Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"New Year's" by Robert Creeley is a deeply reflective poem that meditates on the passage of time, the nature of endings and beginnings, and the existential solitude that often accompanies such transitions. Through vivid imagery and a contemplative tone, Creeley explores the tension between the desire for forward motion and the inevitability of looking back, between the communal aspects of marking time and the profound individual experience of change.

The poem begins with the imagery of the year's end mirrored in the moon, suggesting a natural cycle that is both external and internal. The moon, a recurrent symbol of change and continuity, reflects the dual nature of the New Year as both an ending and a beginning. The mention of "disguises one would otherwise put upon it" alludes to the human tendency to mask or reinterpret the passage of time, perhaps as a way to make it more palatable or meaningful.

The "mild temper of midnight" that "embarrasses us" captures the vulnerability and introspection that the turning of the year can provoke. This moment of transition, poised between the old year and the new, forces a confrontation with time itself, leading to a sense of disorientation—"we turn away into reassuring daylight but backwards." This backward glance, even as one seeks the comfort of the familiar, underscores the complexity of human experience regarding time.

Creeley poses rhetorical questions about the possibility of moving forward without the influence of the past, questioning whether it is feasible or desirable to exclude the night, a metaphor for the unknown or the subconscious, from our understanding of time. The repetition of "Darling (she had gone)" introduces a sense of loss and longing, highlighting the personal dimensions of time's passage and the ways in which it can separate us from those we love.

The speaker's call to the house, the tree, and the moon for interaction emphasizes the isolation felt in the "new minute, hour, or year, or nowhere." The plea for the tree to speak and for love to "tell me the time" reveals a yearning for connection and grounding amidst the flux of time. The moon's light, "white in the branches" and in the "mind of it," symbolizes the clarity and illumination that can come from embracing the moment, even as it underscores the starkness of the landscape—both external and internal—that the New Year reveals.

The poem culminates in the image of "bending backwards until the mind is an / instant of mind in the moon’s light white upon an / Endless black desert," a powerful metaphor for the introspection and existential contemplation that the New Year evokes. This bending backwards, both a physical and metaphorical reversion, speaks to the human condition of reflecting on what has passed even as we stand on the threshold of the future.

"New Year's" is a poignant exploration of the human experience of time, marked by Creeley's signature economy of language and depth of thought. The poem invites readers to consider their own relationships with time, memory, and the continuous cycle of endings and beginnings that shape our lives. Through its evocative imagery and existential questioning, "New Year's" offers a meditation on the solitude, reflection, and hope that accompany the turn of the year.

POEM TEXT: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/weekly-poem-new-years

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