Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "Away Above A Harborful" celebrates a moment of everyday beauty, transforming a simple scene into a vivid and almost mythic tableau through the power of poetic language. Ferlinghetti’s characteristic lyrical style shines through in this poem, turning the act of hanging laundry into a transcendent and sensuous experience.

The poem opens with the image of a "harborful / of caulkless houses" situated "among the charley noble chimneypots." The term "caulkless houses" suggests the fragility and impermanence of the homes, emphasizing their seaside location. "Charley noble chimneypots," referring to the smokestacks on ships, further reinforces the nautical setting and hints at a world infused with maritime culture.

Ferlinghetti introduces a woman hanging laundry "upon the wind / hanging out her morning sheets / with wooden pins." This mundane domestic act is elevated to something more poetic as the woman "pastes up sails" on a rooftop "rigged with clotheslines," comparing her laundry to the sails of a ship. The nautical imagery continues with the mention of "caulkless houses" and "charley noble chimneypots," grounding the poem in the maritime context.

Ferlinghetti's admiration for the woman is evident in the lines "O lovely mammal / her nearly naked breasts / throw taut shadows / when she stretches up." The description of her "nearly naked breasts" emphasizes her natural beauty and sensuality, while the shadows they cast add a layer of visual richness to the scene. The phrase "so white washed sins" reflects the purifying quality of hanging laundry, suggesting that the act is not just physical but also metaphorical, cleansing her "sins" through this simple morning ritual.

The wind animates the laundry, wrapping it around her and "clinging to her skin." Ferlinghetti captures the sensuousness of the moment, writing that she is "So caught with arms / upraised / she tosses back her head / in voiceless laughter." The woman's uninhibited joy and the wind’s embrace transform her gesture into something almost divine, like a figure from classical mythology.

As she "shakes out gold hair," she becomes an embodiment of freedom and beauty, her gesture one of "choiceless" spontaneity. Her hair, described as "gold," reinforces her ethereal quality, as if she were a goddess on this rooftop overlooking the harbor.

Ferlinghetti broadens the scope of the poem by contrasting the intimate scene with the vast "reachless seascape spaces." In this space "between the blown white shrouds," metaphorically linking the laundry sheets to sails, "stand out the bright steamers / to kingdom come." The steamers serve as a reminder of the greater world beyond the harbor, drawing a connection between the domestic ritual on the rooftop and the expansive maritime world. The phrase "to kingdom come" suggests an otherworldly destination, emphasizing the transcendence of the scene.

In "Away Above A Harborful," Ferlinghetti transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, using vivid imagery and lyrical language to elevate a simple act into a celebration of life, beauty, and freedom. The poem captures a moment that is both deeply personal and universally resonant, embodying the spirit of the Beat Generation's desire to find joy and transcendence in the everyday. Through the juxtaposition of the intimate rooftop scene with the vastness of the seascape, Ferlinghetti creates a poetic vision that is at once grounded in reality and suggestive of the sublime.

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