Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

William Stanley Merwin's poem "Anabasis: 2" continues to explore themes of dislocation, transformation, and the inexorable passage of time. Through rich, intricate imagery and a tone that oscillates between despair and hope, Merwin captures the psychological and existential journey of a group navigating through the unknown.

The poem begins with a sense of transition and the fading of familiar landmarks: "After the first night and bare morning passed / We remembered the gray wings of a gull / That traced us seaward when our eyes had lost / The thread of last whiteness where the land fell." This opening evokes a feeling of disorientation and loss, as the travelers move away from the known into an uncertain seascape. The gray gull symbolizes a tenuous connection to what they have left behind.

As the journey progresses, the travelers confront the harsh realities of their voyage: "After the first days, one when the world turned / Dark and the rain came, we remembered fires / In lost houses; we stared and lurched half-blind / Against new darkness, neither night's nor ours." The description of darkness and rain creates an atmosphere of confusion and vulnerability. The remembered fires in lost houses hint at a past filled with warmth and security, now replaced by an overwhelming and alien darkness.

Merwin delves into the psychological endurance required to survive such a journey: "We survived the selves that we remembered; / We have dozed on gradual seas where slowly / The hours changed on the silence, and a word, / Falling, expired in the sufficient day." The travelers endure by shedding parts of their former identities, floating through time in a state of semi-consciousness. The idea of a word expiring in silence suggests a loss of communication and understanding, further emphasizing their isolation.

The poem then touches on the fleeting nature of visions and hopes: "Sometimes through a mirage or evening rose / Towers where the myths sleep and the lanterns; / We fled a saeculum what sick repose, / But woke at morning where the fever burned." These lines convey moments of illusory respite that quickly dissipate, leaving the travelers to confront the harsh reality of their situation once more.

Merwin continues to explore the theme of cyclical violence and salvation: "We have slid on a seizure of the wind / To spume-blindness where our fear became / A whirling without chronicle or end; / There we circled and bent the thought of time / Till, saved by violence from violence." The travelers experience a chaotic, unending cycle of fear and motion, ultimately finding salvation through a form of violence, which paradoxically brings them relief.

The imagery of birds recurs, symbolizing fleeting moments of clarity and guidance: "In wake of storms we came where the gulls cry / Allusions to dim archipelagoes; / We coaxed our souls and sembled where we lay / The last exhaustion, as the buzzard knows." The gulls and buzzards suggest a navigation through metaphorical and literal storms, seeking rest and understanding amid chaos.

Merwin also addresses the theme of renewal and hope: "We saw the islands of a new season. / We were made young with watching, and our eyes / Believed a garden and reserve where swung / The fruits that from all hungers immunize." The sight of new islands brings a sense of rejuvenation, as the travelers find hope in the possibility of a fresh start.

However, the poem ends on a more somber note, acknowledging the limitations of their journey and the persistence of challenges: "The serpent holds and the whirlwind harries / The last oceans where the drowned pursue / The daze and fall of fabulous voyages." The image of the serpent and the whirlwind suggests ongoing threats and the inevitability of struggle.

"Anabasis: 2" by William Stanley Merwin is a profound exploration of the human condition, capturing the tension between hope and despair, memory and forgetting, movement and stasis. Through its evocative imagery and reflective tone, the poem invites readers to contemplate the complexities of existential journeys and the search for meaning in the face of uncertainty. Merwin's masterful use of language and metaphor creates a rich tapestry that resonates with the universal human experience of navigating through life's uncharted waters.

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