How to Deconstruct a Text

Hello,

In this blog you will find my own brief understanding of Deconstruction Theory, and I will try to apply this theory to the three famous poem. 'Sonnet 18' by Shakespeare, 'In a Station of the Metro', and 'The Red Wheelbarrow' by William Carlos William.

Theory of Deconstruction

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) was the one who initiated the theory of deconstruction through his seminal paper "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of Human Science". This includes looking at things from Post-Structuralism view point, in which they analyze the underline patters of various systems and institutions. According to Derrida, the whole world is governed by binaries, and everything can be explained through binary opposition. In which one binary is always privileged (which is Present) and remaining as other or  derivative or inferior (which is absent). For example binary of Man/Women, traditionally employs that men is superior to women, and women is being inferior or other, which lacks manliness. After getting inspiration from the deconstruction, modern feminist writers started to deconstructs the classical texts and rewrite the literary canon. Derrida believe that language essentially carries no meaning, it signifies nothing but chain of signifiers, which he called as free play of meaning. 

In deconstructing the text, we have to move beyond which is present and traditional meaning of text, and have to search for various other interpretations (free play of meaning). We have to question the primary meaning. 

How to do Deconstruct a Text

“language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique.”

Deconstruction of 'In a Station of the Metro'

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

(Generated by Microsoft Copilot)

The primary meaning that we find is that poet is clearly talks about of crowded metro station and that also with the word apparition which stands for ghostly images of people. And the second line is talks about petals and black bough. The first binary that we find here is that of Urban/Rural or City/Village. Metro station is with full of noise and chaos on the other hand there is quietness represented by petals and black bough in the village. Even if there is noise it would be of birds chirping and that could be tolerable. 

Moreover, chaos in urban life means disturbed human life which result in mental problems and promote cunning mindset of people. On the other hand one can assume that in village there is mental peace and for that reason people can be more gentle and kind.

Deconstructive meaning of the poem 

 

Looks at how language and meaning are created and how they can change over time. it also emphasizes that meanings can be multiple and unstable, and that the reader plays a key role in creating meaning.

Deconstruction of 'The Red Wheelbarrow'

So much depend on a red wheelbarrow

Glazed with rain water, 

Besides the white chickens.

(Generated by Microsoft Copilot)

Primary image of this poem is that of life in countryside or of village. There is clear description of a wheelbarrow and chickens that supports this meaning. But there is also a fictitious element in this poem there is clear image of wheelbarrow undermines the struggle of farmer and there is also no element of dirt found around of the wheelbarrow. It is shockingly clear image without the absence of dirt or mud or cow dung which is inevitable in any village or countryside life images. This blurs the reality between what is reality and what is imaginative. 

Also, it is described in the very first sentence that so much depends on the wheelbarrow, which further undermines the struggle of farmer. It questions the idea of reality, and it also changes its meaning according to contexts.

Deconstructive meaning of the poem 

The poem's meaning can change depending on how each reader understands it. It challenges the reliability of language and how things are represented, mixing up what is real and what is imagined.

Deconstruction of 'Sonnet 18'

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

(Generated by Microsoft Copilot)

This poem is celebrated as love poem throughout the world. Doing the deconstruction of this poems revels that there are immense possible meaning of the poems. There is binary of Beloved/Summer's day which can be seen as Human/Nature binary. Here, in first few lines it seems that beloved is at the center and nature is at the corner. Moving forward it seems that beloved is also not at the center, rather poet writing this poem for the sake of the poetry, but that is also not the case here. The very first line of the indicates 'I' which suggest that speaker is not celebrating his beloved, nature or not even a poem but himself. And also it could be said that beloved is so much depended upon her lover that shows power relation between them, which evokes the idea of hegemony.

So, there are many possibilities of meaning of the text or a poem as Derrida says, there are free play of meaning. 

Reference

Barad, Dilip, Deconstructive Analysis of Ezra Pound's 'In a Station of the Metro' and William Carlos Williams's 'The Red Wheelbarrow', Researchgate.net, Accessed 4 July 2024. 

Thank you.