Lab Activity: Poststructuralism, Poems, and Gen AI: Deconstructive Reading

This blog has been written as part of Lab Activity 1  assigned by the Head of the Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University (MKBU), Prof. (Dr.) Dilip Barad Sir . The objective of this activity is to develop a practical understanding of post-structuralism and deconstruction through close reading and textual analysis.



Objectives

  • To develop a practical understanding of poststructuralism and deconstruction through the close reading of selected poems.

  • To present my own interpretations of each poem before engaging with scholarly criticism.

  • To compare personal responses with established literary analyses from academic sources.

  • To apply the deconstructive concepts of Jacques Derrida, Catherine Belsey, and Peter Barry in the analysis of poetic texts.

  • To examine how language creates ambiguity, contradictions, and multiple meanings in literature.

  • To understand that literary texts do not possess a single fixed meaning but remain open to multiple interpretations.

  • To strengthen critical thinking, analytical reading, and academic writing skills through the study of poetry.

  • To reflect on my learning experience and demonstrate the practical application of literary theory in textual analysis.



I have already completed a deconstructive analysis of "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" on the TED-Ed platform. The following section presents my understanding and interpretation of the poem based on the lecture video. It reflects the insights I gained from the video before developing my own deconstructive reading.




Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?




                                    https://ed.ted.com/on/r9V6IJiO 


What exactly, according to you, does Sonnet 18 mean to say? (A few prompts to ponder upon are given below to help you in applying creative thinking and critical insight in your discussion)


(What exactly, then, does Sonnet 18 claim? You are better than a summer’s day, since you won’t fade now that I’ve written this poem? Or, alternatively, you are mortal, like a summer’s day, and won’t fade if - and only if - I immortalize you in my poem? Who is in control here - the ‘lovely’ but mutable object of desire, or the desiring but life-giving poet? Or is the Sonnet a dramatization of a miniature power struggle, the sequence of implied threats and promises that goes on just below the surface of so many passionate relationships? Exactly how idealistic is this lyrical text? What is the truth of Sonnet 18? Perhaps it’s undecidable? )


My Answer:

To me, Sonnet 18 is not simply a love poem but a reflection on love, language, mortality, and power. Shakespeare first presents the beloved as superior to nature, but this idea changes when he says the beloved's beauty will survive only through his "eternal lines." This shows that immortality depends on poetry, not on the beloved.


I believe the poem's centre shifts from the beloved to the power of language. The final couplet also suggests that the poet controls the beloved's memory, making what seems like a promise of love also an assertion of artistic authority.


The poem further contains a contradiction: although nature fades, the beloved is also human and cannot escape time. Only poetry appears capable of preserving beauty. Therefore, I think Sonnet 18 is not only about eternal love but also about the power of art and the tension between love and control. Its meaning remains undecidable, allowing multiple interpretations rather than one fixed truth.



Poem:1


In a Station of the Metro By Ezra Pound


The apparition of these faces in the crowd:


Petals on a wet, black bough.




My Interpretation

When I first read In a Station of the Metro, I was confused because it has only two lines. I wondered how such a short poem could have any meaning. At first, the two lines seemed unrelated and did not make sense to me. To understand it better, I looked up the meanings of words like "apparition," "petals," and "bough." I learned that apparition means a sudden appearance, petals are the delicate parts of a flower, and a bough is a tree branch. After understanding these words, I started connecting the two images.

I realized that Pound compares the brief appearance of faces in a crowded metro station to delicate flower petals on a wet, black branch. At first, this comparison seemed strange because it connects the busy city with nature. But later I understood that the poet is capturing a beautiful moment instead of telling a story. This poem taught me that even a very short poem can have a deep meaning. It also showed me that poetry often requires patience, careful reading, and imagination to discover its beauty.


Other source

https://poemanalysis.com/ezra-pound/in-a-station-of-the-metro/ 

Analysis

The analysis explains that the meaning of In a Station of the Metro comes from the relationship between its two images rather than from each line separately. The first image shows faces appearing suddenly in a crowded metro station, while the second compares them to "petals on a wet, black bough." This metaphor links the fleeting appearance of people with the delicate and temporary beauty of flower petals. The word "apparition" is important because it suggests that the faces appear and disappear like ghosts, emphasizing the transitory nature of modern urban life.

The source also highlights that the poem does not have one fixed meaning. Instead, its fourteen carefully chosen words encourage readers to create their own interpretations. By placing the busy city scene beside an image from nature, Pound suggests that beauty can exist even in ordinary urban moments. Through vivid imagery, metaphor, and the absence of explanation, the poem captures an emotional experience that leaves a powerful impression despite its extreme brevity.



(Source: ChatGpt)

Deconstructive Analysis of In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound

Catherine Belsey argues that meaning in poetry is created through the interaction of signifiers rather than by directly representing reality. This idea is clearly reflected in Pound's In a Station of the Metro. Instead of describing a real moment in a Paris metro station, the poem presents two images whose relationship remains open to interpretation.

The first line, "The apparition of these faces in the crowd," immediately creates uncertainty. The word "apparition" suggests a ghost, vision, or fleeting appearance, making the faces seem both present and absent. This prevents a literal reading and reflects Jacques Derrida's idea that presence is always connected with absence.

The second line, "Petals on a wet, black bough," does not clearly explain the first. Pound never says the faces are like petals; instead, he simply places the two images together. Readers must create the connection themselves, leading to multiple meanings such as beauty, fragility, loneliness, or transience. Meaning therefore remains unstable and constantly open.

The poem also illustrates Derrida's concept of diffΓ©rance, where every signifier points to other meanings instead of one fixed idea. Words such as "apparition," "petals," "wet," and "black bough" evoke many associations, ensuring that the poem never reaches a final interpretation. Likewise, oppositions such as city and nature, presence and absence, or strength and fragility begin to collapse as the images merge into one another.

Finally, the poem's sound, rhythm, and the white space between the two lines contribute to its meaning. The silence between the images forces readers to supply the missing connection, showing that absence can be as meaningful as presence. Thus, Pound's poem demonstrates the poststructuralist view that meaning is produced through the endless play of language rather than through a single, stable truth.



Poem:2

The Red Wheelbarrow By William Carlos Williams


so much depends

upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens



My Interpretation

When I first read The Red Wheelbarrow, I was surprised because it is so short and describes only a red wheelbarrow, rainwater, and white chickens. At first, I wondered why the poet had written a poem about such ordinary objects. It did not seem to have a story or any clear message. However, as I read it again, I realized that William Carlos  wanted readers to notice the beauty of simple things that we usually ignore.

From my first reading, I understood that the poem is about appreciating everyday life. The poet presents a quiet rural scene and shows that ordinary objects, like a wheelbarrow, can be important and beautiful. The opening words, "so much depends upon," made me feel that even small things have value in our lives. Although the poem does not explain everything directly, it encouraged me to look more carefully at the world around me and realize that poetry can find meaning in the simplest moments.

Other source


Analysis

The Red Wheelbarrow is a very short free verse poem made up of four two-line stanzas with only sixteen words. It presents simple images without using the lyric "I," allowing readers to focus directly on what they see. The poem begins with the abstract statement, “so much depends / upon,” creating curiosity about what is important. It then introduces a red wheelbarrow, described as glazed with rainwater, suggesting freshness and sunlight after rain. Finally, the image of white chickens beside the wheelbarrow completes the scene. The contrast between the red wheelbarrow and the white chickens makes the ordinary objects appear vivid and meaningful, showing the beauty and importance of everyday life.


(Source: ChatGpt)

Deconstructive Analysis of The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

At first, The Red Wheelbarrow appears to be a simple Imagist poem describing an ordinary farm scene. The opening line, "so much depends / upon," suggests that the red wheelbarrow is important, while the plain language gives the impression that the poem directly reflects reality.

A deconstructive reading, however, questions this idea. As Catherine Belsey explains, language does not present reality directly but constructs it. The words "red," "white," and "wheelbarrow" are linguistic signs whose meanings depend on differences from other words rather than on fixed reality. Following Jacques Derrida's concept of diffΓ©rance, meaning is always deferred and never fully stable.

The poem also shows undecidability. It can be read as a realistic description of a farm, but the perfectly clean image of the bright red wheelbarrow, shining rainwater, and white chickens also makes it seem idealized, almost like a picture book. The poem never allows readers to decide between reality and imagination.

Another important feature is supplementarity. Williams breaks words such as "wheel / barrow" and "rain / water" across lines, making the poem's visual form as important as its content. The structure slows the reading and reminds us that meaning is created through language, not just through the objects themselves.

The poem also demonstrates intertextuality because different readers bring different experiences to it. Some may see rural life, others childhood innocence, while others recognize Modernist or Imagist ideas. Meaning therefore changes according to the reader.

Finally, the poem challenges referentiality. Readers never encounter the real wheelbarrow or chickens; they only encounter words that create different mental images. This shows that language mediates reality rather than simply reflecting it.


Poem:3

A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London by Dylan Thomas 


Never until the mankind making

Bird beast and flower

Fathering and all humbling darkness

Tells with silence the last light breaking

And the still hour

Is come of the sea tumbling in harness


And I must enter again the round

Zion of the water bead

And the synagogue of the ear of corn

Shall I let pray the shadow of a sound

Or sow my salt seed

In the least valley of sackcloth to mourn


The majesty and burning of the child's death.

I shall not murder

The mankind of her going with a grave truth

Nor blaspheme down the stations of the breath

With any further

Elegy of innocence and youth.


Deep with the first dead lies London's daughter,

Robed in the long friends,

The grains beyond age, the dark veins of her mother,

Secret by the unmourning water

Of the riding Thames.

After the first death, there is no other.



My Interpretation


When I first read Dylan Thomas's A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London, I found it difficult to understand because the title itself surprised me. I wondered why a poet would refuse to mourn the death of a child, especially one who died during the bombing of London in the Second World War. I expected the poem to be filled with sorrow and emotional expressions, but instead I encountered mysterious images of birds, flowers, darkness, water, the sea, and corn. At first, I could not understand how these natural images were connected to the death of the child, and the language seemed highly symbolic and philosophical rather than direct.

As I continued reading and thinking about the poem, I realized that Dylan Thomas was not suggesting that the child's death was unimportant. Instead, he believed that death is too sacred and profound to be reduced to ordinary words of grief or a traditional elegy. The poet connects the child's death with nature, religion, and the eternal cycle of life, suggesting that all living things are united in one universal order. Rather than focusing on personal sorrow, he presents the child as "London's daughter," symbolizing all innocent victims of war. The final line,"After the first death, there is no other," made me think that physical death is the final transformation, after which a person becomes part of eternity and the natural world.

From my point of view, this poem is not about refusing to feel sadness but about showing the deepest respect for the mystery of life and death. Thomas seems to believe that true grief cannot always be expressed through tears or words, and sometimes silence itself becomes the most meaningful tribute. Although I still find some of the symbols difficult to interpret, I appreciate how the poem encourages readers to look beyond the immediate pain of loss and reflect on the larger connection between human life, nature, and eternity. After reading it carefully, I found it to be a powerful and thought-provoking poem that expresses grief in a unique and deeply philosophical way.


Other source

 

Analysis

Dylan Thomas's “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London” is a 24-line poem divided into four six-line stanzas with an abcabc rhyme scheme. The title itself shows the speaker's refusal to express grief through traditional mourning after a child dies in the bombing of London during World War II.

The poem focuses more on the speaker's philosophical response to death than on the child. Thomas presents death not as an ending but as a transformation in which the individual becomes part of the eternal cycle of nature. Images of darkness, water, earth, seeds, and rivers suggest that life and death are interconnected, and that death leads to renewal rather than complete loss.

The speaker rejects conventional elegies and religious rituals, believing that they reduce the child's humanity instead of honoring it. The final line, “After the first death, there is no other,” expresses the idea that although physical death is inevitable, life continues through nature's endless process of regeneration. Overall, the poem presents death as a universal and natural cycle rather than something to be mourned in traditional ways.


(Source: ChatGpt)

Deconstructive Analysis of A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London

A deconstructive reading does not try to discover one final meaning of a poem. Instead, it examines how the language of the poem undermines its own claims. According to Peter Barry, deconstruction reveals contradictions, paradoxes, discontinuities, and multiple meanings hidden within the text. In Dylan Thomas's poem, what first appears to be a firm declaration against mourning gradually becomes unstable. The poem constantly contradicts itself through its language, imagery, structure, and silence. Instead of presenting a unified message about death, mourning, and innocence, it exposes the impossibility of fixing any single meaning.

1. Verbal Stage: Contradictions and Paradoxes

At the verbal level, the poem contains several contradictions that weaken its apparent meaning.

The title itself creates the first paradox. "A Refusal to Mourn" suggests that the speaker will not express grief. However, the entire poem is devoted to the child's death. By writing a long poem about refusing to mourn, Thomas actually performs the very act he claims to reject. The refusal therefore becomes another form of mourning.

The opening line also produces contradiction:

"Never until..."

Normally "never" means something will not happen, while "until" suggests that it eventually will happen. The two words work against one another. The sentence delays meaning rather than clarifying it, making certainty impossible.

Another contradiction appears in

"Fathering and all humbling darkness."

Traditionally, light is associated with life and creation, while darkness symbolizes death. Thomas reverses this binary opposition by making darkness the creative force that "fathers" life. Darkness becomes the origin rather than the end of existence. This inversion destabilizes the conventional opposition between life/death and light/dark.

The phrase

"Tells with silence"

is another verbal paradox. Silence cannot literally tell anything. Speech depends on sound, while silence represents its absence. Yet the poem joins the two together, making language contradict itself.

The final line is perhaps the strongest contradiction:

"After the first death, there is no other."

Calling something the first death automatically implies the existence of a second and third. Yet the second half of the sentence immediately denies this possibility. The statement therefore destroys its own logic. Language cannot sustain its own meaning.

Similarly,

"I shall not murder...with a grave truth."

Truth is usually regarded as something that reveals reality, but here truth becomes capable of "murder." Truth itself becomes destructive rather than enlightening.

Throughout the poem, words refuse to maintain stable meanings. Every assertion contains the possibility of its opposite.

2. Textual Stage: Breaks, Shifts, and Discontinuities

At the textual level, the poem loses any clear unity because it constantly shifts in time, perspective, and focus.

The first stanza speaks on a cosmic scale. It imagines the creation and eventual destruction of the universe through images of darkness, sea, birds, beasts, and flowers. The focus is universal rather than personal.

The second stanza suddenly shifts inward. The speaker begins speaking in the first person:

"And I must enter again..."

The poem moves from cosmic history to private spiritual reflection without explaining the transition.

The third stanza shifts again toward the immediate event—the death of the child. The focus becomes individual rather than universal.

Finally, the fourth stanza widens once more, connecting the child with London, history, nature, and the River Thames. The poem ends on another broad historical perspective instead of resolving the personal grief introduced earlier.

These repeated movements create discontinuity rather than progression. The poem never develops a single stable framework for understanding death.

There are also shifts in tone.

The opening sounds almost biblical and prophetic. The second stanza becomes highly religious and symbolic. The third stanza appears personal and emotional. The final stanza becomes quiet and mysterious.

Because the tone constantly changes, readers cannot identify a single emotional position from which the poem speaks.

The poem also contains important silences.

Although the title promises a refusal to mourn, the speaker never clearly explains why mourning is refused.

Nor does the poem explain why writing the poem itself is not considered mourning.

Likewise, the child remains anonymous. We learn almost nothing about her identity, family, or life. The absence of these expected details becomes significant. Deconstruction argues that such omissions are "fault-lines" revealing what the text cannot fully address.

3. Linguistic Stage: Language Creates Meaning Rather Than Reflecting Reality

πŸ‘‰The linguistic stage moves beyond contradictions and asks whether language itself can represent reality.

πŸ‘‰The poem relies heavily on symbolic language rather than direct description.


Expressions such as

  • πŸ‘‰"Zion of the water bead"
  • πŸ‘‰"synagogue of the ear of corn"
  • πŸ‘‰"shadow of a sound"
  • πŸ‘‰"salt seed"
  • πŸ‘‰"the riding Thames"

cannot be translated into one definite meaning.


Instead, these phrases produce endless associations involving religion, nature, memory, death, history, and creation. Each image points toward several possible meanings at once.


The signifiers therefore escape fixed signifieds.

Religious language also refuses stability.


The poem combines Christian images ("Zion"), Jewish images ("synagogue"), natural imagery, and pagan symbolism without establishing a single religious viewpoint. Rather than expressing one coherent belief, these different symbolic systems overlap and compete.


The poem's metaphors frequently collapse distinctions between life and death.

  •    Darkness creates life.
  •    Death becomes majesty.
  •    Silence speaks.
  •    Truth murders.
  •    Water does not mourn.

These impossible combinations demonstrate that language constructs its own world instead of simply describing reality.

Binary Oppositions Reversed

Traditional Opposition

Reversal in the Poem

Light = Life

Darkness becomes the creator of life.

Speech = Meaning

Silence becomes a form of speech.

Mourning = Respect

Refusal becomes another form of mourning.

Truth = Healing

Truth becomes destructive ("grave truth").

Death = End

Death becomes connected with eternity and creation.

Innocence = Purity

Innocence itself becomes something the speaker refuses to celebrate through elegy.


Because each opposition reverses itself, no term remains privileged.

Reading the Text Against Itself

πŸ‘‰The surface meaning suggests that the poet refuses sentimental mourning because death should return naturally to the eternal cycle of creation.

πŸ‘‰However, reading the poem against itself produces a different conclusion.

πŸ‘‰The speaker insists he will not mourn, yet the poem is itself an elegy.

πŸ‘‰He rejects language, yet depends entirely upon language.

πŸ‘‰He seeks certainty, yet every important statement contradicts itself.

πŸ‘‰He attempts silence, yet speaks continuously.

πŸ‘‰He rejects innocence, yet repeatedly returns to the child's innocence.

πŸ‘‰Thus, the poem unconsciously performs the very mourning it consciously denies.

Traditional Opposition

  •   Reversal in the Poem
  •   Light = Life
  •   Darkness becomes the creator of life.
  •   Speech = Meaning
  •   Silence becomes a form of speech.
  •   Mourning = Respect
  •   Refusal becomes another form of mourning.
  •   Truth = Healing
  •   Truth becomes destructive ("grave truth").
  •    Death = End
  •   Death becomes connected with eternity and creation.
  •   Innocence = Purity
  •   Innocence itself becomes something the speaker refuse celebrate through elegy.

References:

Adelstein, Amy. “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London by Dylan Thomas.” EBSCO Research Starters, 2022, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/refusal-mourn-death-fire-child-london-dylan-thomas. Accessed 8 July 2026.

 

Barad, Dilip. Deconstructive Analysis of Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro" and William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow." ResearchGate, July 2024, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381943844_Deconstructive_Analysis_of_Ezra_Pound's_'In_a_Station_of_the_Metro'_and_William_Carlos_Williams's_'The_Red_Wheelbarrow'. Accessed 8 July 2026.

Belsey, Catherine. Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2022.


Berry, Peter. Beginning Theory. 3/E. Viva Books, 2010.


ChatGPT. Version 5.5, OpenAI, 8 July 2026, https://chatgpt.com/.


Green, James. “The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams.” EBSCO Research Starters, EBSCO Information Services, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/red-wheelbarrow-william-carlos-williams. Accessed 8 July 2026.


Walker, Andrew. “In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound.” Poem Analysis, Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/ezra-pound/in-a-station-of-the-metro/. Accessed 8 July 2026.


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