Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charles Olson’s "La Preface" is a dense and fragmented meditation on death, rebirth, and the cyclical nature of history and human experience. The poem is deeply rooted in its historical and mythological references, grappling with themes of destruction, renewal, and the ways in which art and memory preserve or distort human existence. Olson’s use of abstraction, direct historical markers, and mythic allusions creates a text that challenges the reader to unpack its layers while remaining deliberately elusive.

The opening lines situate the poem in a transitional space: "The dead in via in vita nuova in the way." This phrase invokes Dante’s "Vita Nuova" ("New Life"), suggesting a transformation or movement from one state to another. The dead are "in via," on a journey or in transition, emphasizing the liminal space they occupy. This transition is not merely physical but metaphysical, suggesting a broader meditation on the nature of existence and the continuum between life and death. The interplay of lamentation and knowledge—"You shall lament who know they are as tender as the horse is"—creates a tension between those who understand the fragility of life and those who remain ignorant.

The poem transitions abruptly into stark, fragmented utterances that evoke both personal testimony and historical trauma. "‘I will die about April ist . . .’" and "‘My name is N O RACE’" suggest the voices of individuals whose identities have been stripped away, resonating with the atrocities of the Holocaust. The reference to "address Buchenwald" grounds the poem in the historical reality of Nazi concentration camps, aligning the erasure of identity with one of the most harrowing episodes of human history. Olson intertwines this historical specificity with mythological and artistic references, such as "new Altamira cave," drawing a line from prehistoric expressions of life and death to the 20th century?s mechanized atrocities.

The imagery of the Altamira cave, with its ancient drawings of hunts, serves as a reminder of humanity’s enduring impulse to record and make sense of existence through art. The act of "draw[ing] the object of the hunt" connects primal survival instincts to the creation of culture and the symbolic act of documentation. Olson’s assertion to "Put war away with time, come into space" shifts the focus from historical linearity to a spatial and experiential understanding of existence. This movement reflects Olson’s preoccupation with the present moment as a site of renewal and transformation, aligning with his broader poetic theories of "projective verse", which prioritize the immediacy of breath and space.

The temporal specificity of "It was May, precise date, 1940" anchors the poem in a moment of clarity and awareness. This detail, juxtaposed with the abstract and fragmented language surrounding it, underscores Olson’s interest in precision as a counterpoint to the chaos of memory and history. The act of breathing—"I had air my lungs could breathe"—becomes an existential affirmation amidst the suffocating weight of historical trauma.

As the poem progresses, Olson delves into geometric and anatomical imagery, blending the material with the symbolic. "I talk of Bigmans organs he, look, the lines! are polytopes" introduces a dialogue that straddles the corporeal and the mathematical, evoking the complexity and interconnectedness of existence. The "polytopes" suggest multidimensionality, reinforcing the idea that life, death, and memory cannot be contained within a single perspective or narrative.

Olson’s treatment of the dead evolves into a critique of burial and remembrance: "The closed parenthesis reads: the dead bury the dead, / and it is not very interesting." This dismissal of traditional burial practices signals a rejection of static memorialization. In contrast, the "open" parenthesis introduces a dynamic, living relationship with the dead: "the figure stands at the door, horror his / and gone, possessed, o new Osiris, Odysseus ship." The invocation of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead and rebirth, and Odysseus, the archetypal wanderer, ties the poem to mythological cycles of death and return, emphasizing transformation and renewal over finality.

The figure of "the Babe / the Howling Babe" in the poem’s conclusion encapsulates the primal and universal forces at play. The Babe symbolizes both innocence and raw, unformed potential, while the howling evokes anguish and the unmediated expression of existence. This juxtaposition of birth and pain mirrors the poem’s larger themes of destruction and creation, suggesting that renewal emerges not in spite of suffering but through it.

Structurally, "La Preface" is deliberately fragmented, with abrupt shifts in tone, perspective, and subject matter. This disjunction reflects Olson’s modernist approach, rejecting linear coherence in favor of a polyphonic, open-ended exploration of ideas. The language is stark and declarative, yet it invites multiple interpretations, forcing the reader to actively engage with the text.

Ultimately, "La Preface" is a poem of reckoning—with history, with mortality, and with the possibility of renewal. Olson’s interplay of historical specificity, mythological resonance, and existential inquiry creates a text that refuses closure, embodying the cycles of loss and rebirth it seeks to articulate. It is a challenging but deeply rewarding work that confronts the reader with the weight of human existence and the potential for transformation in the face of despair.

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