Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Mary Kinzie’s "Accidie" captures a landscape suspended in inertia, suffused with a sense of ennui and existential paralysis. The poem’s title, an archaic term for spiritual or mental sloth, sets the stage for an exploration of stasis, alienation, and the haunting weight of the mundane. Through precise imagery and restrained language, Kinzie crafts a tableau that is both surreal and achingly familiar, drawing the reader into a world where time and purpose seem to dissolve.

The opening lines immediately establish a setting that feels both tangible and abstract: "The light, robust buildings stand by sand. New. Empty." The juxtaposition of solidity ("robust buildings") and impermanence ("sand") reflects the tension between presence and emptiness, a recurring theme throughout the poem. The starkness of "New. Empty." underscores the sense of vacuity, as if the structures exist only as placeholders, devoid of vitality or meaning.

The imagery of the natural world further amplifies this sense of desolation. The "Grey roots of banyan-looking trees" twisting in "colorless ground" evoke a landscape worn and tired, stripped of vibrancy. The comparison of these roots to "a marble stair" suggests a place both eroded and ossified, where natural elements have been reduced to lifeless artifacts. This sense of weariness permeates the environment, from the "thick air" to the "dull bluish tracks" that "cross uncontrollably at the horizon." Even the lizards, with their "dry tongues," and the "shiny, clicking palm fronds" contribute to the atmosphere of sterility and monotony.

The mention of "a European zoo, a monkey island" introduces an intriguing metaphor, likening the setting to a contained, artificial environment where every detail is predetermined and worn by habitual use. This comparison invites the reader to consider the implications of such containment—not just physical, but psychological and existential. The setting becomes a microcosm for a larger human condition, one marked by a sense of entrapment and a loss of agency.

As the poem progresses, the focus shifts to the human figures inhabiting this desolate space. The description of "cordial" individuals in formal attire, speaking English, and engaging in understated activities such as dancing, adds a layer of surreal detachment. There is an eerie politeness to their interactions, as if they are performing roles in a theater of inertia. The details of their attire—"twill, moiré, or faille, blue-black or cream"—convey a muted elegance, but also an anachronistic quality, as if they belong to a bygone era, disconnected from the present.

The speaker?s experience within this setting is marked by disorientation and a sense of futility. The query posed "in their alien tongue" goes unanswered, and verbs "fly away," suggesting a breakdown of communication and meaning. The trains, which "point always in a prevailing line," evoke a sense of inevitability and lack of choice, reinforcing the theme of stasis. The speaker’s act of letting "several go" reflects resignation, a surrender to the inertia that defines this world.

The burial scene introduces a stark contrast to the earlier descriptions of muted elegance. The imagery of "Bright shovels ring[ing] against the obstinate mark" is both vivid and jarring, breaking through the languid atmosphere with a moment of stark physicality. Yet, even this act—a ritual traditionally associated with closure and transition—feels hollow, reduced to a "state occasion" that is "informal" and detached. The burial becomes another gesture devoid of transformative power, emblematic of a world where even death fails to disrupt the prevailing ennui.

Kinzie’s restrained diction and deliberate pacing mirror the poem’s thematic concerns, creating a reading experience that is itself meditative and somber. The syntax, often fragmented, reflects the fragmented nature of the world being described, as well as the speaker’s internal state. The absence of a clear narrative arc reinforces the sense of timelessness and inertia, leaving the reader suspended in the same liminal space as the poem’s figures.

"Accidie" is ultimately a meditation on the spiritual and existential voids that can pervade human experience. Through its vivid yet restrained imagery, the poem captures the weight of inertia, the disconnection from meaning, and the quiet despair of a life defined by stasis. Yet, in its meticulous attention to detail and its evocation of a world at once surreal and deeply human, the poem also gestures toward the possibility of recognition, if not resolution—a reminder that even in the face of accidie, there remains the potential for seeing, for naming, for bearing witness.

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