Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Resolution", Robert Penn Warren contemplates the nature of time, its paradoxical power, and the ways in which it governs human experiences—whether they are filled with joy, suffering, love, or loss. Through the figure of Time, Warren explores how the passage of days affects everything from relationships to ambitions, eroding once-vibrant emotions and desires into memories and indifference. The poem balances between accepting the inevitability of time’s effects and grappling with its deeper implications on personal meaning, history, and identity.

The poem opens with an invocation of Time as a "Grape-treader," evoking an image of time as a force that presses out the essence of life, similar to how grapes are crushed to make wine. This image suggests that time is both creative and destructive—it produces something new but only by breaking down what exists. Warren further characterizes Time as a "bald curator of joys / Burked ere a prime," meaning that time controls and curates joys that are cut short before they reach their full potential. Time, then, is seen as a force that takes away potential happiness, cutting short our experiences before they can be fully realized.

Time’s destructive aspects are personified through creatures like the weevil, spider, and termite, which are seen as agents of decay, gnawing away at life’s foundations. These images emphasize how time corrupts and consumes, quietly eroding both physical and emotional structures. Warren calls Time a "keen heart-divider / Who deepest vows unspeaks," underscoring its ability to unravel even the most intimate promises and relationships. The intensity of emotions, no matter how strong, can be undone by time’s steady march, as vows once spoken lose their meaning or significance.

Time is also described as a "tyrant-friend," a figure that controls both "woe and weal" and determines the end of all things. The phrase "O fangèd paradox!" encapsulates the central theme of the poem: time is a paradoxical force that brings both suffering and resolution, offering moments of clarity and understanding even as it strips life of its immediacy. The sharp, "fangèd" image emphasizes the pain that time inflicts, but also its power to bring finality.

Warren goes on to list figures who intimately understand time’s pulse: "The huddled jockey," the matador between the bull’s horns, the pitcher in a tied game, and the plowman battling dry soil. Each of these individuals faces moments of heightened awareness, when the pressure of time bears down on them and demands immediate action. However, Warren notes that "all than lovers less"—that is, none of these figures knows the pulse of time as intimately as lovers do. Lovers, more than anyone else, experience time’s passage acutely, as love is subject to the whims of time, growing, fading, or being forgotten.

The speaker then recalls a particular moment of connection with someone: "What word had touched the heart I cannot guess." This introduces a memory of a place "of rock and sea, / Salt grass, and the salt wind," a setting that feels timeless and removed from ordinary life. In this moment, the speaker and their companion speak of time, and the companion asserts: "There is no Time." This striking declaration suggests a kind of transcendence—a belief that love or certain experiences might exist outside the bounds of time. However, the speaker’s reflection shows that this belief is ultimately fragile.

The speaker acknowledges the passage of time since that moment: "Since then some friends are dead; / Hates cold, once hot; / Ambitions thewless grown." Time has cooled passions, eroded once-burning ambitions, and left behind forgotten slights. What once seemed vital has faded, and even intense emotions have been transformed by time into something inert or "stone." The idea of the "weeper...made stone" symbolizes the way that grief or sorrow, once overwhelming, eventually hardens and becomes a distant, unfeeling memory.

Warren further reflects on the distance that has grown between the speaker and their companion: "We, too, have lain / Apart, with continents / And seas between." Physical separation has mirrored the emotional distance created by time, suggesting that even love, once strong, can be diluted or diminished by the years. The speaker’s attempt to "frame [the] face" of their companion in memory is only partially successful, as they "could, a little space," before the image fades. Memory, like time, is unreliable and incomplete, unable to fully capture the past.

In the final stanza, Warren addresses Time as the "Old winnower," a figure who separates what is essential from what is superfluous, as a winnower separates grain from chaff. This process is slow and deliberate, reflecting Time’s "paced power." The speaker accepts this process, noting, "Not truth I fear," suggesting that they have come to terms with the inevitability of time’s effects. The closing line, "How ripe is turned the hour," expresses a certain resignation, as the speaker acknowledges that time has brought them to a point of maturity, even if that maturity comes with loss and change.

In "Resolution", Warren grapples with the dual nature of time as both a force of destruction and one of resolution. Time erodes passions, love, and ambition, but it also offers clarity and the possibility of peace. The poem reflects on the inescapable passage of time, showing how it shapes every aspect of human experience—from relationships to personal identity. Yet, even as time strips away so much, the poem suggests that there is something to be gained in accepting its power, in understanding that the "act alone is pure," and that the process of living, even with its inevitable losses, holds a deeper meaning.

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