Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Couture" by Mark Doty is a luxuriously descriptive poem that explores the intricate and opulent nature of appearances, both in art and the natural world. The poem is split into two parts, each delving into different aspects of visual beauty, adornment, and the profound human attraction to aesthetic pleasure. Doty's language is rich with textile metaphors, blending the worlds of nature, clothing, and art into a unified expression of life's decorative facade.

Part 1 of the poem opens with an evocative description of peony silks in wax-light, immediately setting a scene of delicate, luminous beauty. The use of terms like "gold," "apricot," and "rose" not only describes colors but evokes a sensory experience that blends sight with touch and even scent. Doty questions what to call this shimmering quality, cycling through "lumina, aurora, aureole," showcasing his poetic endeavor to name the unnameable quality of light and color that so captivates him.

This section continues to discuss historical art, particularly focusing on how the Old Masters portrayed their subjects in gowns and robes. Doty highlights a "penitent Magdalen" dressed in a yellow gown so lush it suggests the richness of what she has renounced, contrasting her spiritual penance with material opulence. The "boy angel," meanwhile, is described as grounded not by divine aspiration but by the earthly, sensory pleasure of his luxurious garments. This juxtaposition suggests that while these figures are part of religious narratives, their depiction in art celebrates human, worldly experiences—sensuality, texture, and beauty.

Doty uses these art depictions to argue that eternity might be "plainly nude," but human existence craves adornment, a "little dressing up." He portrays clothing as not just a cover but as a form of poetry and music, a necessary embellishment that transforms the "plain prose" of the human form into something exquisite and transcendent.

Part 2 shifts the focus from art to nature, asking rhetorically, "Nothing needs to be this lavish." Doty describes leaves with a richness of adjectives that might belong in a jeweler's vocabulary, likening a forest scene to a creation by Fabergé, imbued with cloisonné and enamel. This luxurious depiction of nature continues the theme that the world itself is dressed in its own kind of couture.

The poet then reflects on the audience for this natural bravura, suggesting that perhaps all we see is a grand illusion, "trompe l'oeil," meant to dazzle and captivate us. Doty questions the possibility of seeing beyond these lavish appearances, proposing that perhaps the "costume" is all there is to the show of life, the entirety of revelation we are offered.

As the poem concludes, autumn is personified as a grand performer in "torched and tumbled chiffon," a vivid, dramatic image that captures the essence of the season. The description of autumn as a seasoned actress in her extravagant gown performing for countless curtain calls under the "dusky, flattering rose" of the footlights rounds off the poem with a celebration of the world's inherent theatricality.

In "Couture," Mark Doty masterfully weaves a tapestry of visual splendor that questions and revels in the world's aesthetic pleasures. The poem itself acts as a piece of intricate clothing, each line a stitch that embellishes the reader's understanding of beauty, art, and the human need to adorn our surroundings and ourselves.

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