Summary Of Men In The Off Hours By Anne Carson

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In Men in the Off Hours, Anne Carson’s Essay On What I Think About Most offers a perspective on error that is contrary to popular belief concerning failure. To begin the poem, Carson utilizes a piece by Aristotle and the concept of a metaphor to prove that mistakenness is valuable. Specifically, Carson shows how a metaphor enables the mind to experience itself making a mistake, allowing the mind to learn and grow from its own errors. During the rest of the poem, Carson analyzes an ancient Greek poem that contains both computational and grammatical errors. Carson goes on to claim that poetry is the creation of errors that are beneficial to readers, and that imperfection is human nature.
In addition to the content, mistakes and errors within the poem itself are used throughout the piece as a way to convey the message of the poem. For example, …show more content…

And its emotions.” (Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours, 30). Not only are readers immediately engaged by the dramatic and blunt opening of the poem, but they also experience the grammatical errors of the sentences themselves. A similar tactic is used later in the poem, when the ancient Greek passage is being analyzed. Carson states that “there are three things [she] like[s] about Alkman’s poem” and then goes on to list those things (33). However, Carson subtly lists four things that she likes about the ancient Greek poem, once again utilizing error itself to convey her message.
Agreeing with Aristotle, Carson claims that mistakes in the form of metaphors enable people to learn because they cause the mind to “experience itself in the act of making a mistake” (30). This experience enables the mind to learn from contradictions and juxtapositions, demonstrating that metaphors and mistakes in general are beneficial for the human mind. To further prove this claim, Carson walks the reader through a

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