Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Praise in Summer," Richard Wilbur challenges us to examine the intricacies of our relationship with the world around us, specifically in terms of our perception and appreciation. The poem begins as an homage to summer, a season that often invites joy and wonder, only to quickly evolve into a meditation on the human tendency to pervert the natural world with our imagination and words.

The opening lines set the stage with a sense of a calling, "most surely called to praise," invoking a quasi-religious reverence for the natural world. Wilbur suggests that summer, in all its glory, calls us to acknowledge its beauty and intricacy. He then employs a series of imaginative metaphors: "The hills are heavens full of branching ways," "the trees are mines in air," and "sparrows sweep the ceiling of our day." These metaphors, while vivid, raise an interesting paradox. They twist the natural world into something unfamiliar, and in doing so, according to the speaker, they 'pervert' it.

This theme of perversion becomes the central tension of the poem. While nature itself offers countless opportunities for awe and wonder, human imagination seems incapable of accepting it as it is. "Does sense so stale that it must needs derange / The world to know it?" the speaker wonders, questioning whether our ability to appreciate has been compromised. Is our need to reshape and reinterpret the world around us a sign that our senses have become stale, or perhaps, that we've grown jaded? And if so, what does that say about us?

These questions lead to a reflection on 'praiseful eyes.' In the final lines, Wilbur posits that the very act of appreciation should require no embellishment, no distortion. "Should it not be enough of fresh and strange / That trees grow green, and moles can course in clay, / And sparrows sweep the ceiling of our day?" Here, Wilbur's language returns to a simpler form, advocating for a more straightforward, unmediated form of engagement with the world around us.

The poem can also be read as a critique of poetic imagination itself, a self-aware assessment of the role of art and language in shaping our perceptions. While metaphors and imaginative language can enrich our experience of reality, they can also distort and distance us from it. It's a paradox that Wilbur does not resolve but leaves hanging, forcing the reader to ponder the limitations and possibilities of both language and perception.

Overall, "Praise in Summer" serves as an introspective exploration of how we interact with, and often distort, the natural world through our senses and imagination. It challenges us to consider the double-edged sword of human creativity: our ability both to marvel at and to misunderstand the world we inhabit. In doing so, the poem calls for a simpler, more direct form of praise, one that respects the inherent beauty and mystery of nature.

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