Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "All elegies Are Black and White," Barbara Guest addresses fellow artist Robert Motherwell while meditating on the complexities of Spain, capturing its paradoxes and its pulsating life force in an elegy. The poem seems to suggest that to truly capture the essence of Spain in words or art is to confront the chasms within oneself, effectively blurring the boundaries between the public and private, the external and internal.

The "song of the abyss" and the "gorge into one's soul" invoke a vivid sense of depth and darkness. By referring to these abysmal qualities, Guest acknowledges the pain and suffering that are inherent in the cultural and historical landscape of Spain. The elegy she speaks of doesn't merely mourn; it takes the reader to the very edge of something deep and profoundly unsettling.

Then, there is a shift from the introspective to the assertive, perhaps even the defiant. The "privacy" that is disrupted "straightens itself up, it sings, / 'I am proud as a canon.'" Here, Guest perhaps speaks to the indomitable spirit of Spain and its people, who, despite historical invasions and internal conflicts, maintain a sense of pride and dignity.

One cannot ignore the vivid imagery of "two enormous black rocks" against "a world that looks like a white cloud." It embodies the age-old dichotomy between darkness and light, struggle and peace, but does so in an arresting, almost surreal manner. The world here isn't simply a passive, idyllic cloud; it's one "shifting its buttocks," a line imbued with both humor and a suggestion of restless movement or change.

The poem makes its way to the essence of Spanish culture as it hints at flamenco with the line "When the guitar strikes..." Flamenco, traditionally, is a musical genre that encompasses song, guitar playing, dance, and handclaps, known for its emotional intensity and its themes of suffering, death, and joy. Guest uses this allusion to bring us to the heart of Spanish culture-its music, its passion, its "tasters of ecstasy."

The poem closes with a series of paradoxes: "Whose black songs are elegies / Whose elegies are white." This, in many ways, encapsulates the dualities that have been explored throughout the poem. It seems to suggest that in Spain, even the songs of sorrow contain a certain luminosity, a purity perhaps, just as their elegies, despite being mournful narratives, contain within them an iridescent quality.

Finally, the poem concludes with the exclamation "Dios!"-God in Spanish. It is an invocation and a surrender to the complex tapestry of life and culture that is Spain, acknowledging perhaps that it is ultimately unfathomable, capable of inspiring both elegy and exclamation, a landscape as complicated and contradictory as the human soul itself.

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