Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Maxine Kumin’s "Almost Spring, Driving Home, Reciting Hopkins" is a reflective meditation that intertwines the themes of seasonal renewal, the power of poetry, and the interplay between intellect and imagination. Drawing upon the influence of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Kumin creates a rich, multilayered landscape where natural imagery and the rhythms of thought merge to explore the mysteries of transformation and continuity.

The poem opens with a direct reference to Louis Untermeyer’s commentary on Gerard Manley Hopkins, calling him a “devout but highly imaginative Jesuit.” Kumin’s insertion of Untermeyer’s description serves as both a framing device and a subtle provocation, questioning whether the terms “devout” and “highly imaginative” are indeed contradictory. This initial inquiry sets the stage for the poem’s deeper exploration of paradoxes: between intellect and emotion, order and chaos, and the frozen stillness of winter giving way to the kinetic energy of spring.

Kumin invokes Hopkins’s poetic sensibilities early on through the phrase “shook foil,” a direct echo of Hopkins’s God’s Grandeur. The imagery of energy and movement—sharp rivers starting to flow—captures the cusp of change, a moment poised between the static and the dynamic. This natural awakening mirrors the speaker’s intellectual engagement with Hopkins’s work, where language itself becomes a tool for renewal and re-creation. The melding of Hopkins’s “sprung rhythm” with Kumin’s contemporary voice highlights the enduring vitality of poetic forms.

The landscape described in the poem is vividly drawn yet softened by time and memory: “gray-blue, snow-pocked begins to show its margins.” Kumin’s attention to the margins—the transition spaces where one season bleeds into another—parallels the way the poem itself navigates between literary tradition and personal reflection. Her description of the hills as “fickle, freckled, mounded fully and softened by millennia into pillows” imbues the natural world with a tactile, almost human warmth, suggesting a kinship between the speaker and the landscape.

The act of reciting Hopkins while speeding down the interstate creates a juxtaposition between movement and introspection. The “priest’s sprung metronome” becomes a metaphorical rhythm that mirrors both the ticking of time and the recurrence of life’s cycles. This rhythm, “repeating how old winter is,” emphasizes the enduring nature of both seasons and poetic traditions. Kumin’s choice to dwell on this rhythmic repetition underscores the connection between the external landscape and the internal cadences of memory and thought.

As the speaker drives into her “own hills,” there is a palpable sense of homecoming, a return not just to a physical place but also to a state of familiarity and recognition. The hills, described as “pillows,” suggest comfort and rest, a sharp contrast to the energy of the melting rivers. This interplay between motion and rest mirrors the emotional shifts within the speaker herself, who is both moved by the vibrancy of spring and grounded by the constancy of the landscape.

The final lines of the poem culminate in a question drawn from Hopkins: “what is all this juice and all this joy?” This rhetorical flourish encapsulates the essence of the poem, linking the exuberance of spring’s renewal to the deeper existential wonder that animates both Kumin’s and Hopkins’s work. The “juice” and “joy” signify life’s irrepressible energy and its capacity for delight, even amidst the cyclic inevitability of decay and rebirth. By framing the question within Hopkins’s language, Kumin aligns her poetic inquiry with his spiritual and imaginative framework, suggesting that the search for meaning is itself a kind of renewal.

At its heart, "Almost Spring, Driving Home, Reciting Hopkins" is a celebration of the enduring power of poetry to illuminate and transform our understanding of the world. Kumin’s engagement with Hopkins serves as both homage and dialogue, bridging the distance between past and present, tradition and innovation. The poem’s rich imagery and rhythmic echoes create a dynamic interplay between nature’s physical transformations and the intellectual and emotional responses they inspire.

In this work, Kumin reminds us of the interconnectedness of all things: the seasons with our own inner rhythms, the physical landscape with the landscapes of thought, and the voices of past poets with the contemporary quest for meaning. Through her deft handling of form and theme, Kumin offers a meditation that is both personal and universal, a testament to the enduring vitality of poetry in helping us navigate the complexities of change and continuity.

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