Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "The Wish for Eyes," Annie Finch crafts a meditation on perception, longing, and the interplay between the self and the external world. The poem employs imagery that shifts between the urban and natural, creating a landscape where dusk merges the solid and liquid into one fluid experience. Finch explores the desire for clarity and connection through a series of concise, poignant stanzas.

The poem opens with an intriguing image: "On solid hills through liquid dusk, / the city turns to rise." Here, the contrasting elements of solidity and liquidity underscore a sense of transformation and movement. The hills, emblematic of stability and permanence, stand firm, while dusk—a transitional time between day and night—flows like liquid around them. The city itself "turns to rise," as if it were a living entity awakening and ascending into the dusk. This transformation is given a sensory quality with "its purple touch," an atmospheric hue that often accompanies twilight.

In the second stanza, Finch draws the reader into the speaker’s inner world: "with its purple touch, to enter me. / I touch it with my eyes." The speaker describes a reciprocal relationship between herself and the city. The city's "purple touch" enters her, suggesting that she absorbs the city's energy and atmosphere. In return, she "touch[es] it with [her] eyes," emphasizing the importance of visual perception in understanding and connecting with the world.

The third stanza introduces a desire for understanding and wholeness: "Righted with wrongs, or even hard, / Let me be made of eyes." The phrase "righted with wrongs" suggests a balance between positive and negative experiences, acknowledging that both are integral to one's understanding of the world. "Or even hard" indicates resilience or strength, implying that the speaker wishes to face challenges with unwavering clarity. The repetition of the word "eyes" emphasizes the theme of perception and the desire to be fully attuned to one's surroundings.

In the final stanza, Finch returns to the imagery of dusk and the interplay between the natural and the human-made: "Gray nature, make a dusk of me, / and let me keep my ties." Here, "Gray nature" is both an entity and a concept, encompassing the natural world and the in-between state of dusk itself. By asking "make a dusk of me," the speaker expresses a wish to merge with the twilight, to exist in a state that blurs the boundaries between day and night, certainty and uncertainty. The closing line, "and let me keep my ties," conveys a desire to maintain connections with both the natural and urban worlds, despite the transformative power of dusk.

Structurally, the poem consists of four concise stanzas, each with two lines, and follows a consistent rhyme scheme (AABB). This simplicity and symmetry enhance the lyrical quality, creating a rhythmic flow that mirrors the movement between solid and liquid, day and night. Finch’s choice of words is deliberate and economical, allowing each image and phrase to resonate deeply.

Overall, "The Wish for Eyes" explores the nuances of perception and the desire to connect meaningfully with the world. Finch's imagery and rhythmic repetition create a dreamlike atmosphere that reflects the fluidity of dusk itself, while the speaker's longing to "be made of eyes" embodies a wish for clarity and insight amid the shifting landscapes of life. The poem becomes a poignant meditation on the search for understanding and the interplay between inner and outer worlds.

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