Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Departure," Louise Gluck offers a poignant narrative snapshot that captures the essence of separation, loss, and the passage of time. The poem revolves around an emotionally charged moment of parting between the speaker's father and another individual on a train. Gluck skillfully combines physical and emotional landscapes to evoke a sense of both spatial and temporal distance. The father stands on a railroad platform, an archetypal setting that frequently signifies life's transitions, farewells, and transformations.

"Tears pool in his eyes, as though the face / glimmering in the window were the face of someone / he was once." Here, the tears are not just an indication of immediate sorrow but also represent a mourning for a past self, a life that once was but is no longer. The face "glimmering in the window" suggests a fleeting glimpse into an unrecapturable past. Gluck uses the verb "glimmering" to evoke both the physical manifestation of light and its more ephemeral, metaphorical aspects of lost potential or lost connection.

"But the other has forgotten; / as my father watches, he turns away, / drawing the shade over his face, / goes back to his reading." This part reveals a rupture, a decisive act of turning away that signifies the closing of a chapter or a distancing from the past. The other person draws "the shade over his face," a layered image that speaks not only to the physical act of closing a window shade but also to the emotional act of shutting someone-or even a former version of oneself-out. He returns to his "reading," symbolizing a return to the present, an immersion in the ongoing narrative of life, devoid of the person being left behind.

The closing lines of the poem serve as a powerful denouement: "And already in its deep groove / the train is waiting with its breath of ashes." The "deep groove" could refer to the train tracks but is also emblematic of entrenched life paths or patterns that are difficult to alter. The "breath of ashes" encapsulates the transitory nature of life, a breath that is not fresh or life-giving but comprised of ashes-what remains when all is said and done.

"Departure" is an evocative meditation on the theme of separation that makes us question the multifaceted nature of leaving and being left, of forgetting and being forgotten. It delves into the emotional complexity of watching someone drift away, be it physically or metaphorically. In doing so, Gluck crafts a haunting tableau that remains long after the train has left the station, after the poem itself has been read.

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