October, 20 2008
“In Broken Images”
by Robert Graves
He is quick, thinking in clear images;
I am slow, thinking in broken images.
He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;
I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.
Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;
Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.
Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;
Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.
When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;
When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.
He continues quick and dull in his clear images;
I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.
He in a new confusion of his understanding;
I in a new understanding of my confusion.
In this poem, Graves describes the way in which he thinks. He compares his reasoning to that of another person. He says that the other person is able to solve problems faster than he is able to, however, he regards this as a weakness. It is a weakness to Graves because there is too much trust placed on the so called “facts.” I understand what Graves means by this because I also think in “broken images.” In school, they often teach rules that students use without even thinking. The rules become second nature to the students, and the students succeed as a result. However, the important thing is to actually be able to understand why something is a rule or a “fact” because many rules have exceptions to them. I didn’t like school very much for this reason because I would often see people succeed without ever really learning anything. They just followed the rules. School was mostly memorization and nothing more. Thats why I like this poem. Graves highlights the point that eventually the rules you were taught or the “facts” you were taught will fail and that is when it will have paid off to have analyzed every piece of information that was received. It will have paid to have been critical and to have analyzed everything piece by piece. It will have paid to have thought in “broken images.”
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