Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Robert Wrigley’s "Soundings" is a vivid and imaginative exploration of sound, memory, and the intricate connections between natural elements and human perception. Through the image of a weathered gourd birdhouse turned into a wind instrument, the poem constructs a layered meditation on the unexpected harmonies of the world and their resonance in the human mind. Wrigley’s use of rich imagery, musical language, and subtle humor creates a piece that oscillates between whimsy and introspection.

The poem opens with the image of the birdhouse, a repurposed gourd, wired to the shack’s post. Once intended as a refuge for birds, it has been transformed by time and weather into a "mournful wind instrument." The birdhouse, now sounding with "a slightly sharp D / and an equally sharp F," produces a natural symphony, its tones resonating through the structure of the shack and the environment. The specificity of the musical notes—verified by the speaker’s guitar tuner—lends the scene both a playful precision and an anchoring reality, bridging the natural and the man-made.

The interplay of sound becomes central to the speaker’s reflection. The gourd’s resonance influences the speaker’s thoughts, shifting them to "B-flat, a difficult key for all but the clarinet." This detail adds a layer of humor, as the speaker humorously interprets their own mental state as dictated by the tonal quality of the environment. The intrusion of the nuthatches, whose collective calls form a "minor chord," further enriches the auditory landscape, blending the gourd’s notes with the birds’ lament, creating a symphony of the natural world.

As the poem unfolds, it transitions into an extended metaphor of a ship at sea, carried forward by the "thrum of the rigging" and the "woo" of the winds. The imagery shifts to an imaginative seascape, where the mountain’s last snowdrift resembles "the back of a sounding whale." The speaker invokes characters like Daggoo and Pip, referencing Moby-Dick, to deepen the nautical metaphor. This invocation connects the poem’s themes of sound, exploration, and the interplay between natural forces and human endeavor to Melville’s own meditations on the mysteries of the sea.

The ship’s journey, powered by "music and wind," becomes a metaphor for navigating the unexpected and the unknown. The poem’s conclusion, with its declaration that the ship sails "away with birds," suggests a departure from conventional paths toward an embrace of nature’s serendipitous rhythms and harmonies. The speaker’s surrender to the "weirdness / of the ghost sea" evokes a sense of wonder and reverence for the interconnectedness of past and present, land and sea, sound and silence.

Wrigley’s use of free verse allows the poem to flow organically, mirroring the fluidity of the sounds and images it describes. The language alternates between precise description and playful invention, reflecting the speaker’s engagement with both the literal and the imaginative aspects of the scene. The tone is at once whimsical and contemplative, inviting readers to share in the speaker’s sense of discovery and delight.

"Soundings" is a celebration of the unexpected beauty in the ordinary and the transformative power of sound. Through the gourd-turned-instrument and its interplay with the surrounding environment, Robert Wrigley crafts a richly textured meditation on the way natural harmonies shape our perceptions and guide us into the unknown. The poem captures the essence of curiosity and wonder, leaving readers with a sense of having journeyed to a place both strange and familiar, guided by the music of the world itself.

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