Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Paul Muldoon's poem "Paul Klee: They’re Biting" is an intricate and multilayered reflection on perception, communication, and the interplay between art and reality. Inspired by Paul Klee's painting "They're Biting", the poem delves into how art can evoke both meaning and ambiguity, while also touching on themes of connection, memory, and the personal significance of seemingly trivial details.

The poem begins with a description of a lake that supports various objects and scenes: "some kind of bathysphere, / an Arab dhow / and a fishing-boat / complete with languorous net." These elements are not only surreal but also evoke a sense of stillness and contemplation, much like Klee's painting. The juxtaposition of a bathysphere (a deep-sea submersible) with an Arab dhow (a traditional sailing vessel) and a fishing boat creates a dreamlike tableau, blending the exotic with the mundane, the historical with the contemporary.

The mention of "Two caricature anglers" who have "fallen hook, line and sinker" for "goitred, / spiny fish-caricatures" further emphasizes the whimsical and somewhat absurd nature of the scene. The use of the word "caricature" suggests that the figures and fish are exaggerated, distorted versions of reality, emphasizing the playful and satirical aspects of Klee's work. This also speaks to the way art can capture and exaggerate reality, making us see familiar things in a new light.

The line "At any moment all this should connect" introduces a sense of anticipation or potential, as if the various elements of the scene are on the verge of coming together to form a coherent whole. However, this connection remains elusive, mirroring the way art often prompts viewers to seek meaning without providing definitive answers.

The poem then shifts to a personal memory, where the speaker recalls receiving a postcard of Klee's "They're Biting", while witnessing a plane sky-writing "I LOVE YOU" over Hyde Park. This moment of public declaration contrasts with the private, introspective experience of viewing art. The sky-writing serves as a fleeting, ephemeral message, while the postcard and the painting are more enduring, yet equally enigmatic.

The speaker's attention is drawn to an "exclamation-mark / at the painting’s heart," which stands out as a symbol of emphasis or surprise. This punctuation mark in the painting becomes a focal point for the speaker, signifying a moment of revelation or insight. Yet, the exclamation mark is also ambiguous—what exactly is being exclaimed? This reflects the open-ended nature of art and interpretation, where meaning is suggested but not fully articulated.

The poem concludes with an intriguing image of a "waist-thick conger / mouthing NO from the fishmonger’s / otherwise-drab window." The conger eel, a large and somewhat menacing fish, becomes a messenger of negation, contrasting sharply with the earlier message of love written in the sky. The conger's "NO" seems to reject or negate the speaker's search for meaning or connection, yet it is also delivered in a mundane, everyday setting—"the fishmonger’s / otherwise-drab window"—suggesting that moments of profound insight or disappointment can emerge from the most ordinary contexts.

The final line, "into which I might glance to check my hair," brings the poem full circle, returning to the personal and the trivial. This act of checking one's appearance in a shop window after encountering a surreal and disquieting image suggests the coexistence of the mundane and the profound, the way we navigate between everyday concerns and deeper, more abstract experiences.

In "Paul Klee: They’re Biting," Muldoon masterfully blends imagery and thought, drawing on Klee's artwork to explore how we seek meaning in both art and life. The poem reflects on the complexities of perception, the tension between clarity and ambiguity, and the ways in which art can both reveal and obscure the truths we seek. Through its rich interplay of visual and verbal elements, the poem invites readers to consider how we interpret the world around us, and how these interpretations are shaped by both external influences and our internal states of mind.

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