Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

George Palmer Garrett Jr.'s poem "Some Enormous Surprises" delves into the paradoxes of history, memory, and the unsettling ways in which seemingly ordinary moments can prefigure extraordinary, often tragic, events. The poem is a reflection on the ironies of life, the unpredictability of fate, and the dark undercurrents that run beneath the surface of everyday existence. Through a blend of historical reflection and personal experience, Garrett explores the complexities of remembering and the ways in which the past continues to echo in the present.

The poem begins with a meditation on memory, specifically the fading collective memory of certain details from the past: "Not many now remember, / fewer and fewer remember." This opening sets the tone for the poem, emphasizing the gradual erosion of historical consciousness as time passes and those who lived through significant events grow old or die. The speaker acknowledges that some people never knew these details "in the first place, being lucky / and too young," while others have simply forgotten because "they are too few and too old / already." Yet, the speaker insists on the importance of remembering, placing himself in the role of a witness who retains knowledge that is slipping away from collective awareness.

The poem then recalls the "three reasons most often advanced / in those innocent days before the War / as strong and self-evident argument / that Adolf Hitler was crazy." These reasons—Hitler's strict vegetarianism, his opposition to smoking, and his belief in the Volkswagen as the car of the future—are presented with a tone of irony, highlighting the naiveté of those who dismissed him as merely eccentric. The speaker points out that these reasons, which might have seemed trivial or laughable at the time, now carry a deeper, more sinister significance in hindsight.

Garrett introduces the idea of divine irony with the lines, "Maybe God, in all his power and majesty, / can still enjoy the irony of it." This suggests a cosmic perspective in which the small details of human behavior, which seem insignificant or even humorous, are part of a larger, more complex plan that only a higher power could fully understand. The idea that God might "enjoy the irony" of such details adds a layer of ambiguity, as it raises questions about the nature of fate and the role of the divine in the unfolding of history.

The poem shifts to a personal recollection as the speaker stands "at the bar of a gasthaus / in Leonding, a country village near Linz." This setting is historically significant, as it is where Hitler's father lived and where the young Adolf himself spent part of his childhood. The speaker listens to "very old men / remember the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire," adding to the sense of the past lingering in the present. The mention of Hitler's father and the memory of young Adolf coming to the gasthaus to fetch beer for his father provides a haunting contrast between the innocence of childhood and the horrors that this same child would later unleash upon the world.

The image of young Adolf "standing there patiently waiting" and then "whistling in the dark" as he carries the beer home under the early stars is both ordinary and chilling. The detail that "everyone who knew agrees that then and later / he was a wonderful whistler, worth listening to" adds a disconcerting layer to the memory, as it humanizes someone who would later become a symbol of inhumanity. The speaker imagines this scene with a mix of curiosity and unease, picturing "lips puckered, / whistling tunes I do not know," surrounded by the comforting smells of "woodsmoke, cooking meat and cabbage." This nostalgic, almost idyllic image is starkly at odds with the future that awaits the "little pale-faced boy."

The poem concludes with a reflection on the unpredictability of life and the "enormous surprises" that God has arranged "for whom He has arranged some enormous surprises, / beyond any kind of imagining." The idea that such surprises were "beyond any kind of imagining" emphasizes the vast gulf between the innocence of childhood and the unimaginable horrors that the boy would later be responsible for. The speaker, now "drunk in this place, years from home," reflects on the surreal nature of this realization, as he grapples with the incomprehensible twists of fate that turn an ordinary child into one of history's most infamous figures.

"Some Enormous Surprises" is a meditation on the ironies and unpredictability of history, memory, and the human condition. George Palmer Garrett Jr. uses a combination of historical reflection and personal experience to explore the ways in which the past lingers in the present, and how seemingly insignificant details can take on profound meaning in hindsight. The poem invites readers to consider the complexities of memory, the role of fate, and the unsettling realization that the seeds of monumental events are often sown in the most ordinary of moments.

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