Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Across Space and Time," Charles Olson meditates on cycles of cosmic history and human destiny, connecting astrological ages to transformative epochs and envisioning humanity’s position within the universe’s grand procession. The poem reflects Olson's belief in cosmic recurrence, where events and symbols, from zodiacal ages to human civilizations, repeat across vast expanses of time, linking humanity's temporal existence to a universal rhythm. This rhythm is understood through figures like the Fish, the Ram, and Aquarius, whose astrological ages represent epochs with distinct spiritual or ideological flavors. Olson examines how each age imbues human societies with particular qualities, influencing belief systems, forms of government, and human identities.

Olson opens with a description of the universe as a "great outside system" that proceeds across immense time, creating cosmic cycles that curve back upon themselves. This circular vision mirrors the ancient concept of the Great Year, a precession cycle that Olson notes takes 25,725.6 years. This vast timespan gives a sense of eternal recurrence; within these cycles, each age returns to positions it once held, allowing energies and influences to reemerge. He imagines that such a cosmic cycle can also govern human life, where individuals "inflamed with love at birth" might spend lifetimes in a quest for self-completion, a desire Olson likens to a snake biting its own tail—a symbol of cyclicality and infinity.

In exploring humanity’s place within these cycles, Olson calls upon Aquarius, an age prophesied to follow the age of Pisces. The Aquarian age, symbolized by a water-bearer, contrasts with the Piscean era, represented by the Fish, associated with the rise and eventual decline of Christian ideology. Olson traces this shift from "The Fish swam in on the back of Christ," a reference to the early Christian era, to the point where "the fish was sailing off" by the 19th century, marking the end of an epoch dominated by Piscean values of spirituality and sacrifice. He suggests that this fading age gives way to a new cycle, where humanity’s orientation shifts, foreshadowing new structures and possibilities emerging as the Age of Aquarius.

This progression through the zodiac is not merely symbolic but forms a temporal structure for Olson’s critique of Western civilization. He invokes mythic images of Manes, a figure associated with the eastward expansion of civilization, and Aries, the ram, which historically represents the age of heroic exploits and individualism. Olson’s Aries reference alludes to the ancient cultures that emphasized selfhood and rationality, "brilliant riders" who symbolize human will but also the division "between flesh and soul." Olson laments the shift from this age of Aries, seeing it as a time when human integrity was whole, undivided, and tied to nature's rhythms.

The poem takes a sharp turn toward criticism in the lines, "America, you are the end of three months of man," casting America as a symbol of a fractured age. By identifying America with the end of three astrological "months" or ages, Olson implies that America’s identity marks the culmination and collapse of certain civilizational patterns. His tone becomes overtly critical, describing America as a "dead hand," symbolizing a society that, in his view, is spiritually exhausted, having turned away from the natural, cosmic rhythms he finds meaningful. In labeling America "a nation of Finks," Olson accuses the country of betraying the transformative potentials of previous epochs and of operating under values detached from deeper cosmic truths.

The conclusion of the poem returns to the symbolism of the zodiac as Olson envisions the age of Capricorn drawing near, "drawing the threads." Capricorn, with its association with structure, endurance, and earth, may signal a coming time of reordering or stabilization after the upheavals of the preceding ages. Olson envisions this Capricornian future as a time when humanity might realign with more grounded principles, recovering from the fragmentation he perceives in America’s Piscean exhaustion.

In "Across Space and Time," Olson’s astrological vision becomes a framework through which he critiques modernity while simultaneously expressing a hope for cosmic renewal. The poem unfolds a belief in the rhythm of creation and destruction, with each age building upon or reacting against the one before it, and Olson suggests that if humanity remains aware of these celestial cycles, it might avoid repeating the errors of history, finding instead a new alignment within the universal flow.

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