Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

James Merrill's poem "Conservatory" is a richly layered exploration of fragility, beauty, and the inevitable forces that threaten both. Through vivid imagery and metaphor, Merrill delves into the tension between preservation and destruction, highlighting the delicate balance that defines our experiences of art, nature, and life itself.

The poem opens with an address to a "wastrel," a term that suggests someone who squanders resources or opportunities. This figure is warned that "nothing is not so wasted"—a phrase that implies the futility of trying to preserve everything, as all things eventually succumb to decay. The "shelters" mentioned, which "totter" and are covered in "damask," evoke a sense of opulence and protection that is on the verge of collapse. The comparison of these shelters to "roses tattered, waiting for the mistral" introduces the image of fragile beauty at the mercy of a destructive force. The mistral, a strong, cold wind that sweeps through southern France, becomes a metaphor for the inevitable, unpredictable forces that threaten to undo even the most carefully maintained beauty.

Merrill then contrasts this vulnerability with the image of a "red cape rippled by a mad bull's nostril." Here, the poem shifts to the arena of bullfighting, a spectacle where grace, danger, and violence intermingle. The "blowsy idiom" mentioned suggests a rough, unrefined language—one that matches the raw, primal energy of the bullring. The anger of the wind, described as "strange," is multifaceted, blowing "light" and "dark," "vicious" and "humdrum," indicating that the forces threatening beauty are not only powerful but also capricious and unpredictable.

The poem then adopts a tone of resigned acceptance: "Wryness is all, say, hearing the wind come, / And none of us is getting any younger." This line acknowledges the inevitability of aging and decay, a reality that cannot be escaped or ignored. The imagery of the "bull in a rosebed, bull in the arena" juxtaposes the tender, cultivated roses with the raw, untamed power of the bull. The bull, a symbol of primal energy and danger, invades spaces of beauty and cultivation, such as the "red room where the flowers are kept" and "Barcelona"—a city known for its vibrant, artistic culture.

Merrill’s reference to "rose behind the jalousies" evokes a sense of hidden beauty, protected yet vulnerable to the destructive forces outside. The "whine of blood" and the crowd's "olé" at the bullfight underscore the blend of violence and celebration inherent in the spectacle, where the bull's power and the matador's skill are both revered and feared.

The poem then returns to the roses, considering their potential for survival. The phrase "pleading rosefever" suggests a desperate desire to preserve the roses, to keep them in a "wide bowl" where they might be safe from the wind. Yet, Merrill acknowledges that "risk is finer than bargain," implying that the true beauty of the roses—and of life itself—lies in their exposure to risk, their vulnerability to the elements. This vulnerability is what makes them precious and delicate, not just something to be safeguarded at all costs.

The image of the bull "stomping out in France" with "thick ropes of roses" wreathed around him captures this tension between beauty and danger. The roses, symbols of delicate, cultivated beauty, are now entwined with the bull, a creature of raw power. The act of plucking the roses "back from the bull's black shoulder" suggests a delicate balance between destruction and preservation, where the goal is not to kill the bull (and thereby end the game) but to engage in a dance of risk and beauty.

Finally, Merrill speaks to the "delicacy" involved in this interplay, which is "a name / For the fighter less than for the skilled beholder." This suggests that true appreciation lies not in the raw act of fighting or preserving but in the ability to witness and understand the delicate balance between the two. The "skilled beholder" is the one who can appreciate the nuances of this balance, recognizing the beauty in both the cultivated rose and the dangerous bull, and understanding that both are necessary to create the full picture.

"Conservatory" is a meditation on the interplay between fragility and strength, preservation and destruction. Merrill's use of rich, contrasting imagery—roses and bulls, wind and shelter—creates a complex portrait of beauty that is at once delicate and resilient. The poem invites readers to consider the value of risk, the inevitability of decay, and the subtle art of appreciating the delicate balance that defines both nature and human experience.

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