Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Tony Hoagland's poem "Don't Tell Anyone" explores the theme of concealed pain and the silent struggles that people endure. The poem begins with the speaker's wife casually revealing that she screams underwater while swimming. This revelation is significant because it unearths a hidden aspect of her emotional life, something she has kept private despite their long marriage.

The setting of the poem is domestic and mundane—a kitchen where the wife is buttering toast. This ordinary activity contrasts sharply with the extraordinary admission she makes. The casualness of her confession underscores the depth of her internal struggles, suggesting that this pain has become a routine part of her life, as habitual as her laps in the pool. This contrast between the ordinary and the extraordinary highlights the dissonance between external appearances and internal realities.

Hoagland uses vivid imagery to describe the wife's underwater screaming. The "blue chlorinated water of the community pool" serves as a metaphor for the containment of her emotions. The pool becomes a private space where she can release her pain without being heard, symbolizing the isolation of her experience. The act of screaming underwater is also significant because it emphasizes the silence of her suffering. The water muffles her screams, just as she muffles her distress in daily life.

The poem shifts to a broader reflection on the nature of human suffering. The speaker wonders if "maybe everyone is screaming / as they go through life, silently," suggesting that silent suffering is a universal experience. This idea is reinforced by the metaphor of being "ripped by the crooked beak / of something called psychology," which evokes the painful and invasive nature of emotional turmoil. The repeated dipping "into time" symbolizes the relentless nature of life's challenges and the cyclical nature of pain.

Hoagland introduces the concept of finding intimate pleasure in pain with the line "the wet kiss / of your own pain." This paradoxical statement suggests that there is a strange comfort in acknowledging one's suffering. The wet kiss is both an embrace and a reminder of the ever-present pain. It implies that accepting and confronting pain can be a form of emotional release, even if it is a solitary and private act.

The poem concludes by returning to the image of the wife swimming her laps. The speaker admires her discipline, comparing her laps to pages of a book "that will never be read by anyone." This metaphor highlights the solitary nature of her struggle and the fact that her pain, like her swimming, goes unnoticed and unacknowledged by the world. The reference to the unread pages underscores the idea that much of human experience, particularly suffering, remains hidden and unshared.

In "Don't Tell Anyone," Hoagland delves into the hidden dimensions of personal pain and the silent endurance that often accompanies it. The poem's strength lies in its ability to juxtapose the ordinary with the profound, revealing the depths of human emotion beneath the surface of daily life. Through the wife's quiet confession and the speaker's reflections, Hoagland poignantly captures the isolation of suffering and the complex ways in which people cope with their inner turmoil.

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