Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"What Voice at Moth-Hour" by Robert Penn Warren captures the ephemeral and reflective moments at twilight, often referred to as the "moth-hour," when the day transitions into night. This time of day, with its subtle shifts in light and sound, becomes a space for memory and introspection, where the past and present intermingle. The poem revolves around the motif of a voice that the speaker hears during this liminal time, a voice that seems to call out from the natural world and the speaker's own memory.

The poem opens with the speaker standing in an orchard as "white / Petals of apple blossoms were falling." The imagery here is delicate and fleeting, with the white petals described as "Whiter than moth-wing in that twilight." This comparison to a moth's wing not only underscores the fragility and transience of the moment but also connects to the poem's title, setting the tone for the "moth-hour" as a time of quiet beauty and introspection. The falling petals suggest a gentle shedding or letting go, evoking a sense of impermanence and the passage of time.

As the speaker moves to stand by a stream, they are "Bemused in the murmurous wisdom there uttered." The stream, with its "ripples at stone" that "Caught last light before it was shuttered," becomes a metaphor for the continuous flow of time and the fleeting nature of life's moments. The stream's murmurs suggest an ancient wisdom, a kind of natural knowledge that is both profound and elusive. The imagery of the last light being "shuttered" reinforces the sense of an ending or a closing, as day gives way to night.

The voice that the speaker hears in these settings is mysterious and evocative. It is not immediately clear what this voice represents, whether it is a literal voice calling out or an internal voice that emerges in these moments of stillness and reflection. The speaker's journey through different natural settings—the orchard, the stream, the woods—suggests a quest for understanding or connection, an attempt to grasp something beyond the immediate sensory experience.

In the third stanza, the speaker wanders "In a premature night of cedar, beech, oak," where they pause "while the first owl spoke." The choice of words like "premature night" indicates a sense of entering a time or state that feels early or unexpected, much like the moth-hour itself, which is a time of transition. The owl's voice, traditionally associated with wisdom and mystery, adds to the atmosphere of quiet contemplation and the search for meaning in the natural world.

The turning point in the poem comes in the final two stanzas, where the speaker reveals that the voice they once heard can now be summoned by a "simple trick." By closing their eyes, they can "again know / The feel of damp grass between bare toes," and can even visualize the "last zigzag, sky-skittering, high, / Of a bullbat." These sensory details—damp grass, the movement of a bird—transport the speaker back to a specific moment in time, suggesting that the voice is connected to a memory or an emotional state tied to the natural world.

The poem closes with the voice saying, "It's late! Come home." This line carries a deep resonance, implying a sense of longing, loss, or the passage of time. It could be the voice of a loved one calling the speaker back to a place of safety and comfort, or it could be an internal voice reminding the speaker of their place in the world and the inevitable return to reality from the introspective space of the moth-hour. The urgency in "It's late!" contrasts with the earlier calm and stillness, hinting at the inevitability of change and the pull of the past on the present.

In "What Voice at Moth-Hour," Warren uses the moth-hour as a metaphor for those moments of deep reflection when we are most attuned to the whispers of memory and the subtle cues of the natural world. The poem speaks to the idea of connection—to nature, to the past, to the self—and the way certain times of day can evoke profound feelings of nostalgia, mystery, and the inexorable flow of time.

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