Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charles Olson’s "Lost Aboard U.S.S. ?Growler?; In Memory of William Hickey, 1944" is an elegiac meditation on loss, memory, and the enduring connection between the human and the elemental. Written in memory of a young man lost at sea during World War II, the poem uses vivid imagery and lyrical repetition to evoke both the tragic circumstances of his death and the timeless, almost mythic resonance of his final resting place. Through its focus on the ocean as a site of death, transformation, and origin, Olson creates a deeply moving reflection on mortality and the enduring bonds of love.

The poem opens with an invocation: "Black at that depth turn, golden boy." The "golden boy" immediately suggests youth, vitality, and potential cut short by tragedy. The contrast between the brightness of life and the blackness of the ocean depths underscores the stark finality of death, particularly one so remote and unreachable. Olson’s imperative "turn" is both a command and a plea, as if urging the lost sailor to respond, to return, or to reveal some trace of his presence within the depths.

The repeated call to "turn" becomes a refrain throughout the poem, emphasizing the movement—or lack thereof—of the body within the stillness of the ocean. Olson imbues the sea with a haunting agency, its waters capable of both erasing and preserving. The mournful tone deepens as the speaker implores the lost boy to "hear who bore you weep," connecting the tragedy to the grief of the parents and loved ones left behind. The line "hear him who made you deep" merges the personal with the elemental, suggesting that the forces that created life are now the same that claim it, making the boy part of the eternal cycle of the ocean.

Olson’s imagery of the "bone of man" evokes a stark, skeletal reality, stripping life down to its essential elements. The boy’s transformation from vibrant human to lifeless "bone" is juxtaposed with the persistent rhythms of the ocean. "Cold as a planet is cold, beat of blood no more," captures the cosmic indifference of nature, where life and death are merely transitions in an ongoing cycle. Yet, even in this cold, there is motion: "stir, boy, stir / motion without motion." This paradoxical movement evokes the currents and timeless shifts of the ocean, mirroring the ongoing motion of grief and memory.

As the poem progresses, Olson shifts focus to the descent: "Down as you fell sidewise, stair to green stair." The "stair to green stair" conveys the boy’s sinking as a journey, a tragic and inevitable tumble through the depths of the ocean. This descent is both physical and metaphorical, marking his passage into a realm beyond the living. The imagery of "the tumble of ocean" conveys the chaos of his fall, but also a sense of surrender to the vastness of the sea. The description of his resting place—"among the ships and men and fish askew"—situates him within a larger history of maritime loss, a shared space of both human and natural elements.

The refrain of "turn" gives way to "sleep" in the poem’s closing section, signaling a shift from motion to rest. The repeated invocation to "sleep, boy, sleep" becomes a soothing refrain, an acceptance of the boy’s fate and a hope for his peace. Olson acknowledges the ocean’s primal role as "water out of which man came to find his legs, arms, love, pain," connecting the boy’s death to the origins of life itself. This cyclical perspective imbues the tragedy with a sense of universality, placing the boy’s individual loss within the broader context of human existence.

Olson’s final lines offer a tender, almost parental comfort: "Sleep in older arms than hers, / rocked by an older father." Here, the ocean becomes a paternal figure, an eternal and ancient force that cradles the boy in its depths. The shift from personal love ("hers") to the impersonal, universal embrace of the sea reflects a reconciliation with the loss. The poem ends with a call to stillness—"toss no more, love; sleep"—resolving the turbulence of both the ocean and grief into a profound and timeless rest.

Structurally, the poem mirrors the ebb and flow of the sea through its rhythmic repetition and fluid enjambment. The lines oscillate between commands, reflections, and invocations, creating a sense of motion that mimics the ocean’s currents. The language is lyrical yet restrained, capturing the gravity of the loss without overstatement. Olson’s use of elemental imagery—water, bone, salt—grounds the poem in the physical, even as it reaches for the transcendent.

"Lost Aboard U.S.S. ?Growler?" is a powerful elegy that intertwines the personal and the universal. Through its vivid imagery and resonant language, the poem captures the profound grief of losing a loved one while situating that loss within the larger cycles of nature and existence. Olson’s exploration of the ocean as both a site of tragedy and a source of timeless continuity affirms the enduring connection between life, death, and the forces that bind them. The poem’s haunting beauty lies in its ability to hold both the weight of loss and the solace of eternal rest in perfect balance.

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