Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Glory," by Robert Pinsky, meditates on the ephemeral nature of glory, the persistence of art, and the complexities of human achievements. Through the lens of Pindar, an ancient Greek poet renowned for his victory odes, Pinsky scrutinizes the transitory lives of athletes and the longer-lasting, albeit obscure, fame bestowed by poetry.

The poem opens by paying homage to Pindar, the "poet of the victories," who immortalized athletes and their feats in his verses. Pinsky vividly narrates the details of Pindar's odes, mentioning athletes and their victories that are "recalled now only in the poems of Pindar." This establishes the central theme: the transient nature of glory, countered only by the more enduring, if overlooked, written word.

Pinsky creates a palpable contrast between human achievement and cosmic indifference: "And Pindar, poet of the Olympian and Isthmian / And Pythian games, wrote also of the boundless / And forgetful savannas of time. What is someone?" This ontological query encapsulates the poem's meditative core. How does individual glory measure against the infinity of time? The existentialist answer, as chanted by Pindar's chorus, is jarringly simple: "Creatures of a day."

However, the question lingers: where does the "godgiven glory" reside? Pinsky, or rather Pindar through Pinsky, suggests that glory shines "Bright as gold among the substances," and is "paramount as water among the elements." Yet, it's also implied that this glory is not found in the victories themselves, nor even in the very poetry that commemorates them. Rather, the glory resides in the very act of striving, in the quest for transcendence that characterizes both athletes and poets.

The climax of the poem is beautifully ambiguous. We see athletes like Phrastor and Nikeus, performing exceptional feats-throwing a javelin the furthest or hurling a stone past all marks. Pinsky relays these moments not as ultimate victories but as incantations "against envy and oblivion." They exist in the eternal present of the poem, imbued with a glory that outshines both victory and defeat. When Nikeus's stone flies past the competitors' marks and his name is chanted, Pinsky evokes a moment of splendor, a "silvery mirror of the moon," suggesting a glory that radiates beyond the individual or the event.

Thus, "Glory" becomes a complex, layered inquiry into the meaning and the nature of human achievement. It does not belittle the victories it describes; rather, it places them within a cosmic perspective, compelling us to consider what endures when the dust of the arena has long settled. Pinsky implies that while the names and the victories may fade, the poetic act of remembering and the human act of striving both reach for a glory that exists "beyond mere / Victory or applause or performance, / As victory is beyond defeat."

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