, and the blowing leaves and finding in them words that will not be spoken. Particularly for someone who has been a poet, whose life has revolved around words, the fading process means periods of silence. The poem not only has typical Wright themes, but also his distinctive style of dropped lines and his use of the Blue Ridge landscape he can see from his