Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Mexico Is a Foreign Country: 3. The World Comes Galloping," Robert Penn Warren crafts a vivid and layered narrative that blends the physical and the historical, focusing on themes of time, dignity, and the cyclical nature of history. The poem portrays an old man standing by a ruined arch, surrounded by bougainvillea and pigeons, who is witness to the sudden and violent passage of a horse and rider—a scene that embodies both the legacy of colonialism and the relentless, galloping force of the world. Warren uses contrasting imagery of decay and vitality, stillness and motion, to explore the tension between the past and the present, between the quiet dignity of the individual and the overpowering momentum of history.

The opening lines describe the setting with a mixture of beauty and brutality. The bougainvillea, often a symbol of vibrant life, is described as "bled," suggesting a kind of violence or suffering inherent in the landscape. This is reinforced by the pigeons that "simmered and shat in the barbaric vine," adding a layer of degradation and indifference to the scene. The pigeons "made a noise like Plato in the barbaric vine," an intriguing simile that juxtaposes the high-minded philosophy of Plato with the base, everyday noise of the pigeons. This line suggests that even the loftiest ideals, represented by Plato, can be rendered mundane or irrelevant in the face of the natural world’s indifference.

The old man at the center of the poem embodies both the physical landscape and the weight of history. His "bare feet on stone" and the "serape's rose / Unfolded in the garden of his rags" evoke a sense of rootedness and simplicity. The serape, a traditional Mexican garment, symbolizes both the beauty and dignity of his heritage, even as he is reduced to wearing rags. The "severe face" of the old man, much like the ruined arch, carries the burden of history, and yet his "dignity of rags" suggests a stoic endurance. His presence is described as sharply silhouetted against the striking backdrop of "blue lake and violet mountains," creating a powerful image of a man who is part of the land and the history that has shaped it.

Warren emphasizes the old man's isolation and self-sufficiency by noting that "we could not see his history, we saw / Him." This line suggests that the old man's personal history, as well as the larger history he represents, is invisible to the onlookers—those who come from outside, likely tourists or travelers. While the observers stand "huddled in our history" and extend their hands "for alms," the old man "could give us nothing, and asked for nothing." This contrast highlights the difference between the dignity of the old man, who is self-contained and unaffected by the presence of outsiders, and the helplessness or dependence of those who approach him. The old man, rooted in his landscape, seems to possess a deeper understanding of life and time, one that transcends the immediate concerns of the onlookers.

The poem’s pivotal moment comes with the sudden arrival of the horse and rider, who appear "at the foot of that long street" and gallop toward the old man and the observers "sudden as light, and loud." The horse and rider are described in terms of fury and violence, "banging the cobbles like castanets" as they lash forward with intensity. The horse is "wall-eyed and wheezing," and the rider, "the swaying youth," wears the "great wheel-spurs of the Conquistador." The reference to the Conquistador evokes the brutal history of colonialism in Mexico, linking the horse and rider to the legacy of conquest and domination. The image of the Conquistador’s spurs suggests that this history is still alive, still galloping through the streets, though now reduced to "the crow-bait mount" and "the fly-bit man"—a worn-out, decaying remnant of its former power.

As the horse and rider plunge past and disappear, leaving behind only "the street’s astonishing vacancy," the old man spits out his peach-pit and calmly remarks, "Viene galopando,"—"el mundo." This phrase, meaning "The world comes galloping," encapsulates the central theme of the poem. The old man, who represents the wisdom of age and the endurance of the indigenous people, recognizes that the world—whether it is the violent history of conquest or the unstoppable force of modernity—continues to gallop forward, indifferent to those it leaves in its wake. His nonchalant spitting and matter-of-fact observation suggest that he has seen this all before; history repeats itself, and the world’s galloping march is something to be acknowledged but not feared.

The final lines of the poem convey a sense of resigned acceptance. The world, embodied in the horse and rider, is a force that cannot be stopped, and the old man’s simple statement reflects his understanding of this inevitability. His act of spitting, a small gesture of dismissal, underscores the futility of resisting the world’s momentum. The poem suggests that while individuals may endure and retain their dignity, they remain powerless in the face of the larger forces of history and time.

In "Mexico Is a Foreign Country: 3. The World Comes Galloping," Robert Penn Warren explores the interplay between history, individual dignity, and the unstoppable march of time. Through vivid, contrasting imagery of decay and vitality, Warren reflects on the persistence of the past and the inescapable force of the world’s forward movement. The old man, rooted in his landscape and his history, stands as a symbol of endurance and wisdom, while the galloping horse and rider represent the violent, chaotic energy of the world that continues to surge forward, leaving destruction and change in its wake. Ultimately, the poem presents a meditation on the powerlessness of the individual in the face of history, and the quiet, stoic acceptance that comes with understanding this truth.

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