Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Wallace Stevens’ "The Men That Are Falling" is a haunting meditation on death, desire, and sacrifice. Written with Stevens’ characteristic blending of the abstract and the visceral, the poem delves into the existential experience of war, loss, and the ineffable desires that drive human life and death.

The poem opens with an image of celestial harmony: "God and all angels sing the world to sleep." This serene introduction contrasts starkly with the subsequent visceral and chaotic imagery. The mention of crickets and the moon situates the scene in a nocturnal landscape, where natural sounds and celestial light frame the human drama of desire and memory. The moon, often a symbol of reflection and longing, "burns in the mind on lost remembrances," suggesting that the past is inescapable and sears itself into the consciousness of the speaker.

Stevens shifts the focus to an individual lying in bed, troubled by the intensity of his thoughts and desires. The repeated imagery of leaning on his elbows and staring at a black pillow evokes a sense of restless introspection, a man grappling with unfulfilled longing. The catastrophic room, described as "beyond despair," becomes a metaphor for the internal chaos of the human mind, where the boundaries between desire and despair blur.

The central question, "What is it he desires?" remains unanswered, capturing the elusiveness of human yearning. The speaker acknowledges the paradox of existence: "Yet life itself, the fulfillment of desire." Life is depicted as a relentless striving, symbolized by the "grinding ric-rac" of its machinery. This relentless motion underscores the inexorable push of human desires, even as their exact nature remains obscured.

The poem pivots to an arresting image: a severed head on a pillow. This head belongs to one of "the men that are falling," a stark reminder of war and mortality. The figure, both specific and universal, embodies the cost of belief and sacrifice. The head, thick-lipped and rebellious, speaks "the speech / Of absolutes," suggesting that the ultimate truths of existence are communicated not through words but through actions and sacrifices. The man’s death becomes a declaration, a manifestation of his love for earth rather than heaven—a profound devotion to the tangible and temporal over the abstract and eternal.

The phrase "Taste of the blood upon his martyred lips" underscores the visceral reality of sacrifice. The martyr’s death is presented as both an individual act of belief and a universal statement about the human condition. Stevens critiques those who merely observe or exploit such sacrifice—the "pensioners," "demagogues," and "pay-men"—challenging their detachment from the profound meaning behind such acts.

The closing lines return to the dreamer, bent over words that strive to capture "life’s voluble utterance." Here, Stevens links the act of creation, whether through poetry or thought, to the fundamental human endeavor to make sense of existence. The wind, a recurring motif, represents the transient and ungraspable forces of life that continue to blow over the living and the dead alike.

Structurally, the poem’s free verse mirrors its thematic exploration of uncertainty and flux. The irregular rhythms and fragmented imagery evoke the disjointed thoughts of the speaker, reflecting the chaotic interplay of memory, desire, and mortality. Stevens’ use of repetition, such as "This leaning on his elbows on his bed," creates a hypnotic rhythm that underscores the speaker’s obsessive introspection.

Thematically, "The Men That Are Falling" grapples with the tension between the spiritual and the earthly, the eternal and the transient. The men who fall in battle do so not for divine rewards but for the love of the tangible world, for the earth itself. This devotion to the physical over the metaphysical aligns with Stevens’ broader poetic philosophy, which often privileges the immediate and sensory over abstract ideals.

The poem’s focus on the act of speech—"the immaculate syllables" spoken through deeds—underscores Stevens’ belief in the transformative power of human actions and expressions. By juxtaposing the abstract (God, angels, absolutes) with the concrete (the severed head, the black pillow), Stevens creates a layered meditation on the intersection of belief, sacrifice, and the ineffable nature of human longing.

In "The Men That Are Falling," Stevens invites readers to confront the profound realities of mortality and sacrifice. The poem’s interplay of desire and despair, memory and immediacy, challenges us to reflect on the meaning of life and death. Through its vivid imagery and philosophical depth, the poem asserts that human existence, with all its struggles and contradictions, finds its ultimate expression in the act of living fully and loving the world enough to embrace its impermanence.

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