"Museum Piece" - Richard Wilbur

Wilbur is an American author, born in 1921 in New York. Working as a poet and literary translator, he is a highly regarded poet, having been the Poet Laureate in 1987 and having received the Pulitzer Price for poetry twice (in 1957, 1989).

     Museum Piece

     The good gray guardians of art

     Patrol the halls on spongy shoes,

     Impartially protective, though

     Perhaps suspicious of Toulouse.

     Here dozes one against the wall,

     Disposed upon a funeral chair.

     A Degas dancer pirouettes

     Upon the parting of his hair.

     See how she spins!  The grace is there,

     But strain as well is plain to see.

     Degas loved the two together.

     Beauty joined to energy.

     Edgar Degas purchased once

     A fine El Greco, which he kept

     Against the wall beside his bed

     To hang his pants on while he slept.

This poem comments on the general discord and disrespect largely present in the world of art. All the people that constantly come into contact with art, including both famous artists like Degas and regular people specially entrusted with protecting the art, the guardians, disrespect it. Since both groups are constantly exposed to powerful art, over time it becomes stale and dull to them. The guardians are described as gray, pointing to their indifference to the art. Degas’ piece of a dancer where ”Beauty is joined to energy” is described as a wonderful masterpiece that leaves a large impact on the viewer (since a whole fourth of the poem is dedicated to it), but it has little effect to the indifferent guardians who see it everyday. Therefore, the only way to keep art interesting and relevant is to create new and evolving. Of all the art in the museum, only Toulouse’s paintings of shocking and unusual subjects attract the guardians’ attention. The structure and subject matter of the poem also illustrate how art must evolve and shock us to grab our attention.

The Contrast between the poem’s format and subject matter makes this poem shocking and new. The poem is written in a relatively standard and basic format – with four-line stanzas and an ABCB rhyme scheme. However, to make his poem stand out, Wilbur states that Degas, who we would expect to have a greater appreciation of art, once purchased an El Greco painting and used it “To hang his pants on while he slept”. While this great painting may have appealed to and inspired Degas for a time, he became tired of it. The absurdity and humorous quality of this statement contrasts with the poems standard format thus livening up the poem, attracting us to it, and showing us that even artists get bored of art.