Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Michael Ondaatje’s "Henri Rousseau and Friends" is an evocative meditation on the art of Henri Rousseau, blending the surreal qualities of his jungle paintings with a commentary on the interplay of order, dream, and societal structure. By juxtaposing Rousseau’s meticulously constructed natural world with its display in curated urban spaces, Ondaatje explores themes of artistic creation, the nature of liberation, and the tensions between the beautiful and the grotesque.

The poem opens with an image drawn directly from Rousseau’s distinctive jungle scenes: "In his clean vegetation the parrot, judicious, poses on a branch." The parrot, described as "judicious," takes on an almost symbolic role, presiding over the scene with a calm and deliberate presence. Rousseau’s painted vegetation is "clean," meticulously rendered, and free of the chaos typically associated with wild landscapes. This deliberate artificiality underscores the controlled, dreamlike quality of Rousseau’s work, where nature is idealized and governed by its own internal logic.

The narrator of the scene is portrayed as conscious of the harmony and precision of Rousseau’s jungle, noting the "perfect fruits," "white and blue flowers," and "the snake with an ear for music." These details reflect the strange, almost fantastical qualities of Rousseau’s work, where natural elements are imbued with humanlike or mythical attributes. The snake, a traditional symbol of danger or cunning, becomes a receptive figure in Rousseau’s world, emphasizing the imaginative and harmonious reordering of reality.

The apes, described as holding their oranges "like skulls, like chalices," introduce a layer of ambiguity and duality. The orange as a symbol of life and sustenance is juxtaposed with the skull, a reminder of mortality, and the chalice, an emblem of ceremony or reverence. This interplay of life, death, and ritual reflects the layered symbolism in Rousseau’s art. The apes’ position—"below the parrot above the oranges"—creates a hierarchical structure within the jungle, described as "a jungle serfdom which with this order / reposes." This phrase captures the tension between the apparent peace and the underlying stratification, suggesting that even in Rousseau’s idyllic world, hierarchies persist.

Despite this order, Ondaatje asserts that "They are the ideals of dreams." Rousseau’s jungle scenes transcend their artificiality to become spaces of "complete liberation." The precision of "exactness" and "symmetrical petals" paradoxically enables this freedom, as the controlled elements of the composition allow the imagination to roam. The "efficiently flying angels" further blur the boundaries between the real and the fantastical, reinforcing the dreamlike quality of Rousseau’s creations.

The parrot, a central figure, is described as "interchangeable." Its symbolic role is mutable; "tomorrow in its place a waltzing man and tiger" could appear, or "brash legs of a bird." This interchangeability speaks to the fluidity of Rousseau’s artistic vision, where elements can shift and transform without disrupting the overarching harmony. Rousseau’s world is one of perpetual possibility, where greatness is achieved through the deliberate arrangement of disparate parts.

Ondaatje transitions from the jungle to its placement in urban galleries: "On Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot’s walls, with Lillie P. Bliss in New York." This shift highlights the journey of Rousseau’s art from its imagined jungle origins to its display in the structured spaces of museums and private collections. The reference to specific collectors situates the artwork within the world of elite culture, emphasizing the contrast between the wildness of Rousseau’s vision and its domestication in curated spaces.

The final lines expand on this contrast, describing the "spangled wrists and elbows and grand façades of cocktails" in urban settings. Here, the natural and the artificial collide, as "vulgarly beautiful parrots, appalled lions, the beautiful and the forceful locked in suns" evoke the gaudy excesses of modern society. The parrots, lions, and other creatures are no longer part of Rousseau’s dreamlike jungle but have been transposed into a human world of glittering surfaces and performative beauty. The phrase "locked in suns" captures both the radiant appeal and the constrained nature of this setting, where vitality and artifice coexist.

Through its richly layered imagery and shifting focus, "Henri Rousseau and Friends" explores the transformative power of art and the tensions inherent in its interpretation and display. Rousseau’s jungle becomes a microcosm for broader questions about order, freedom, and the interplay of beauty and grotesqueness. Ondaatje’s meditation invites readers to reflect on how art shapes and reshapes reality, creating spaces where the imagined and the real, the idyllic and the stratified, coexist in perpetual dialogue. The poem ultimately celebrates Rousseau’s ability to construct a world of paradoxes, where precision and liberation, symmetry and transformation, come together to evoke the ideals of dreams.

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