In William Meredith’s poem “The Illiterate”, Meredith relates the frustration and uncertainty accompanying “touching [one’s] goodness” to that of an illiterate man who is unable to comprehend a letter he has received. Throughout the poem, the man’s inability to understand this letter reflects upon the reader, who is also left blind to the letter’s true meaning. The man’s confusion, fear, and even pride are expressed by Meredith through a variety of literary devices including shifting tone, figurative language and repetition, and rhetorical questioning.
In this poem, Meredith is able to show the man’s (and therefore his own) complex feelings towards the letter, which “leaves him rich, and orphaned, and beloved.” (line 14) through the use of a shifting tone that conveys both the man’s fear of misunderstanding the letter, and his pride to have received it in the first place. It is clear that the man in the poem is ashamed of his illiteracy, yet he is not so eager to know what it means that he would swallow his pride and ask someone. This reflects upon both Meredith’s frustration in understanding the subject’s “goodness”, and the reader’s limited understanding of the letter itself. In the poem’s second stanza, the man begins to conjure up several ideas of just what the letter could mean, from the possibility of riches, to loss, and to some mysterious love. This, of course, represents another shift in tone, as it becomes clear that the letter really could be about anything, good or bad. As the man continues to consider the various possible meanings of the letter, the reader does the very same in trying to understand just how the letter may pertain to Meredith himself. In trying to analyze and understand Meredith’s writing, the reader has become the illiterate; unsure of the poem’s exact meaning, and speculating possible situations.
Most interesting about this poem is the intricate simile that compares the author of the poem to the illiterate man. Upon first reading the poem, it can be easy to assume that it is a story about a man who is unable to read a letter. Upon further examination, however, it is truly about the author and how he perceives himself to be like this man. Just why or how this is the case, however, is entirely up the the reader to interpret. This simile is exceptionally powerful in that it not only serves as a reflection of the author and his understanding of “goodness”, but it also reflects the reader’s inability to truly understand just what this “goodness” he describes is referring to, or even who- or what- the true subject of the poem is. Furthermore, repetition of words such as “hand” and “means” express several meanings pertaining to just one word. For example, “hand”, in the poem can refer to the anatomical hand or handwriting, and “means” can express both explanation or manner of doing something. This gives the poem many different possible meanings as it goes through its abbacddc effeff rhyme scheme, and expresses a great deal of creativity on the writer’s part.
Finally, Meredith ends the poem on an intriguing note by asking the reader a question. “What would you call his feeling for the words that keep him rich and orphaned and beloved?” (line 13-14) In asking this question, Meredith is posing an interesting inquiry. What would one call such feelings? Nobody, not even the man himself, could know for certain. In this final line of the poem, it becomes entirely clear that though the man is quite literally illiterate, the reader is just as unable to understand his true feelings as he is to understand the letter. Now, many could continue to say that by asking this question, he is expressing to the reader his own frustration in trying to understand his own feelings, as he appears to be comparing himself to this man throughout the poem. This could very well also be the case, although I believe that the goal of the question is primarily to place the reader in a position similar to that of the illiterate man, confused and guessing, with no means of knowing the true meaning of the poem- or the letter.
William Meredith’s poem is certainly an example of thought-provoking writing. Not quite a sonnet (though it is fourteen lines long), his short poem is enough to really get the reader thinking deeply about its true meaning, just as the illiterate man does with his letter.
