Sign Inventory - Week 8

Sign Inventory
“The Feast of Stephen”
Anthony Hecht
Contemporary American Poetry

1. Use of foreign terminology
1. esprit de corps refers to the morale of a group, the belief in a goal/institution
2. mens sana refers to a healthy mind
3. pliés invokes the image of ballerinas, an odd contrast to the military terminology
4. Sturm-Abteilungs Kommandant is an allusion to a group closely associated with Hitler’s rise to power. The first commander was Ernst Rohm, who Hitler grew to dislike and wanted out of the picture. Sturmabteilungs is a German term for “storm troopers.”
2. The use of a pun in the line “mens sana in men’s sauna.”
3. The line “private and corporal glee” has varying degrees of interpretation:
1. private
1. From the Latin “privatus” meaning “to take away”
2.  In the military the term indicates someone of low rank.
3.  Also indicates a secret, something kept away from others
4.  A reference to the privates or genital area.
2.  corporal
1. Stems from Italian “capo corporale” meaning “head of a body”
2.  In the military the term indicates a leadership role and is ranked higher than a private.
3.  Represents the physical or material world
4.  Can also refer to a special cloth such as a communion cloth.
4. Combines clichés. For example, “in the flush / of health and toilets.” The word flush is used as an adjective and a verb simultaneously.  
5. “pliés and genuflections” – One is an artistic bend to the knee; the other is a bend in the knee as if worshipping or in reverence of something.
6.  Animal imagery
1.  “coltish” invokes the picture of a young horse: youthful, inexperienced, gangly, willingness to try anything, awkward.
2.  “salmon-leap” creates the image of fish responding to their biological urge to spawn. After salmon complete the journey and spawn, they die providing food and nutrients for the unborn generations they created.
7. Who is “Saint Stephen” in the poem? He could be the unknown person referenced in the lines “bloodied hair” and “unintelligible prayer.” They appear to indicate that someone has been sacrificed by a group of boys; however, looking at the text from a historical perspective “Saint Stephen” could also be the “Sturm-Abteilungs Kommandant” Hitler wanted to be rid of. Is it the person named "Saul"?
8. Images of water – moist, shower stalls, sweat, wet towels, flush, toilets, fleet, salmon-leap, leaping fountain, glistening, rippled, wet and salty garments, bodies brilliantly oiled.