Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Frederick Louis MacNeice’s "Wessex Guidebook" is a vivid exploration of time, history, and the intersection between the ancient and modern in England’s rural landscapes. By focusing on the counties of Somerset and Dorset, and drawing on their rich historical and mythical associations, MacNeice contrasts the enduring forces of nature and human history with the often forgetful and indifferent present. The poem reflects on the passage of time, the persistence of ancient landmarks and traditions, and the way modern society disregards or disrespects its deep-rooted past.

The opening lines, "Hayfoot; strawfoot; the illiterate seasons / Still clump their way through Somerset and Dorset," introduce the central theme of the poem: the continuity of nature’s rhythms, indifferent to human progress. The "illiterate seasons" represent the natural cycles that persist unchanged, unaffected by the intellectual or technological developments of humanity. These seasons "clump" through the landscape, a verb that suggests a slow, deliberate movement that contrasts with the fast pace of modern life. The image of George the Third riding "his horse of chalk" further reinforces this sense of historical continuity. The king, now a symbol of a distant past, rides the famous chalk horse carved into the hills, seemingly moving forever towards "Windsor and incurable madness." This reference to George III’s mental decline adds a note of irony, as even royal power is subject to time’s decay.

MacNeice continues to layer history and myth, blending real and imagined pasts. The "ghosts of monks" who are now "too fat to walk" evoke the dissolution of the monasteries, their ruins now filled with fossil sea-shells, suggesting the passing of both spiritual and natural epochs. The Ten Commandments, "tinted red by a Fifteenth-Century fire," symbolize the lingering presence of moral and religious authority, now altered and eroded by time. Meanwhile, on a hill, yew trees "still furnish bows / For Agincourt," linking the landscape to England’s military history. Similarly, King Arthur, the legendary hero, lies "in green-grassed repose" beneath another hill, waiting to return and rescue Britain. These historical and mythical figures, though long gone, continue to haunt the landscape, their stories woven into the land itself.

The poem’s exploration of time deepens with the image of the "small museum," where "rare butterflies" and "green coins of Caracalla" are displayed alongside "the fading hand / Of one who chronicled a fading world." Here, MacNeice draws attention to the fragility of human efforts to preserve history. The Roman coins, ancient tools, and delicate butterflies are preserved, but the chronicler who recorded these remnants belongs to a "fading world." Outside, the "long roads" built by the Romans "point across the land" to barrows and vanished barracks, highlighting the impermanence of even the most grandiose human endeavors.

The modern world’s relationship with this history is depicted with a critical edge. The "thatchpoll numskull rows of limestone houses," modernized with "plate glass windows," symbolize a disconnection from the past. These houses, with their modern, deadened exteriors, "despise their homebrewed past" and ignore the local village clock, instead deferring to the distant and authoritative "Big Ben." This shift from local to national symbols suggests a homogenization of culture, where the unique, local history is disregarded in favor of a more abstract and impersonal sense of time and identity. The ringing of Big Ben announces not just the passage of time, but the recurring tendency to "plough up tumuli," to destroy ancient burial mounds, in pursuit of progress.

Yet, despite this modernization, the "illiterate seasons" remain indifferent. The poem closes with a powerful assertion of nature’s timelessness and autonomy. The seasons "smoke their pipes in swallow-hole and hide-out," untouched by tractors, jets, Roman roads, or flint axes. MacNeice underscores the fact that, while humans might imagine themselves at the center of history, the seasons—nature itself—remain aloof. They "need not even forget" humanity because, though they once "fostered man," they "never loved him." This final line encapsulates the poem’s central theme: while human history, mythology, and progress are bound to the land, the natural world operates on its own terms, indifferent to human presence and concerns.

In "Wessex Guidebook", MacNeice reflects on the passage of time and the complex relationship between history, nature, and modernity. The poem offers a critique of the way contemporary society often disregards its past, while nature’s cycles persist unchanging. Through rich imagery and a blending of myth and history, MacNeice presents a landscape that holds the memory of centuries, even as modern life moves on, often forgetting the depth and meaning of the land beneath it.

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