Ground Zero, an American Origin

Mary Caputi

doi:10.13008/2151-2957.1055

Poroi Aug 2003 Open Access

Ground Zero, an American Origin

Mary Caputi University of Iowa

Abstract

When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced The rich proud cost of outworn buried age, When sometimes lofty towers I see down-razed, And brass eternal slave to mortal rage . . . .Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate, That Time will come and take my love away.This thought is as a death, and cannot choose But weep to have that which it fears to lose.-William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 64"1 The tragedy of September 11, 2001 elicited a tremendous emotional response from Americans.It produced an outpouring of grief, outrage, bewilderment, and renewed patriotic fervor.It also brought out feelings of compassion and camaraderie among New Yorkers, in particular, as people from all walks of life pulled together in a collective effort to help the city recover.For most people, the legacy of 9/11 is likely to remain emotional.Yet Shakespeare's sonnet show how emotional responses to ruin can inspire ruminations about devastation.Ruin teaches the poet to reflect on visions of collapsed towers.Shakespeare finds in vistas of fallen towers a sense of sadness but also a moment of recognition, an intellectual discovery.So may we.2 This discovery arises from allegorical dimensions of the rubble.Indeed the surpluses of meaning in the felled structures make them apt sites for scrutiny, as the remains point to realities beyond our literal worlds.An abundance of signifying potential in the buildings' ruins speak of more than architectural decay.In the ruins, the poet encounters allusions to the brevity of time and the fleeting quality of human life.Especially the rubble induces the poet to think differently about love.It provides a painful reminder that human bonds are ephemeral.As history runs its course, they, too, are fragmented by "Time's fell hand."3 Do similarly stirring or instructive insights for Americans come from the devastation of the Twin Towers?Do our images and memories of the ruined World Trade Center --the heap of rubble, debris, destroyed infrastructure, burning fires, noxious smoke, smothering ash --contain allegorical dimensions that might encourage Americans not only to react

Journal: Poroi
Published: 2003-08-01
DOI: 10.13008/2151-2957.1055
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Open Access: OA PDF Gold
Topics: african american rhetorics
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Ground Zero, an American Origin

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