Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Ejaculation" by Elinor Wylie, the speaker explores the intense and almost violent process of creating poetry or capturing fleeting inspiration. The poem is filled with vivid, almost frantic imagery, capturing the rush of seizing words from the air, from nature, and from the depths of the speaker's own mind. Wylie uses metaphorical language to convey the urgency, the struggle, and the exhilaration involved in the creative act, making the poem itself an exploration of artistic creation and the tension between the ethereal and the concrete.

The poem begins with the speaker in a state of urgency: “In this short interval to tear / The living words from dying air.” The phrase "living words" suggests that language, or the ideas behind the words, is vibrant and vital, yet it is also fleeting—"dying air" implies the brevity and transience of inspiration. The speaker feels the need to act quickly to capture these words before they slip away. This opening establishes the tension of the creative process: the race against time and the ephemeral nature of inspiration.

The speaker then compares this process to a hunter or fisher, saying “To pull them to me, quick and brave / As swordfish from a silver wave.” Here, the words are likened to swordfish, sleek and elusive, requiring skill and daring to capture. The comparison to swordfish, known for their speed and sharpness, emphasizes the difficulty and precision involved in grasping the fleeting ideas that the speaker seeks to express. The metaphor of the "silver wave" suggests that the words come from an expansive, almost untamable source—perhaps the realm of the unconscious or the vastness of language itself.

The speaker continues by describing the act of pulling the words into a suffocating "vault," further highlighting the tension between capturing inspiration and the danger of stifling it. “To drag them dripping, cold and salt / To suffocation in this vault” creates an image of words as living entities being confined, possibly losing their vitality in the process. The "vault" symbolizes both the mind and the page—places where words are preserved but also trapped, transformed from something fleeting and alive into something static and controlled.

In the following lines, “To shake them down like hazel-nuts / Or golden acorns from an oak,” the speaker uses natural imagery to depict the process of gathering words. Hazel nuts and acorns are organic, tangible symbols of the harvest—symbols of fruitfulness and potential. The oak tree, "whose twigs are flame above the smoke," suggests that the words are both natural and elevated, coming from a tree that is powerful and alive, symbolizing the vitality and richness of the language the speaker is trying to capture. This imagery suggests that the words are not only difficult to reach but also have the potential to be nourishing, fruitful, and transformative.

The line “To snatch them suddenly from dust / Like apples flavoured with the frost / Of mountain valleys marble-cupped,” introduces a new layer to the metaphor. The image of apples flavored with frost connects the act of creation to both the fleeting nature of time and the sharpness of winter. The "mountain valleys marble-cupped" conjures an image of something precious and rare, suggesting that the words the speaker is reaching for are equally rare and valuable, like the apples that grow in a secluded, pristine place.

As the poem progresses, the speaker’s pursuit of words becomes more desperate and energetic. “To leap to them and interrupt / Their flight that cleaves the atmosphere / As white and arrowy troops of deer / Divide the forest”— these lines evoke a sudden, forceful movement, like a hunter leaping to intercept something in mid-air. The comparison of the words to "troops of deer" adds an element of natural beauty, grace, and speed to the words the speaker is trying to capture. The "white and arrowy" qualities of the deer suggest something pure and quick-moving, impossible to catch easily.

The poem culminates in the speaker’s desire to make their words “Like feathers torn from living birds!” This final image intensifies the sense of struggle and urgency, suggesting that words, once captured, lose something of their vitality and life. Feathers torn from living birds represent something that is simultaneously beautiful and violent—an act of creation that is also an act of destruction.

“Ejaculation” is a powerful exploration of the creative process, using vivid metaphors to convey the energy, violence, and urgency involved in capturing inspiration. Through imagery drawn from nature, the poem emphasizes the tension between the desire to create something lasting and the transience of inspiration itself. The words that the speaker seeks are elusive, fleeting, and often beyond the grasp of language, yet the act of creating demands a kind of forceful intervention, an interruption of the natural flow of thought and expression. Wylie’s use of dynamic, often aggressive imagery makes the act of creation seem both a beautiful and difficult endeavor, where language is both a product of nature and a tool of human will.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...