Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Graves" by Francis Saltus Saltus, an American poet of the 19th century, contemplates the immutable fate that awaits every life, irrespective of its grandeur or its worldly achievements. The poem carries an almost spectral tone as it speaks of the night wind that perpetually weaves its way through the burial places of historical figures such as Napoleon, Charlemagne, Philip of Macedonia, and the ancient Pharaohs. Each of these figures embodied power and grandeur in their respective eras, yet Saltus evokes a landscape of oblivion where even their monumental tombs receive but a mournful sigh from the wandering wind.

The wind here symbolizes time, memory, and perhaps the conscience of history itself. It keeps "vigil through the centuries" and yet is "weary" of the "chill, spectral gloom." It brushes over the graves of emperors and kings with an equalizing indifference, as if to echo Shelley's Ozymandias where all legacies are eventually leveled by the indifferent sands of time.

Yet, the poem takes an interesting turn toward the end. The wind's weariness of the grand tombs and "moldering grandeurs" implies an innate desire for something more essential, more genuinely enduring. This turns out to be the simple beauty and authenticity epitomized by the graves of poets like Theophile Gautier and Charles Baudelaire. Instead of grand mausoleums and marble, their graves are adorned with "violets" and "long grass," symbols of natural beauty and the pastoral. It is in the care and "lull" of these simpler graves that the wind, representing perhaps the collective memory or the spirit of time, finds its respite.

In a masterful way, Saltus positions poetry and art as the ultimate forms of legacy, more enduring and more worthy of remembrance than even the most spectacular feats of worldly power. In doing so, he places Gautier and Baudelaire on a pedestal higher than emperors and kings. This can be seen as a comment on the transformative power of art and its enduring impact on human consciousness. The wind, weary of the "granite doom" of earthly greatness, seeks solace in the eternal beauty of poetic artistry.

The context of this American poem also reveals an interesting interplay of cultural influences and global legacies. Saltus, belonging to a young nation still in the process of forming its own cultural heritage, looks toward European history and literature as epitomes of grandeur and beauty, respectively. He evokes a sense of universal human experience that transcends time and geography, reminding us that regardless of our earthly stature, it is in the depths of human artistry and emotion that we find our most enduring legacies.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...