The Words Under the Words

“The Words Under the Words” is a free-verse poem. It has irregular line-breaks and irregular stanza breaks. Characteristic of much of Nye’s work, it employs a more conversational tone that mimics regular speech in most places. It is also a variation on a type of poem called a blazon. Blazons are a type of poem popular in the Renaissance. Traditional blazons come from the phrase “to blaze,” as in emblazing an image on top of a shield or a crest to decorate it. A blazon decorates a person by covering them in metaphors. Typically, a poet writing a blazon separates each part of their beloved into different parts and compares each body part to something favorable. In this variation on the blazon, Nye writes about five different aspects of her grandmother: her “hands” (Line 1), “days” (Line 6), “voice” (Line 17), and “eyes” (Line 26). However, unlike the typical blazon the speaker does not praise her grandmother’s physical appearance but rather focuses on what her grandmother does that demonstrates her wisdom and faith.