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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained | |||
In "Salt Garden," Howard Nemerov meditates on the fragility and impermanence of human endeavors against the backdrop of nature's vast and uncontrollable forces. The poem is divided into two parts, each exploring the tension between the cultivated, orderly world of the garden and the untamed, unpredictable nature represented by the ocean and a great gull. The first section begins with a serene image of a well-tended garden: "A good house, and ground whereon / With an amateur's toil / Both lawn and garden have been won / From a difficult, shallow soil." The speaker takes pride in the transformation of the land, once part of the ocean floor, into a green, flourishing space. This transformation symbolizes human effort, patience, and the desire to create order and beauty. Nemerov captures the cyclical nature of life in the garden: "Turnip and bean and violet / In a decent order set, / Grow, flourish and are gone." The garden's plants thrive and then die, but even their decay is orderly and "civil." The speaker finds satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment in this controlled environment. However, this sense of peace is tempered by an underlying restlessness and existential doubt. The speaker acknowledges the omnipresence of the ocean, described as having a "wrinkled green / Maneuvers in its sleep." This imagery serves as a reminder of the vast, untamable force of nature lurking just beyond the garden. The speaker's contemplation leads to a moment of self-reflection: "I despise what I had planned, / Every work of the hand, / For what can man keep?" This rhetorical question underscores the futility of trying to impose lasting order on an inherently chaotic world. In the second section, the speaker's restlessness is manifested in a dawn encounter with a great gull. The bird, emerging from the mist, represents the wildness and majesty of nature. Described as a "high priest / Bird-masked, mantled in grey," the gull stands in stark contrast to the cultivated garden. The speaker's thoughts "bowed down, imagining / The wild sea lanes he wandered by." The gull's presence evokes a sense of awe and insignificance in the speaker, as the bird surveys the garden with "fierce austerity." The gull, likened to a "merchant prince," finds nothing of value in the speaker's carefully maintained domain and departs with a powerful, dismissive gesture: "He fought his huge freight into air / And vanished seaward with a cry." This encounter with the gull leaves the speaker troubled and introspective. The bird's departure, coinciding with the rising sun, symbolizes a return to the natural world's rhythms and mysteries, which remain beyond human control. The speaker reflects on his family and the garden, recognizing the fragility of his accomplishments: "And thought that image of the wild / Wave where it beats the air / Had come, brutal, mysterious, / To teach the tenant gardener, / Green fellow of this paradise, / Where his salt dream lies." The poem concludes with the realization that the garden, a microcosm of human effort and order, exists within the larger, uncontrollable context of nature. The "salt dream" refers to both the physical salt of the former ocean floor and the metaphorical dream of creating a lasting, serene space. The speaker acknowledges that this dream is ultimately fleeting, subject to the same forces that shape the natural world. In "Salt Garden," Howard Nemerov masterfully juxtaposes the cultivated garden with the wildness of the sea and the great gull. Through vivid imagery and contemplative reflection, the poem explores themes of impermanence, the limits of human control, and the humbling power of nature. The encounter with the gull serves as a poignant reminder of the transient nature of human achievements and the enduring mystery of the natural world.
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