Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

James Schuyler's poem "Buried at Springs" evokes a deeply reflective and atmospheric meditation on time, memory, and the natural world. Through vivid imagery and an almost tactile connection to the environment, Schuyler captures the subtle shifts in the landscape of Springs, a hamlet in East Hampton, New York, known for its natural beauty and as the final resting place of the poet Frank O'Hara, whose presence looms over the poem.

The poem opens with the speaker confronting a hornet in the room, setting the tone for the theme of displacement that runs throughout. The hornet, a small but disruptive presence, symbolizes an unwelcome intrusion into the tranquility of the afternoon. The speaker's decision to "win" the encounter by allowing the hornet to leave the room hints at a quiet assertion of control, but also at a recognition of the natural world’s persistence outside the boundaries of human habitation.

Schuyler’s description of the landscape is both detailed and ambiguous, creating a sense of place that is at once specific and universal. The "launch" that "draws / two lines of wake behind it / on the bay" evokes the image of a boat slicing through water, leaving behind a temporary, fading trace—much like the ephemeral nature of human life. This metaphor extends to the "feathery ripe heads of grass" and the "acid-yellow kind of / goldenrod," which shimmer with life yet also suggest the inevitable decay that follows.

The second part of the poem shifts to a more introspective tone, as the speaker reflects on the passage of time and the changes it brings. Schuyler notes that even the immutable elements of the landscape—such as the "great gold lichen / on a granite boulder"—are not truly unchanging. The boulder, which seems like a permanent fixture, is in fact subject to the slow, imperceptible forces of time that alter it just as they alter everything else. This realization underscores the poem’s meditation on transience and the ways in which memory both preserves and distorts the past.

The reference to Frank O'Hara, "It's eleven years since / Frank sat at this desk and / saw and heard it all," adds a layer of personal reflection to the poem. Schuyler acknowledges O'Hara’s presence in this same landscape, suggesting a continuity between the past and present. Yet, even as he connects with O'Hara’s memory, he recognizes that the scene is no longer the same—new needles on the spruce, new seaweed on the rocks—highlighting the inevitability of change and the impossibility of fully recapturing the past.

The poem’s concluding section deepens this meditation on time and memory, using the landscape as a metaphor for the internal states of the speaker. The "day subtle and suppressed / in mounds of juniper enfolding / scratchy pockets of shadow" mirrors the subdued and introspective mood. The imagery of "boats are light lumps on the bay" and the distant, fading islands emphasizes the theme of detachment and the sense of being adrift in time.

Schuyler’s use of color and texture further enhances the poem's sensory richness. The "bright / of a young spruce" contrasts with the "cold / of an old one," suggesting the tension between vitality and decay. The description of "gum, pungent, clear as a tear" exuding from unripe cones adds a poignant note, symbolizing both the potential for growth and the inevitability of loss.

The poem ends on a note of delicate melancholy, with the image of a "gull passing / with a slow flapping of wings" embodying the slow, inexorable passage of time. The "faintly clammy day" and the "harsh russet of dried blood" on a dead branch evoke a sense of weariness and the lingering presence of mortality in the landscape.

"Buried at Springs" is a poignant reflection on the passage of time, the persistence of memory, and the inexorable changes wrought by both. Through his detailed and evocative descriptions of the natural world, Schuyler captures the beauty and melancholy of a landscape that is both familiar and ever-changing, much like the memories that inhabit it.