Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Linda Hogan’s poem "Saving" delves into the human tendencies of preservation, memory, and the delicate balance between holding onto the past and embracing the passage of time. In this work, Hogan uses personal and familial imagery to explore how we save things—whether objects, moments, or people—and the emotional and spiritual weight that accompanies these acts of preservation. Through a blend of everyday imagery and more ancient, spiritual symbols, Hogan examines the complexities of what is kept and what is lost, and how both shape our sense of self.

The poem opens with the simple yet poignant image of "my good clothes hang in the back of the closet." The clothes, saved from "shabbiness," are preserved in the same way that Hogan compares to her daughter "put[ting] an apple aside" and her mother "saved her best towels for the very last." These acts of saving, preserving, or withholding, are intimate gestures tied to memory, love, and perhaps a desire to hold onto something precious. The idea that the clothes are saved for a "last" moment or an event that might never come is infused with both a sense of anticipation and sadness, as though preservation is itself an act of longing for a time that is no longer fully attainable.

The speaker then shifts focus to a societal observation: "All these years the dandies have worn their Sunday best out on Friday." Here, the "dandies" are presented as those who, in their pursuit of appearance and social expectations, have worn their finest clothes prematurely, in contrast to the speaker’s own act of saving. The “slender hands and shoes too nice for wear” are worn down by the passage of time, yet there is a poignant vulnerability in the image of "walking down the street untied at day’s end." This visual presents the fraying of the idealized self, as societal facades are eventually undone. The line "don’t all days end alike with dark and rest and children’s prayers for life rising up beyond the next and next everything?" speaks to the cyclical nature of time and the inevitability of life’s repetitions, but also suggests an undying hope in the future, as children’s prayers for life continue, “rising up beyond the next.” This suggests a sense of continuity that contrasts with the poem’s more somber reflections.

Hogan continues, "Night unravels the calcium from bones," invoking the imagery of decay and erosion. The night, often symbolizing both rest and death, is the force here that slowly wears down the body, symbolized by the depletion of calcium from bones. This line introduces a theme of inevitable physical breakdown, which contrasts with the human desire to preserve or hold onto things—whether in the form of clothes, memories, or ideals. As the moths in the closet "are growing into dark holes they’ve eaten away from fine shirts," the image becomes more visceral. Moths, creatures associated with decay and the natural processes of destruction, serve as agents that dismantle what has been preserved. The "fine shirts," now "empty of heartbeats," are emblematic of the loss of life and vitality, of all that might have been lived for and all that is lost in the attempt to preserve it. The moths' actions parallel the inevitability of loss in the human experience—no matter how much we try to hold on, everything is subject to time's passage.

The following lines shift the focus to the symbolic, as Hogan introduces the "old world in canyons with blood women dancing on walls to the earth’s drum and the mother of deer and corn so light the insects appear." Here, Hogan evokes ancient, sacred imagery, bringing forth a connection to the earth and to the primal forces of life. The "blood women dancing" could reference ancestral figures, possibly symbolizing the eternal cycles of life, death, and rebirth. The "mother of deer and corn" ties into the idea of fertility, sustenance, and spiritual reverence for the natural world. These references suggest that the preservation of life, culture, and traditions is deeply rooted in the earth and the forces that transcend time.

The final image, "The invisible ones, when we step this way out of time, are all around us," brings the poem full circle. The "invisible ones" represent those entities, spirits, or forces that exist beyond the realm of human understanding, hovering around us as we move "out of time." This could reference ancestors, spirits of nature, or the unacknowledged energies of the world that shape existence in ways we may not fully comprehend. The suggestion that they are "all around us" implies that even in our attempts to save and preserve, we are surrounded by forces that exist beyond the realm of preservation.

In "Saving," Hogan’s reflections on preservation and loss are multifaceted. The poem explores the human urge to hold onto things, whether through physical objects or cultural practices, and contrasts this against the reality of time’s relentless passage. Hogan subtly critiques the way in which we attempt to freeze time—through material possessions or idealized versions of the past—while reminding us that decay, both physical and spiritual, is inevitable. Yet, there is an undercurrent of reverence for the ancient forces and invisible presences that transcend the material world, suggesting that what we save may not always be tangible, but may be found in the larger, unseen currents of life. Ultimately, the poem speaks to the tension between the human need to preserve and the understanding that all things, both physical and spiritual, are subject to the passage of time and the forces that shape them.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...