Poem Response to "Matisse: The Red Studio" by W.D. Snodgrass

  The poem “The Red Studio” is a reflection based on the painting of the same name by Henri Matisse.   Snodgrass starts pointing out how the painting is only a simularcrum of actual objects, of an actual place, but then he turns it on it’s ear by stating that the painting itself is a piece of Matisse himself.  I loved how Snodgrass says that the room itself had consumed him, that the painting had absorbed Matisse’s energy and is both an object and a representation of him.  That the items depicted are given life through Matisse’s effort.  I find that observation to be imaginative and intriguing.  The structure of the poem I find appealing, it feels almost lyrical with his word choice.  They alternating between long descriptive lines and the occasional terse short line helps emphasize the words.