Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Galway Kinnell's poem "Peer Gynt" delves into the themes of decay, transformation, and the cyclical nature of life and death, using vivid imagery and profound metaphors to explore these concepts. The poem's title alludes to Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt," which itself is a journey of self-discovery and existential exploration, and Kinnell's piece seems to echo these themes in a more introspective and naturalistic context.

The poem begins with the speaker sitting "on a fallen log," a symbol of nature's cycle of life and death. This log, which "had many years past, by the grace of the sky-god, escaped the metal mills grinding over the western hill," represents a remnant of untouched nature, spared from industrialization. However, despite its survival, the log is not free from decay. It is "flaking off in my hand," described as a special kind of paper, "like shale stewed, supple as orange rind." This imagery emphasizes the log's fragility and the inevitability of decay, even in what appears to be natural and enduring.

Kinnell's description of the log includes "water-marks-worm-holes, bench marks of downy, red-head, flicker-and the stench of a vast, all-wrecking, sweet decay." These details paint a picture of a log that has been both a home to life and a site of decomposition. The "sweet decay" is paradoxically described as both wrecking and appealing, suggesting the complex beauty found in nature's processes of breakdown and renewal.

As the speaker peels away layers of the log, "sheaf at a time coming off," the act becomes frenetic and almost destructive, "frightening the worms off the road." This action symbolizes a deeper search or excavation, perhaps a metaphor for peeling back layers of the self or confronting the raw realities of existence. The wood grows "darker, wetter" as the speaker delves deeper, culminating in a profound darkness "black as that rag, that untied sack my grave-faced father, spilling grain by grain his untied flesh in the gross and grass-fathering earth." This passage connects the decay of the log to the decay of the human body, particularly the speaker's father, emphasizing the universality of death and the return to the earth.

The poem's final lines, "I am your seed, O stenching darkness, carcass earth, your seed and flower. I take for my petals the darkness of this hour," encapsulate the theme of transformation and rebirth. The speaker acknowledges their origins in the "stenching darkness" and "carcass earth," embracing the cycle of life that includes decay and death as essential components. The imagery of taking "for my petals the darkness of this hour" suggests an acceptance and integration of the darker aspects of existence into one's being, transforming them into something that can bloom.

Kinnell's use of rich, evocative language and metaphors in "Peer Gynt" invites readers to contemplate the natural cycles of life and death and the profound beauty found within them. The poem resonates with themes of existential reflection, the inevitability of decay, and the potential for renewal and transformation. Through its introspective and nature-centered narrative, "Peer Gynt" offers a poignant meditation on the interconnectedness of all living things and the enduring cycles of the natural world.

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