In “a Defence of Poetry”, Shelley wants the readers to see the language of poetry at its most basic point. This idea correlates with the basic stream of consciousness that is presented in “Letters to Wendy’s”. Shelley describes poetry as manipulating or imagining alternatives to reasonable thinking. Both voices being discussed either stress or identify the need for creative, original thought, compiled with everyday reason and consideration, to create unique poetry.
“In the infancy of society every author is necessarily a poet, because language itself is poetry… Every original language near to its source is in itself the chaos of a cyclic poem.” (Shelley 51). This statement is saying before language became over processed, nearly everything was a poem. The original coupling of words creates poetry in its most basic form. This idea translates well to “Letters to Wendy’s”. In Wenderoth’s collection of poetry the reader sees only a stream of consciousness. Basic descriptions, commonly felt emotions, and basic imagery one would see in a Wendy’s, are all presented in their purest form. There have been no proceeding models for this type of poetry, therefore the basic sculpting of words, in this situation, is poetry.
Everyone with mental capability can support reasonable thought, a poet takes that reason and alters it with individual influence, and from there creates an abstract line of thought. “Poetry, in a general sense, may be defined to be ‘the expression of the imagination’” (Shelley 49). This defines what the reader gains from “Letters to Wendy’s”; Wenderoth’s poetry takes a conventional aspect of everyday life, Wendy’s, and approaches it with artistic imagination. This exemplifies Shelley’s point, as poets, the only way to create interesting, inspiring art, is to take that everyday fast-food restaurant and present it the world through a different lens.
