Slants at Buffalo, New York
Slants at Buffalo, New York - meaning Summary
Urban Pilgrimage Toward the Lake
The poem sketches a walk through Buffalo from a sculpted monument and stone lions that point the way, through streetcar windows framing everyday "low life," to market colors and boys playing in cinders. Industrial elements — a plank bridge, rails, freight cars and smoke — lead the reader outward to the final vision of Lake Erie. It contrasts human detail and urban grit with a luminous natural horizon.
Read Complete AnalysesA FOREFINGER of stone, dreamed by a sculptor, points to the sky. It says: This way! this way! Four lions snore in stone at the corner of the shaft. They too are the dream of a sculptor. They too say: This way! this way! The street cars swing at a curve. The middle-class passengers witness low life. The car windows frame low life all day in pictures. Two Italian cellar delicatessens sell red and green peppers. The Florida bananas furnish a burst of yellow. The lettuce and the cabbage give a green. Boys play marbles in the cinders. The boys' hands need washing. The boys are glad; they fight among each other. A plank bridge leaps the Lehigh Valley railroad. Then acres of steel rails, freight cars, smoke, And then ... the blue lake shore ...Erie with Norse blue eyes ... and the white sun.
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