Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s "Dragon" is a richly symbolic and enigmatic poem, weaving together vivid natural imagery with an almost mythological narrative. The poem’s surreal depiction of bees carrying a snake through a garden invites readers into a liminal space where the ordinary becomes imbued with layers of menace, beauty, and mystery.

The poem opens with a striking image: "The bees came out of the junipers, two small swarms / The size of melons." This description immediately establishes a tension between the natural and the surreal. Bees, typically associated with industriousness and order, appear in an unusual configuration, their golden swarms likened to fruit. The visual splendor of this scene is underscored by the difficulty of perceiving it clearly in the "very bright" light, hinting at the elusiveness of the events that unfold.

At the center of the poem lies the snake, suspended between the two swarms of bees. The image is both arresting and disquieting: "The bees held up a snake, / Lifting each side of his narrow neck, just below / The pointed head." The snake’s limp body evokes both execution and coronation, suggesting themes of punishment, power, and transformation. Its dual symbolism—a creature of danger and fertility—adds complexity to the tableau. The bees’ collective strength and their silent, deliberate motion imbue the scene with a ritualistic quality, elevating it beyond the natural world into the realm of the mythical.

Kelly’s language intensifies the unease. The snake’s "tail dragging the ground" and its "oiled" green body evoke both sensuality and mortality. The poem’s comparison of the snake’s skin to "the way the male member / Is oiled by the female’s juices" introduces an intimate, corporeal dimension, connecting the scene to human desire and creation. Yet, this sensuality is offset by the ominous tone: "There was something deadly in it, / Or already dead. Something beyond the report / Of beauty." This duality—life and death, beauty and menace—pervades the poem, complicating any singular interpretation.

The setting itself mirrors the poem’s themes. The garden, a traditional symbol of growth and cultivation, becomes a liminal space where the extraordinary occurs. The imagery of the "sleeping swan," "dead roses nailed / To the wall," and "the small pond" evokes a sense of decay and suspended animation. The garden is not a place of idyllic harmony but one charged with foreboding, where beauty is marred by death and transformation.

As the bees and snake disappear, their absence leaves a residue of unease: "the garden smelled of broken fruit," and "a shadow lay for which there was no source." These details suggest an unresolved tension, as if the events have disrupted the natural order. The shadow, unexplained and "dividing the garden," becomes a symbol of the incomprehensible and the uncanny. Similarly, the description of the air as "like the air after a fire, or the air before a storm" underscores the sense of aftermath and anticipation, capturing a moment poised on the brink of revelation or destruction.

Kelly’s use of time is particularly noteworthy. The poem elongates the moment of observation—"the length of time it takes two swarms / Of bees to carry a snake through a wide garden"—allowing the reader to linger in the strangeness of the scene. This temporal suspension heightens the surreal quality of the narrative, making the bees’ task seem both laborious and otherworldly.

The title, "Dragon," further complicates the poem’s imagery and themes. Dragons, often symbolic of power, danger, and mystery, resonate with the snake’s mythical connotations. The title may suggest that the snake, carried by the bees, transcends its natural identity to become a creature of legend. Alternatively, the dragon could be a metaphor for the composite image of the bees and snake, a fusion of flight and serpentine movement, encapsulating the dualities that pervade the poem.

Ultimately, "Dragon" resists definitive interpretation, reveling instead in its evocation of the mysterious and the sublime. The poem’s central tableau—a collaboration between bees and snake—is a potent metaphor for transformation and the intertwining of creation and destruction. Through her precise and evocative language, Kelly crafts a world that is both familiar and alien, inviting readers to contemplate the fragile boundaries between the natural and the mythical, the beautiful and the terrifying.

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