Notes on Aram Saroyan's Lighght Poem

Aram Saroyan’s “Lighght” is probably one of the greatest things ever created by mankind - so simple and yet so powerful.

It is the poem you can’t really read but only comprehend, if that makes sense.

This poem consists of just one word, slightly modified - and nothing else. In a way, it is just an instant, a moment of comprehension that causes deep repercussions - something very different from the casual poem reading experience.

The entire poem is based on a fact that are silent letters in English language. Saroyan adds another “-gh-” and by that adds a new dimension to the word “light” and elaborates on the concept behind it. You can’t spell it, but can see the difference when you look at the poem and that triggers a different reaction. The one that leads to parts unknown.

The poem plays on the cognitive dissonance between the common way of writing the word “light” and its appearance with an additional “-gh-” which does not really make any difference in the spelling. And yet it makes the reader to reconsider what the concept of “light” and what does it mean when there is an additional “-gh-” thrown in. Does it mean more light or a different kind of light?

It is very reminiscent of how Inuit language have multiple ways of describing the snow and its states. There are numerous variations of words that signify different types and states of snow. They add functional parts to the core word so that it would describe the thing more precise detail.

“Lighght” works in a similar manner. The addition of another “-gh-” is subtle notion that this particular instance of experiencing “light” is somewhat different from the one that is casually experienced.

And that is basically what the poetry is doing with language in a nutshell. It uses its aesthetic properties and creative potential to uncover new things, new shades, to transform casual matters, to defamiliarize common concepts and move forwards into the unknown and hopefully, makes us understand the nature of the world and its perception better.