Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Trilce: 73" by César Vallejo stands as a complex reflection on triumph, failure, and the contradictory emotional states that accompany life's unpredictable events. The poem opens with the assertion, "Another alas has triumphed," a paradoxical phrase that suggests a victory in something typically considered negative or a lament. The concept of "alas" triumphing subverts our understanding of what success and failure mean, invoking a sense of irony or existential humor.

"Another alas has triumphed and against no one," the speaker adds, emphasizing the isolated, almost meaningless nature of these triumphs or defeats. Here, "alas" is triumphant "against no one," suggesting that our struggles or victories are often self-contained, devoid of an external enemy or object. This realization could either be liberating or isolating, depending on how one perceives it.

The speaker invokes a sense of existential rightfulness in saying, "I have the right then / to be green and content and dangerous," a line that alludes to a mixture of emotions-some peaceful, some perilous. The "green" might symbolize growth or naivety; "content" may indicate a sort of peaceful acceptance, and "dangerous" perhaps signifies the complexities of human emotion or the potential for destructiveness. Vallejo's speaker believes that if "alas" can triumph, then he has every right to embody these disparate emotional states.

The line "to be / the chisel, the fear of the crude coarse block" is particularly telling. The speaker identifies both with the tool that shapes and the raw material that is shaped, symbolizing the dual role we often play in our own lives: both the creator and the created, the one who carves destiny and the one who is carved by it.

The speaker then announces "to put my foot in it, and to laughter," a line that seems to capture the simultaneous absurdity and joy of existence. If life is as paradoxical as an "alas" that triumphs, then it makes perfect sense to make mistakes ("to put my foot in it") and to find humor or joy in those mistakes ("to laughter").

The poem concludes with a kind of homage to the absurd, claiming it is the only thing "pure" and the only thing before which "this excess / sweat with golden pleasure." In a world turned upside down by paradoxes and ironies, where triumph comes in the form of an "alas," the absurd becomes a comforting constant. It is the lens through which life's inconsistencies and irrationalities can be not just viewed but also cherished.

In "Trilce: 73," Vallejo wrestles with life's complexities through a deep dive into the semantics of triumph and failure, success and defeat. He grapples with existential paradoxes, the fluidity of emotional states, and the notion that perhaps, in a world so fraught with contradictions, the absurd is the only thing that makes sense. It's a poem that encapsulates the perplexities of human existence, rendered beautifully through Vallejo's innovative use of language and metaphor.

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