Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Dulcia Linquimus Arva" by Jorge Luis Borges captures a wistfulness that reflects the complexities of nostalgia, identity, and dislocation. The phrase "Dulcia Linquimus Arva," which translates roughly to "We leave behind sweet fields," sets the tone for the entire poem. The poem serves as an elegy not only for a bygone era but also for a way of life deeply tied to the land. It's a lamentation for a lost connection to nature and heritage, conveyed through an intricate tableau of soldiers, ranchers, fields, and seasons.

Borges establishes early on that the "wide-open spaces" have been made intimate by "friendship," by a shared experience that bound people to "earth and fire and air and water." The elemental imagery emphasizes the primal and fundamental nature of this bond. These are individuals who "conquered field intimacy" and lived in sync with the natural rhythms of "the four seasons," which come across as "like a refrain," repetitive and comforting.

Contrasts in the poem reflect a vanished ideal, an old world of "soldiers and ranchers / feeding on morning" and evenings as "bright as a river." There is a profound sense of unity with the natural world: the horizon itself "burdening," as if the very sky were an active participant in the lives of these people. In the old world, action and environment were bound together in a unity encapsulated by the phrase "high days / of sky and plain."

This idyllic vision also captures history and even myth: One fought the Goths, an allusion to ancient European conflicts, and another "in Paraguay wore out his sword." These are people who have their own epic narratives, their own hero's journeys, contextualized within the larger fabric of history and legend. Their lives are not just pastoral; they are also heroic, tied as much to action as to place.

But there's a twist at the end. The narrator reveals, "I live in the city and know nothing of it, / an oppidan of a street in a neighborhood." In these final lines, we see that the speaker is not part of the world he describes; he is separated from it by the urban environment he inhabits. His admission of this separation manifests a poignant form of loss, compounded by the cry of "far-off streetcars" that "help my sadness." The world he belongs to is a far cry from the epic yet pastoral life of the soldiers and ranchers he elegizes.

Borges, known for his cerebral and often abstract writings, offers a deeply emotional piece with "Dulcia Linquimus Arva." It is as much an elegy for a lost way of life as it is an exploration of the emotional toll that modernity and dislocation can exact on the human spirit. The poem, rich in its use of imagery and history, captures a universal ache for an unreturnable past, reminding us that the fields we leave behind-whether literal or metaphorical-are always the sweetest.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...