18 pages • 36 minutes read
A Great Need
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Literary Devices
Allegory
An allegorical work uses characters, settings, and plot developments to stand in for existential issues or indirectly convey a hidden message. Typically, the author ensures readers receive the work’s message by giving a symbol a singular meaning rather than potentially multiple interpretations. For example, Orwell uses pigs to represent the corrupt Bolsheviks leaders in the USSR and other once-revolutionary figureheads in his novella Animal Farm.
Ladinsky turns “A Great Need” into an allegory through the line, “Not loving is a letting go” (Line 5), which implies that holding hands and climbing are acts of love (Lines 3-4). The line also sets the reader up to interpret any subsequent images for possible meaning. The terrain surrounding a person becomes a symbol for life circumstances and the difficulty of human existence in general. As a result, the poem expresses that companionship and cooperation are vital to survival during hard times. One cannot let go of others because “the terrain around here / Is / Far too / Dangerous” (Lines 7-10). The poem also signals that love motivates people to move upwards.
Free Verse
While Hafez wrote in the ghazel style (as in, for example, “Ghazal 85”), Ladinsky wrote “A Great Need” in the more modern form, free verse. Free verse poetry lacks a regular rhyme or meter. The meter measures a poem’s rhythm. A poet establishes rhythm by setting a fixed number of syllables or pattern of stressed or unstressed syllables per line.
Through the free verse form, Ladinsky captures a moment as it happens. Although the poem provides advice, lack of rhyme or meter expresses the speaker’s message immediacy. He must tell the addressee about the risk of “letting go” (Line 5) and explain “the great need” (Line 2) for the group to stick together. He does not have the time to package the advice more lyrically. He feels more concerned about getting his message across to the reader.
Enjambment
Ladinsky also uses enjambment, when a sentence or thought continues from one line into the next without a period, to express urgency. Since the poem depicts a climb over dangerous terrain, the short lines mirror a person trying to speak while breathing heavily from the exertion. For example: (breath) out (breath) of a great need (breath) we are all holding hands (breath) and climbing.
The irregularity between line length cements this impression. When a person exercises, their breathing increases, interrupting the usual flow of speech. Ladinsky shows the danger and difficulty the speaker discusses through the line breaks. As a result, the speaker appears more authoritative and experienced to the reader, which increases the reader’s trust.
Alternatively, the irregular line lengths and enjambments demonstrate the speaker’s careful thoughtfulness in talking to the addressee. The “Listen” (Line 6) calls attention and expresses urgency. The previous line, “Not loving is a letting go” (Line 5), is not enjambed, but despite that line’s sense of closure, the “listen” interjects, and each following line is quite short—sometimes a single word. This marks a shift in tone toward gravity and emphasizes the peril in the situation.
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