Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Randall Jarrell's poem "The Traveller" presents a surreal and haunting portrayal of a woman’s journey, filled with themes of loss, disorientation, and existential reflection. The poem’s rich imagery and fragmented narrative convey a sense of detachment and introspection as the protagonist navigates through her journey both physically and metaphorically.

The poem opens with the woman riding to the station, immediately suggesting a sense of departure and transition. However, the lines "There is always something she has left behind. / Here is her hatbox; where is her hat?" introduce a theme of forgetfulness and incompleteness. This disjointedness is further emphasized by the description of her blindness, which seems more metaphorical than literal: "Or she is blind — but the others are blind, / Not one thinks: But where are her eyes?" This suggests that both she and those around her are oblivious to some deeper truth or reality.

The line "This plush smells — but how does she smell it?" creates a sense of confusion and disconnection from sensory experience, as if she is unable to fully engage with her surroundings. The image of her head hanging "on the hanger in the closet / And calls as an engine calls" imbues the scene with a nightmarish quality, merging the organic with the mechanical. The engine’s cry, "Shall I spare this city?" followed by the rails' response, "Raze it, raze it," reflects an internal conflict and a destructive impulse that pervades her thoughts.

The poem shifts to a deeper existential reflection as she thinks "as a child thinks: / When the sun sets, it is to count my loss." This line underscores a sense of innocence lost and an obsession with what has been left behind or sacrificed. It highlights her preoccupation with loss and the passage of time.

Upon reaching the station, the poem describes her physical and emotional burden: "Her purse is heavier than she can know, / Her streaked breasts shake with double heart." These lines suggest a weight of responsibility or guilt that she carries unknowingly. Her slow, dragging movements, and the imagery of carrying her head in her hand "like a hatbox / Of money, of paper money," reinforce the sense of disconnection and disorientation. The head, full of "money not even she will take," symbolizes a wealth of thoughts or memories that are ultimately worthless or unredeemable.

As night falls, the moon rises "to count her money," metaphorically representing her introspective accounting of her life's worth. Sitting on the bed, she counts her money with a glazed look and slow breath, indicating a state of exhaustion and resignation. The wind, personified as it moves softly through the curtains and stirs the bills, brings a sense of ephemeral and fleeting reality. When the wind asks, "Shall I spare this city?" her silence signifies a surrender to fate or an inability to influence her own destiny.

"The Traveller" is a powerful exploration of a woman's inner turmoil and existential crisis. Jarrell’s use of vivid, surreal imagery and fragmented narrative structure conveys the profound sense of disorientation and loss that defines her journey. The poem captures the essence of a traveler not just in the physical sense, but as someone journeying through the complexities of life, burdened by the weight of past experiences and uncertain of her place in the world.

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