Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Paul Muldoon’s poem "Milkweed and Monarch" is a complex and layered meditation on grief, memory, and the intermingling of personal and collective experiences. Muldoon, whose poetry often traverses intricate themes with a blend of wit and melancholy, here explores the disorienting nature of mourning and the associations that memories can trigger, sometimes in seemingly unrelated or surprising ways.

The poem begins with a vivid scene of a man kneeling by the grave of his parents. The immediate sensory detail—the "taste of dill, or tarragon"—sets the tone for the disorientation that permeates the poem. The speaker "could barely tell one from the other," which not only speaks to the confusion between the two herbs but also suggests a deeper confusion or inability to distinguish between different kinds of emotions or memories. This confusion becomes a motif throughout the poem, reflecting the complex nature of grief, where emotions and memories blur together, making it difficult to separate one from another.

The poem quickly shifts from the grave to a memory or fantasy of a woman "slinking from the fur of a sea-otter" in Portland, whether it is Portland, Maine, or Portland, Oregon, the speaker "could barely tell one from the other." This detail further emphasizes the theme of disorientation, as places and people seem to merge in the speaker’s mind. The sensual memory of the woman, and particularly the "tang of her, her little pickled gherkin," intrudes upon the solemn moment at the graveside, suggesting that the speaker’s mind is wandering, perhaps seeking escape from the pain of loss by retreating into more pleasurable or distracting memories. Yet, this intrusion also highlights the disjointed nature of grief, where the mind might latch onto unrelated images or sensations as a way of coping with overwhelming emotions.

The structure of the poem, particularly its use of the villanelle-like repetition of lines and phrases, reinforces the cyclical and repetitive nature of grief. The phrase "as he knelt by the grave of his mother and father" recurs, anchoring the poem in the physical act of mourning, even as the speaker’s mind drifts elsewhere. This repetition also mimics the way memories and thoughts can loop during times of deep emotional distress, where one cannot escape the pull of a particular moment or feeling.

The poem’s second section introduces the image of Monarch butterflies and milkweed, symbols rich with meaning. The Monarch butterflies, known for their long migrations, and milkweed, the plant essential to their survival, are intertwined in a symbiotic relationship. The woman’s words about how "both earth and sky would darken—'You could barely tell one from the other'" connect the natural world with the speaker’s emotional state. The butterflies, driven by their "milkweed-hunger," mirror the speaker’s own yearning and the way memories of the past seem to flutter around him, elusive yet persistent. The notion that "Milkweed and Monarch 'invented' each other" adds a layer of complexity, suggesting that certain relationships or memories are inextricably linked, each giving meaning to the other, much like how the speaker’s memories of his parents are now intertwined with seemingly unrelated thoughts of the woman and the natural world.

The poem then returns to the graveside, where the speaker’s confusion deepens. The image of "Cow's-parsley in a samovar" evokes a mix of domesticity and nature, yet the speaker's confusion about his mother’s name—mistaking "Regan" for "Anger"—adds to the sense of dislocation. This error underscores the ways in which grief can distort perception, making it difficult to separate truth from memory, or emotion from fact. The final repetition of the line "he could barely tell one from the other" encapsulates the poem's central theme: the difficulty in distinguishing between different elements of memory, emotion, and experience, especially in the midst of profound loss.

"Milkweed and Monarch" thus delves into the fragmented and often confusing experience of mourning. Through its intricate structure and recurring imagery, the poem captures the way in which grief can blur the lines between past and present, between memory and reality. Muldoon’s use of language, with its careful repetition and shifting images, reflects the complexity of the human mind as it grapples with loss, finding connections in the most unexpected places. The poem ultimately suggests that in grief, as in nature, everything is connected, even when those connections are difficult to discern or understand.

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