Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

James Merrill's "Accumulations of the Sea" is a richly layered poem that explores the relationship between the natural world and the human experience, particularly as it relates to memory, time, and the process of transformation. The poem is divided into three distinct sections, each offering a different perspective on the sea and its interactions with those who encounter it. Through vivid imagery and metaphor, Merrill delves into the ways in which the sea serves as both a repository and a mirror of human emotions and experiences.

The first section of the poem introduces a solitary hand falling upon the sand with "a seagull purpose." This image immediately suggests a connection between the human and the natural, as the hand mimics the movement of a seagull descending toward the beach. The hand's descent is described as "stenciled in its fall," implying that it leaves an impression, a mark, as it moves through the air and touches the sand. This act of touching the sand is likened to "descending the spiral staircase of association," a metaphor that evokes the process of memory, where one thought or image leads to another in a winding, recursive manner. The sand crumbles beneath the hand, symbolizing the fragility of memory and the passage of time.

The landscape described in this section is stark and bare, characterized by a "leanness in the atmosphere" and an "Euclidean monotony of bone." The imagery of bone and skeletons suggests death and decay, while the "music and chill perspective of the shore" evokes a sense of isolation and coldness. The beach, "peopled with solitudes," is a place where only remnants of life remain—dune-grass, dead starfish, and glass transformed from ornament to element. These "accumulations" are the detritus of the sea, evidence of its relentless, unceasing movement and the passing of time.

In the second section, Merrill shifts focus to a group of swimmers who engage in a playful, almost ritualistic interaction with the sea. The swimmers, "pink and shining," dive into the green shallows and explore the "miniature monsters of the reef." Their actions are described with a sense of freedom and joy, as they "float, eyes lidded in the sun" and "play at drowning, smilingly submerge." The sea, which in the first section was a place of solitude and decay, here becomes a medium for adventure and exploration, where the swimmers can lose themselves in its depths.

However, even in this playful interaction, there is an underlying sense of danger and the unknown. The swimmers "plummet upwards" from the "coldest darkness" of the sea's depths, suggesting a brush with something more ominous, perhaps even death. When they return to the shore, they are changed by their experience, "trampling on wind and waves" and "gazing upon the surface of the sea" with a newfound awareness. The act of wringing the water from their hair and rubbing the cold from their bodies signifies their re-entry into the world of the living, leaving behind the mysterious, unfathomable depths of the sea.

The final section of the poem returns to the theme of memory and the passage of time, this time focusing on the "skeletons of childhood" that are "sunken / In sockets of the beach." These skeletons, described as "oyster-white stone" and "bone, shell, sophistications of nostalgia," represent the remnants of past experiences, now fossilized and preserved by time. The "pearled illusion in the ear" that creates "familiar madrigals" suggests that these memories, though distant, still resonate with a kind of music, a rhythm that echoes through the passage of time.

The image of children barefoot with baskets, skimming flat stones and staring at the sky, contrasts with the earlier imagery of death and decay. These children are the next generation, engaging with the sea in their own way, unburdened by the weight of the past. The gull "carousing in angelic weather" and printing "white cascading octaves" on the sky represents a moment of transcendence, where the boundaries between sea, sky, and human experience blur and dissolve. The poem concludes with the sea remaining "unsounded," a reminder that, despite our attempts to understand and explore it, the sea—and by extension, time and memory—remains ultimately unknowable, its depths beyond our full comprehension.

"Accumulations of the Sea" is a meditation on the interplay between the natural world and the human experience, exploring how the sea serves as both a repository of memories and a symbol of the passage of time. Through its vivid imagery and thoughtful structure, the poem invites readers to consider the ways in which we interact with the world around us, how we leave our marks upon it, and how, in turn, it shapes and transforms us. The sea, in Merrill's poem, is a powerful force—at once a place of play and danger, memory and mystery, connection and isolation.

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