Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

“Louis Zukofsky’s A -- 2” continues the intricate project of A, blending the realms of music, poetry, history, and the natural world into a richly layered meditation. The poem engages with themes of creation, continuity, and transformation, reflecting Zukofsky’s preoccupation with the interplay between form and substance. By drawing upon Johann Sebastian Bach, maritime imagery, and botanical metaphors, the poem offers a vision of art as both a structural and generative force, while probing the tensions between human ambition, natural processes, and historical memory.

The opening line, “— Clear music —,” signals the centrality of music not just as subject matter but as a guiding principle of composition. The clarity Zukofsky invokes serves as an aspiration for both poetry and life, contrasting with the chaotic, shifting forces described throughout the poem. This is reinforced by Kay’s remark, “Poetry is not made of such things,” an assertion that suggests poetry transcends surface-level concerns or personal grievances, aligning itself instead with the universality of music.

The poem shifts into a dialogue with Kay, weaving a narrative that draws together disparate elements: “Slugs, cuttlefish, / Ball of imperialism, wave games, nations, / Navies and armaments, drilling.” These references to the sea evoke a space of constant motion, conflict, and transformation. The image of sailors, described with humor and ribaldry—“blue trouser seats... sticking thru portholes”—grounds the scene in the mundane realities of human life and labor. Yet this physicality is interwoven with mythic and historical allusions, such as the mention of Agamemnon and “epopt caryatids... holding the world-cornice.” These caryatids, figures of both burden and grace, symbolize the weight of history and the endurance required to sustain culture and art.

The maritime setting becomes a metaphorical space where time and desire intersect. The “sea grinds the half-hours,” marking the relentless passage of time, while the “fabulous sea-horses up blind alleys” represent unfulfilled desires, striving toward impossible ends. The moon, launching with a “sea-whorl,” introduces a moment of renewal, as the natural world offers cycles of beauty and creation amidst the tumult. This recurring interplay of destruction and creation reflects Zukofsky’s broader thematic concerns with transformation and the persistence of form.

The poem’s imagery of flowers and leaves provides a counterpoint to the chaos of the sea. The flower, described with reverence and intricacy, becomes a central symbol of organic structure and harmony: “The music is in the flower, / Leaf around leaf ranged around the center.” This vision of leaves supporting and buttressing each other suggests a model of interconnectedness and mutual support, contrasting with the disarray and fragmentation of human endeavors. The repetition of “liveforever, everlasting” imbues the flower with an almost sacred permanence, an antidote to the transience and entropy depicted elsewhere in the poem.

Zukofsky’s reference to Bach recurs, linking the structured beauty of the flower to the compositional genius of Johann Sebastian. “As in Johann Sebastian, / Listen, Kay...” signals the analogy between the natural and the musical: just as the flower’s form embodies balance and continuity, Bach’s music achieves a similar clarity through the interplay of distinct parts. Zukofsky’s admiration for Bach’s ability to weave individual voices into a harmonious whole parallels his own ambitions for A, where the disparate elements of the poem cohere into a unified structure.

The poem’s exploration of form culminates in a vision of poetic creation: “Faces and forms, I would write you down / In a style of leaves growing.” This declaration connects the act of writing to organic growth, emphasizing that poetry, like nature, must develop through processes of layering, branching, and mutual dependence. The metaphor suggests a vision of art as alive, evolving, and integrally connected to the natural world.

The final section introduces a scene of travel, blending the mundane (a train journey) with the sacred (the “Rose of the Passion”). The juxtaposition of a Wrigley’s chewing gum sign with symbols of religious devotion highlights Zukofsky’s ability to interweave the sacred and the profane, the commercial and the transcendent. The closing image of a “double chorus singing” recalls Bach’s Passion choruses, framing the poem as a cantata that celebrates both the trials and the triumphs of existence.

“A -- 2” is a complex meditation on the relationship between art, history, and nature. Through its intricate interweaving of maritime and floral imagery, its reflections on Bach’s music, and its engagement with the tensions of modern life, the poem suggests that art and nature provide a framework for understanding and enduring the chaos of the world. Zukofsky’s use of layered syntax, recurring motifs, and historical allusions creates a work that demands active engagement, inviting readers to consider how structure and beauty can emerge from the tumult of human experience.

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