Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "View at Evening," Robert Creeley crafts a scene that captures the quiet, introspective beauty of twilight, exploring the way natural landscapes resonate with emotional depth and memory. The poem’s imagery and rhythm evoke a moment that is both rooted in the present and tinged with nostalgia, as Creeley navigates between immediate perception and the evanescent quality of evening light.

The poem opens with the image of a “cut neat path out / to darkening / garden plot,” signaling the transition from the orderly and familiar into something less defined and more mysterious. The “cut neat path” suggests a human presence, a space carved out for movement or reflection, yet it leads toward a “darkening” garden—a place where light fades and clarity diminishes. This contrast between neatness and darkening evokes the tension between the known and the unknown, a common theme in Creeley’s work where the familiar gives way to introspection and ambiguity. The choice to describe it as a “garden plot” rather than simply a garden hints at something small, manageable, and personal, yet subject to the vast, natural forces of nightfall.

Creeley’s use of “old field’s forgot” further deepens this sense of decay and memory. The phrase suggests that the garden plot sits on what was once a larger, perhaps agricultural, landscape, now abandoned or overgrown. The word “forgot” brings with it a melancholic tone, as if the land itself holds memories that have been left behind. The forgotten field adds a layer of historical resonance, reminding the reader that landscapes carry the imprints of past lives and labor, and that what we see today is often shaped by what once was.

The next lines, “Far hedge row’s / growth goes / down the hill,” expand the scene, leading the reader’s eye away from the immediate path and into the distance. The “far hedge row” becomes a boundary, both a visual and symbolic line separating the garden plot from the wildness beyond. This row “goes / down the hill,” leading into a space that is both physically and emotionally removed from the speaker. As the “growth” of the hedge row “goes down the hill,” it takes on a sense of continuity and persistence, moving forward even as it fades from sight. The gradual descent down the hill reflects the poem’s movement from clarity into the blurred and indistinct, mirroring the fading light of evening.

The phrase “where blurred / trees depend” introduces a mysterious quality to the scene. The trees are “blurred,” perhaps by distance or by the gathering dusk, and the word “depend” is ambiguous. It could suggest that the trees lean or droop, weighted by age or season, or it could imply a kind of reliance, as if the trees are bound to the land or to each other. This choice of language gives the landscape a sense of suspended stillness, where elements of the scene exist in a delicate balance, each depending on the others for context and meaning.

In the line “find an end / in distance / under dark clouds,” Creeley directs the reader’s attention further out, suggesting an expansive, unreachable horizon. The trees “find an end,” implying that there is a limit or conclusion to this natural growth, but it is an end that exists “in distance,” beyond immediate reach. The “dark clouds” looming above contribute to a sense of finality and foreboding, as if the scene is enveloped in a larger, darker force. These clouds create a visual and emotional boundary, encapsulating the scene in a space that feels both finite and infinite—bounded by darkness, yet open to the unknown.

Creeley then introduces “The upright space, / place,” describing the physical and existential quality of the landscape. The words “upright space” and “place” suggest a dimensionality, as if the scene is not merely an image but a tangible environment, a location with presence and meaning. This “upright space” fades from sight, signifying the gradual loss of clarity as evening deepens, and “sees echoes” of what was once visible. This fading of sight evokes the fragility of memory and the ephemeral nature of experience; as light diminishes, the landscape transforms, leaving behind only “echoes”—faint impressions of what was once clear and vibrant.

The final lines—“green, green, green”—conclude the poem with a refrain that emphasizes the persistence of nature even as it fades from view. The repetition of “green” highlights the vitality of the landscape, a color associated with growth, life, and continuity. Yet, in this twilight scene, the green is muted, a lingering impression rather than a vibrant presence. This triple repetition of “green” could also suggest the way memory works, holding onto fragments and pieces, repeating them in an attempt to retain something that is slipping away.

In "View at Evening," Creeley captures the quiet poignancy of an evening landscape, using simple, restrained language to evoke complex emotions of nostalgia, impermanence, and reflection. The poem is both a meditation on the act of seeing and a reminder of the transient beauty of nature, which holds echoes of the past even as it recedes into darkness. Through this detailed observation of a moment in twilight, Creeley explores the tension between presence and absence, clarity and obscurity, and the persistent yet fading impressions that define our experience of the world.

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