Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charles Olson’s "Merce of Egypt" is a richly layered and evocative poem that blends mythological imagery, natural landscapes, and symbolic gestures to explore themes of embodiment, transformation, and survival. The poem reads as an incantation or ritualistic proclamation, drawing on Egyptian and agrarian motifs to construct a vision of interconnectedness between the human and the natural, the individual and the collective, and the past and the present. Through its fragmented structure and dense imagery, Olson creates a work that is simultaneously timeless and deeply rooted in the rhythms of life and labor.

The poem begins with a declarative tone: “I sing the tree is a heron / I praise long grass.” These opening lines establish a lyrical and celebratory mood, positioning the speaker as both an observer and participant in the natural world. The heron, a creature often associated with water and stillness, becomes a central figure, its slow and deliberate movements mirrored in the speaker’s actions. The lion skin and long skirt suggest a synthesis of human and animal, evoking a ceremonial or priestly figure deeply attuned to the cycles of nature. This blending of identities underscores the poem’s central theme: the dissolution of boundaries between the human and the elemental.

The speaker’s movements are deliberate and ritualistic, as seen in the description of raising the leg “as the bittern’s leg, raised as slow as his neck grows as the wheat.” This slow, measured motion connects the speaker’s body to the growth of wheat, symbolizing the harmony between human action and natural processes. The representation is described as “flat,” invoking the stylized art of ancient Egypt, where figures are rendered in profile with symbolic precision. The accompanying procession of women, a small boy, and a duck reinforces the ceremonial atmosphere, blending the sacred with the mundane.

In the second section, Olson shifts to a description of the natural environment: “the sedge as tall as I am, the rushes as I am.” The speaker’s identification with these elements—sedge, rushes, antelope, and carnivores—emphasizes the interconnectedness of all life. The imagery of hunters, beaters, and nets introduces a dynamic of pursuit and capture, reflecting both the cycles of predation in nature and the human act of imposing order on the wild. This section blurs the line between observer and participant, suggesting that the speaker is both hunter and hunted, both subject and object.

The third section takes on a more assertive tone, with the speaker proclaiming, “I speak downfall, the ball of my foot on the neck of the earth.” This line evokes both dominance and intimacy, suggesting a powerful yet grounded relationship with the land. The speaker identifies with both the natural and the cultivated: “I am the recovered sickle / with the grass-stains still on the flint of its teeth” and “I am the six-rowed barley they cut down.” These declarations position the speaker as both tool and harvest, embodying the cycles of labor and renewal.

The imagery of trees, roots, and waterfowl continues to reinforce the theme of interconnectedness. The boy, described as “the back of my legs is roots,” suggests a generational continuity, where the speaker’s identity extends into the earth and beyond. The speaker’s self-conception shifts fluidly, becoming waterfowl, wild boar, and hawkweed, each transformation reflecting a different aspect of the natural world’s cycles and seasons.

In the fourth section, the poem turns to themes of survival and resilience. The speaker hides in the swamps “to escape civil war, and marauding soldiers,” evoking a historical and political dimension. The new rites and processions described here symbolize renewal and adaptation, with the speaker carrying “wine made of dandelions” as an offering or token of this transformation. The connection between the speaker’s bones and the “new rites” suggests that the act of renewal is deeply personal and corporeal, tied to both the individual body and the collective body of tradition.

The final section ties the natural and ceremonial together with the image of flailing crops as spring floods rise. The speaker’s head becomes a tassel, part of the harvest and the cycle of renewal. This convergence of agricultural labor and human identity reinforces the poem’s central vision: a world where human life is inseparable from the rhythms of nature.

Structurally, the poem’s fragmented stanzas and shifting imagery mirror the fluidity of its themes. Olson’s language is dense and allusive, drawing on mythological and historical references while remaining grounded in the tactile and physical. The repetition of elemental motifs—water, grass, trees, and animals—creates a sense of cyclical movement, echoing the processes of growth, decay, and renewal.

"Merce of Egypt" is a profound exploration of humanity’s place within the natural world, rendered through the lens of myth and ritual. Olson’s use of Egyptian and agrarian imagery imbues the poem with a sense of timelessness, while its focus on transformation and survival resonates deeply with contemporary concerns. Through its intricate interplay of language, symbol, and structure, the poem invites readers to consider the fundamental interconnectedness of life and the enduring power of ritual as a means of navigating change and preserving continuity.

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