In his poem “To Scrimping,” Kenneth Koch creatively personifies a problem that many people can relat to: tightfistedness. As the reader is immersed in the imagery of the poem, an auto-biographical situation, a battle with the self, emerges.
New Addresses, the volume of poems in which “To Scrimping” appears, utilizes the style of apostrophe, or letter poems. All the poems in this book are addresses to either physical objects or abstract ideas, such as scrimping. As a result, all of the addressees of these letters are personified concepts. In the volume, Koch chooses to write in first person, as he does in all of the poems that appear in this book New Addresses. This gives a sense of intimacy to the reader, and helps to create the illusion that the speaker is conversing with the reader. While multiple stanzas are absent in this poem, the chunk of text still has a very intentional structure. Koch uses line lengths and enjambment to subtle but discernible ends. The shorter line lengths communicate strong emotion, as the reader’s eyes jump to the next line quickly. For example, the lines “I need to have engraved in my cerebrum/as in a library wall” communicate frustration. As the speaker states, “I have my eye on you,” the short line length draw the eye, signaling the wariness of the speaker. Enjambment also plays a part in this poem, as many of the sentences are fairly long. The sentences take up between two and four lines, as Koch expertly varies the pace and the mood of the poem. The enjambed line “I am a tire with my wheel dependent on you, Scrimping,/Then.” highlights the time qualifier “then” to show that the speaker intends to resort to Scrimping only in his most desperate times.
The formal elements of this poem were fairly subtle but contributed much to the overall effect of the poem. While this poem was written without a regular meter, rhyme weasels its way into the poem. The last four lines, wrapping up the poem, have an aabb rhyme scheme, with “all,” “wall,” “way,” and “away.” The author also includes slant rhyme, with “sod” and “not.” Lines four through seven display an abcb rhyme pattern, with the rhyme appearing in the pair “law” and “wall.” As the poem transitions into a more solid rhyme scheme, it reaches for resolution. There is one instance of clear alliteration, as Koch writes “emotionally exhausted,” which rings nicely in the ear. All of these devices give the free verse energy and makes it a delight to read.
Linguistically, besides structuring the poem around a drawn-out personification of stinginess, Koch also implements a metaphor in line 11. Introducing it in the line before with “completely blown out,” the speaker compares himself to a tire dependent on Scrimping to avoid a complete crash. Imagery drives the poem, as one envisions the speaker dragging Scrimping along shopping, the speaker directing a law to be engraved inside of his skull, and the speaker attempting to shake Scrimping off of “My hand, my chest, my wrist.” The most striking image is that of the speaker being walled up with Scrimping and left to die.
As I read this poem first for enjoyment, then critically, I discovered more ideas that spoke to me. I picked this poem because scrimping is a relevant issue to me. Monetarily, I tend to scrimp because I learned this habit form by parents as they tried to get by. I also tend to scrimp with my time, often devoting more time to myself then I should. I would like to change this habit and shake off scrimping for the most part, so that I may give most of my time to other people. I could feel how the speaker struggled with Scrimping and the joy the speaker would experience by dying when he had given everything he had to give. Reading this, I too wanted to strive to give everything I can.
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