Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Eleanor Wilner’s poem "Water Lace and White Eyes" explores themes of transition, survival, and the haunting beauty of nature through vivid, stark imagery and symbolic references. The poem opens with a mist rising at dawn, signaling the imminent arrival of morning and spring, a metaphorical threshold between darkness and light. This atmospheric shift sets the stage for the unfolding scene, where natural elements and human endeavors intersect in a cold, unforgiving landscape.

The poem's imagery of "white clouds out of the mouth, sun at the back of the mind" suggests the breath of life in the cold morning air, mingling with the latent warmth and hope of the sun, which is yet to fully rise. This juxtaposition of cold and warmth, darkness and light, captures the tension and anticipation inherent in moments of change.

The scene introduces a sled driven by a figure wrapped in furs, relics of past hunts, embodying human resilience and adaptation to the harsh environment. The driver's face, "hard under a helmet of frost," becomes a "sculpture for the wind to whittle to a fine edge," symbolizing the erosion of human presence and identity in the face of nature's relentless forces.

Wilner's description of geese and a bear interacting with the "filigree of water lace" emphasizes the delicate, intricate patterns formed by nature, even in its harshest forms. The geese and bear, with their instinctual actions, contrast with the human figure, highlighting the primal, cyclical nature of life in the wilderness.

The poem then shifts focus to the sled dogs, whose behavior indicates distress and alarm. The dogs' reactions to their driver's condition—frozen, eyes "white burned out by the light that blazed for days across the ice"—reveal a tragic transformation. The driver, once a living being navigating the icy terrain, has become a relic himself, a victim of the very environment he sought to conquer.

As the sun begins to rise, casting red light between the hills, the dogs' unease grows, sensing the change in their driver's state. Their instinctual response to the "rising scent / of what their driver, thawing, had become" underscores the harsh realities of survival and death in the natural world. The driver's frozen state, now thawing, signifies a return to the earth, a poignant reminder of the cycle of life and death.

The poem culminates in a powerful image of the dogs pulling in different directions, "like some six-headed sinewy beast, or snowflake changed to flesh and fur, intent / in the growing light and unrelenting reins—on tearing itself apart." This image captures the chaos and desperation of survival, the struggle against the forces that bind and constrain, and the inevitable pull of nature's cycles.

"Water Lace and White Eyes" is a haunting reflection on the interplay between humans and the natural world, the delicate balance of life and death, and the relentless passage of time. Wilner's masterful use of imagery and metaphor creates a vivid, immersive experience that resonates with the reader, evoking both the beauty and brutality of the natural world. The poem's exploration of survival, transition, and the ephemeral nature of existence invites contemplation of our place within the larger tapestry of life.

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