Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Frederick Louis MacNeice’s poem "Ravenna" offers a reflection on the speaker's visit to the historic Italian city, known for its Byzantine mosaics and rich cultural past. Through vivid imagery and a tone of contemplative distance, the poem juxtaposes the splendor of Ravenna’s artistic and architectural achievements with the decay and flatness of the modern world surrounding it. The speaker's journey from Venice to Ravenna is marked by a sense of fading perception, as if the grandeur of previous experiences—coming from Greece and Venice—has dulled his senses, leaving him unable to fully appreciate the city’s famed mosaics and historical relics. This tension between glory and decline, past and present, defines the poem's exploration of Ravenna’s unique place in the historical and cultural landscape.

The poem opens with a question, "What do I remember of my visit to Ravenna?" signaling that the speaker is about to recount his impressions, colored by time and reflection. The answer begins with a personal observation about his state of mind, suggesting that the speaker's experience in Ravenna is inevitably shaped by what came before: "Firstly, / That I had come from Venice where I had come from Greece / So that my eyes seemed dim and the world flat." The progression from Greece to Venice to Ravenna reflects a journey through layers of history and culture, but it also implies a diminishing effect on the speaker’s ability to see and experience the world with fresh eyes. Greece, as the cradle of Western civilization, and Venice, with its vibrant art and history, seem to have overwhelmed the speaker to the point that Ravenna’s unique qualities appear muted and diminished.

However, despite this initial sense of flatness, the speaker is struck by the mosaics of Ravenna: "Secondly, / That after Tintoretto’s illusory depth and light / The mosaics knocked me flat." Tintoretto’s art, known for its dynamic compositions and use of light, contrasts sharply with the solidity and stillness of the mosaics in Ravenna. The speaker acknowledges the power of these mosaics, which stand in stark contrast to the fluidity of Tintoretto’s work. While Tintoretto’s paintings are about illusion and movement, the mosaics are direct and unyielding: "There they stood." This solidity is further emphasized by the reference to the empress Theodora, a figure immortalized in one of the city’s most famous mosaics in the Basilica of San Vitale. The speaker describes Theodora as both majestic and fearsome, a "self-made empress" who patronized religious factions and wielded political power, including the authority to "have people impaled." The juxtaposition of her larger-than-life mosaic image and her brutal historical reality underscores the tension between the static, glorified representations of the past and the darker truths that lie beneath.

The speaker then shifts to another aspect of Ravenna’s history: "the long / Lost naval port of Caesar, surviving now in the name / In Classe." The port, once a symbol of Rome’s naval power, is now only a remnant, its grandeur reduced to a name. The sea, which once made the city a vital hub, "today is behind the scenes / Like his Liburnian galleys." This retreat of the sea mirrors the broader decline of Ravenna and the empires it once served—Rome and Byzantium. MacNeice captures this slow decay, noting how "What went wrong / With Byzantium as with Rome went slowly, their fame / Sunk in malarial marsh." The image of fame sinking into a malarial swamp evokes a sense of gradual decline, as the once-great empires faded into insignificance, overtaken by natural forces and the passage of time. The flat lands around Ravenna, once filled with the power and influence of empire, are now dominated by a sugar refinery and a church, "Sant’ Apollinare in Classe," symbols of modern industry and religion that pale in comparison to the city’s former glory.

The poem concludes with the speaker’s lingering impressions of Ravenna: "What do I remember of Ravenna? / A bad smell mixed with glory, and the cold / Eyes that belie the tesselated gold." This final image encapsulates the duality of the city—its past grandeur, represented by the "tesselated gold" of its mosaics, is undercut by the present reality of decay and detachment. The "bad smell" evokes the physical and moral rot that has settled over the city, while the "cold / Eyes" suggest a sense of lifelessness or indifference. Despite the brilliance of its art and history, Ravenna is no longer a place of vitality but rather one where the remnants of glory are preserved in a frozen, unfeeling state.

In "Ravenna," MacNeice presents a complex meditation on the passage of time and the inevitable decline of even the most powerful civilizations. The city’s mosaics, while magnificent, serve as a reminder of the impermanence of human achievements. Through his reflections, the speaker confronts the tension between artistic immortality and the harsh realities of history, capturing both the allure and the desolation of a once-great city that has faded into the margins of modern life.

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