Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Saratoga Ending" is a poem written by Weldon Kees in 1954, and it was published in his collection "The Fall of the Magicians" in 1962. The poem is a reflection on the end of summer in Saratoga, New York, and the loneliness and melancholy that come with the changing seasons.

Explanation:

The poem begins with the speaker observing the summer crowds in Saratoga, watching them "as one might watch the flight of birds / Against a landscape, seen from a height." However, as the summer begins to wind down, the crowds start to thin out, and the speaker is left alone. He reflects on the beauty of the changing leaves and the stillness of the autumn days, but he cannot shake the feeling of loneliness that comes with the end of summer.

The poem takes on a more somber tone in its final stanza, as the speaker contemplates his own mortality. He imagines himself as a "leaf upon the water's face" that will soon be carried away by the current. The poem ends with the speaker acknowledging that "the summer people have gone away," leaving him to face the changing seasons and the inevitable passage of time on his own.

Poetic Elements:

• Form: "Saratoga Ending" is a free-verse poem that is divided into four stanzas of varying lengths. The lack of a strict rhyme scheme or meter gives the poem a sense of fluidity and allows the speaker's thoughts to flow naturally.
• Imagery: Kees uses vivid imagery throughout the poem to evoke a sense of time and place. The descriptions of the autumn leaves and the changing seasons create a powerful sense of atmosphere that underscores the poem's themes of transience and impermanence.
• Tone: The tone of the poem is melancholic and reflective, as the speaker contemplates the end of summer and the passage of time. The imagery and language used in the poem emphasize the speaker's feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Conclusion:

"Saratoga Ending" is a powerful reflection on the passage of time and the changing seasons. Kees uses vivid imagery and a melancholic tone to convey the speaker's feelings of loneliness and isolation as summer comes to an end. The poem's themes of impermanence and mortality give it a universal quality that speaks to the human experience of time and change.

Poem Snippet:

"Long rays across the fields, the wind's  

Soft voices in the orchard. 

The leaves have turned to yellow gold 

And fall like snow. The autumn hours 

Are sweet, sweet with the breath 

Of apples and the dying year."

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