Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Richard Wilbur?s "Playboy" is a sharp and intricate poem that examines the act of gazing and the interplay between artifice, desire, and power. Through its precise imagery and sophisticated language, the poem offers a layered commentary on voyeurism, commodification, and the tension between fantasy and reality. Set within the context of a stockroom, the poem juxtaposes the mundane with the idealized, drawing attention to the dissonance between the observer’s world and the image he consumes.

The opening lines situate the stock-boy as an unassuming yet absorbed figure, perched “high on his stockroom ladder like a dunce.” This initial simile is pointedly ironic, suggesting his position is both ridiculous and lofty, as if he occupies a realm of detached study. Yet, his immersion in the magazine reveals an intellectual engagement likened to that of Archimedes, the famed mathematician. The humorous comparison—“as lost in curves as Archimedes once”—is double-edged, invoking both the literal curves of geometry and the metaphorical curves of the naked woman on the page. This sets the tone for the poem’s blend of wit and critique, highlighting the stock-boy’s absorption in something simultaneously banal and profound.

The second stanza underscores his mechanical detachment from his surroundings: “Sometimes, without a glance, he feeds himself.” The description of his hand as a “mother-bird in flight” is both tender and absurd, emphasizing his singular focus on the magazine. This depiction of an almost instinctive, animalistic routine reflects the power of the image to captivate and isolate him from the real world.

The poem then delves into the visual contents of the glossy page, revealing a scene that is both lush and surreal. The “pink-papered alcove” with its “rich / Welter of pelts and pillows on the floor” evokes a setting of over-the-top decadence, a deliberately constructed fantasy space designed to seduce the viewer. The woman within this tableau, kneeling “in a supple pose,” is depicted holding a goblet with an air of ritualistic elegance. Yet, the ornate details—“an exploding rose,” the “long-necked crystal vase,” and the “tasseled and vermilion cloth”—add a layer of theatricality that underscores the artificiality of the scene. The use of rich, almost excessive imagery mirrors the sensory overload intended to overwhelm and enthrall the viewer.

Wilbur’s focus then shifts from the elaborate setting to the woman’s body, which is scrutinized in a manner that blends admiration with a critique of objectification. The narrator questions the stock-boy’s preoccupation: “Or is he pondering her perfect breasts?” This line, with its almost clinical phrasing, highlights the reductive nature of the gaze, which isolates and fetishizes individual aspects of the woman’s form. Her “floodlit skin,” described as “so sleek and warm / And yet so strangely like a uniform,” captures the tension between the sensual allure of the image and its constructed, performative nature. The woman’s skin becomes a kind of costume, rendering her both enticing and depersonalized.

The poem’s final stanza addresses the stock-boy’s deeper engagement with the woman’s face and expression. Here, the image transcends its purely physical allure to become an embodiment of control and surrender. The woman’s smile is frozen “at just that smiling instant when her soul, / Grown sweetly faint, and swept beyond control, / Consents to his inexorable will.” This moment captures a manufactured fantasy of submission, wherein the woman appears to relinquish agency to the observer. The phrase “inexorable will” critiques the implicit power dynamic, highlighting how the image caters to the viewer’s desire for dominance and control, even in the realm of imagination.

Structurally, the poem’s use of traditional quatrains and consistent rhyme reflects Wilbur’s characteristic formal elegance, which contrasts with the chaotic decadence of the described image. This tension between form and content mirrors the central theme of artifice versus reality, emphasizing how carefully constructed the woman’s allure—and the stock-boy’s experience of it—truly is.

"Playboy" is ultimately a meditation on the nature of gazing, fantasy, and commodification. Through its layered description of the stock-boy’s absorption in the magazine, Wilbur critiques both the reductive tendencies of the male gaze and the broader cultural forces that create and sustain such fantasies. The poem’s closing lines, with their focus on the woman’s frozen expression of submission, underscore the troubling power dynamics embedded in the act of looking. At the same time, Wilbur’s use of humor and richly detailed imagery invites readers to reflect on the absurdity and complexity of such moments, where desire and artifice intersect in ways that reveal as much about the observer as they do about the observed.

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