Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Gary Snyder’s "Arctic Midnight Twilight Cool North Breeze with Low Clouds Green Mountain Slopes, White Mountain Sheep"—also subtitled Dibée Song—is an intricate meditation on the presence and impermanence of wild sheep within the Arctic landscape, intertwining natural observation with Buddhist philosophy and indigenous knowledge. The poem’s structure mimics the slow, unhurried movements of the sheep, the cycles of wind and weather, and the continuity of an ecosystem that operates on timescales far beyond human perception. Snyder’s language captures both the precise materiality of the Arctic and the transcendent vastness that envelops it.

From the outset, Snyder’s imagery situates the reader in the Arctic wilderness: “Green mountain walls in blowing cloud / white dots on far slopes, constellations, / slowly changing not stars not rocks.” The white sheep scattered across the mountains are compared to celestial constellations, emphasizing their slow, organic movement within a vast and ungraspable order. The reference to "by the midnight breezes strewn” evokes both the Arctic’s perpetual twilight and the gentle dispersal of elements—clouds, sheep, wind, and light—all contributing to an interconnected whole. These sheep exist half in the sky, grazing among the tundra’s greens but held in place by their "web of clan and kin,” a phrase that suggests both social bonds and the deeper cosmic order that governs them.

The poem's setting—the Arctic north—emphasizes a world of extremes, but Snyder does not depict it as hostile. Instead, he renders it as a place of intricate, balanced relationships: "damp wind up from the whole north slope / and a taste of the icepack— / the primus roaring now, here, have some tea.” This moment of human presence—making tea amid the wind and cold—acknowledges the poet’s participation in the landscape without dominance or disruption. The warmth of the tea contrasts with the "low sun", which "swings through the twenty-four hours / never high, never gone," creating an eternal twilight where time is no longer marked by human measures but by the subtle changes in light and shadow.

Snyder’s observational precision continues with his account of the sheep’s movements: “One chases one, they run in circles / three move away. One cuts a tangent.” The tracking of their actions feels almost ritualistic, as if the poet is deciphering a secret script written in hoofprints and gestures. His focus shifts to a "shade side canyon wall," where a "host of sheep hang out," choosing shade over sun. These moments of quiet behavior reinforce the sense of an ancient, unknowable intelligence in the animals—an existence beyond human interference.

The sheep are not merely physical creatures; they become symbols of deeper truths. The poem describes a "sheepskull forehead with its horn prongs sitting on a boulder— / an offer of the flower of a million years of nibbling forbs / to the emptiness of intelligence.” Here, Snyder merges Buddhist concepts of impermanence with the biological realities of evolution and survival. The sheep’s presence is both fleeting and eternal: individual beings come and go, but the species persists, just as wind, mountains, and ice remain long after specific animals vanish.

The poem further draws on Buddhist imagery, referring to "sheep impermanence, sheep practice, sheep shapeshifting— / vows of beings—Vajra Sheep teaching the Koyukuk waters / suchness for each—” The Vajra, a Buddhist symbol of indestructibility and enlightenment, links the sheep to spiritual practice. These animals, bound to their landscape, exemplify suchness—the fundamental reality of things as they are. They are fully present, fully engaged in their elemental world, embodying an unselfconscious wisdom.

Throughout the poem, Snyder’s language shifts between the immediate and the eternal. The "sheep track followed by a wolf track south of the lake" subtly introduces predation as an inherent part of this cycle. A ewe and lamb appear briefly—“the lamb tries to nurse, it’s too old, she lies down.” Life continues in quiet rhythms, dictated by natural limits. Meanwhile, a single human follows these paths, encountering "sheep dreaming place— / Sheep time. All over the world." Snyder links this specific Arctic moment to the global presence of wild sheep, reinforcing their universality as symbols of endurance and harmony with the land.

As the poem nears its conclusion, Snyder describes "tracks fade in the snow. / Sheep gone, and only endless twilight mountains." The departure of the animals underscores their impermanence, while the landscape remains, indifferent yet welcoming to those who can understand its rhythms. The final lines invoke a Koyukon Athabaskan riddle: “It really snowed hard in opposite directions on my head / who am I?” The answer—dibée, a mountain sheep—encapsulates the paradoxical nature of the Arctic’s stillness and motion, its fragility and resilience.

"Arctic Midnight Twilight Cool North Breeze with Low Clouds Green Mountain Slopes, White Mountain Sheep" is an intricate, reverent portrait of an ecosystem in perfect balance, where each movement—whether wind, cloud, or animal—is part of a vast, interconnected order. Snyder’s engagement with Buddhist philosophy and indigenous knowledge deepens his depiction of the Arctic, transforming it into a space where time, presence, and impermanence all coexist. The poem is not merely an observation of wild sheep but an immersion in their world, where the poet learns as much as he records. The final image of the riddle encapsulates this sense of mystery and deep connection, leaving the reader with an awareness of the quiet, enduring intelligence that pulses through all living things.

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