Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Hunter in an Arctic Midnight" by Norman Dubie is a deeply evocative and surreal poem that blends elements of the natural world, art, and the existential into a richly textured narrative. Dubie draws inspiration from the artistic style of Paul Klee, incorporating elements that evoke Klee's abstract techniques and thematic preoccupations with death and transformation. The poem oscillates between the concrete and the metaphorical, creating a vivid tableau that captures the essence of a moment both timeless and rooted in existential depth.

The poem opens with the image of a hunter clad in "a sea froth of lime," a striking visual that immediately sets a tone of otherworldliness. The "whiskers of the walrus" suggesting the stillness of the air adds a mystical quality, implying a connection between the hunter and the natural world he inhabits. This scene is not just a hunt but a profound interaction between man and nature, underscored by the silent communication and the deceptive calm.

Dubie skillfully uses the Arctic landscape, with its "blocks of greenish ice" and the misleading moonlight, to craft a backdrop that is both haunting and beautiful. The description of the boat made from cured skin and the hunter, "already been forgiven," introduces themes of survival, tradition, and the inevitable cycle of life and death. The hunter's invisibility to the walrus, facilitated by his understanding of how to position the harpoon, is portrayed not just as a tactic but as a dance of death, meticulous and steeped in the harsh realities of Arctic living.

The poem then takes a surreal turn with the hunter's head described as "something of a hive, abandoned by bees for a lateral golden wound in a sleeping lion." This imagery, rich and strange, transcends the immediate scene, suggesting the complexity of the hunter’s thoughts and perhaps his loneliness or the weight of his actions. Dubie admits to lying, using poetic license to transform the hunter's emptiness into something more poetic and filled with mythical resonances, further blurring the lines between reality and metaphor.

As the poem progresses, it delves into reflections on mortality and art, linking the narrative back to Paul Klee, who is depicted in the throes of his own mortality. Klee's dying moments, imagined through a stormy winter scene and his final hallucinatory visions of the sea as an afterlife, deepen the poem's exploration of death and the artist's relationship with creation and decay. Dubie captures this moment with poignant clarity, using the metaphor of a storm and the imagery of morphine-induced visions to reflect on the transcendental moments before death.

The poem closes on a haunting note with the nurse's confession of her love for the walrus, an admission that ties back to the theme of deep, inexplicable connections between beings. The imagery of the great pine windows rattling and the snow pushing against the door serves as a powerful metaphor for the boundary between life and the external forces of nature and time that we are all subject to.

"Hunter in an Arctic Midnight" is a profound meditation on the interconnectedness of life, art, and death. Dubie intertwines the literal and the symbolic to craft a narrative that is as much about the human condition as it is about the specific moments it depicts. The poem invites readers to reflect on the ways in which we construct meaning through art, nature, and our confrontations with mortality, making it a rich and multifaceted work that resonates on multiple levels.

POEM TEXT: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ordinary_Mornings_of_a_Coliseum/5fYq-PDjM2MC?q=NORMAN+DUBIE+%22THERE%27S+THE+OBESE+THREE-QUARTERS+MOON+OF+AQUINAS%22&gbpv=1&bsq=HUNTER%20IN#f=false

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