Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Stanley Kunitz, by Mary Oliver," is a poignant tribute to the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Stanley Kunitz. The poem beautifully captures the evolution of Oliver's understanding of the creative process, the nature of life, and perhaps the essence of Kunitz's own philosophies. The structure of the poem itself seems to trace a journey from idolization to enlightenment, paralleling the transformative nature of Kunitz's own poetry.

The poem begins with Oliver's youthful conception of Kunitz as a Merlin-like figure, a wizard who strolls "with important gestures / through the garden / where everything grows so thickly." This initial image is saturated with the mythic and the magical, evoking a sense of effortless grace and boundless creativity. Oliver describes a world where "birds sing," "petals float upward," and "trees open their moist / pages of thunder." It's a fantastical landscape where art and nature seem to blossom spontaneously, a symbolic representation of what one might naïvely think the life of an artist to be.

However, this idyllic image changes as the poem progresses. Oliver confesses, "But now I know more / about the great wheel of growth, / and decay, and rebirth, / and know my vision for a falsehood." This epiphany marks a turning point in the poem, introducing the concepts of "growth, and decay, and rebirth," which seem to mirror not just the natural world but also the creative process. Oliver replaces the image of the magical Kunitz with one of a gardener who is "on his knees, / cutting away the diseased, the superfluous, / coaxing the new." This new vision reflects the reality of creativity as labor-meticulous, demanding, and often unglamorous.

Oliver recognizes that the "hour of fulfillment" in creative endeavors is not the product of sporadic flashes of inspiration but rather "is buried in years of patience." This wisdom aligns well with Kunitz's own beliefs in the perseverance and longevity that are essential to the maturation of a poet. The poem then culminates in an affirmation of the value of hard work and dedication: "Oh, what good it does the heart / to know it isn't magic!"

The final lines bring the focus back to Oliver herself as she observes Kunitz "raking and trimming, stirring up / those sheets of fire / between the smothering weights of earth, / the wild and shapeless air." These lines eloquently encapsulate the constant struggle and balance in the act of creation, a labor that takes place between the constraining "weights of earth" and the chaotic "shapeless air."

Through the lens of her changing perception of Stanley Kunitz, Mary Oliver articulates the complex realities of artistic creation, as well as life itself. She shows that the creative process is not a mystical endeavor but a laborious commitment to craft and growth. This homage to Kunitz not only celebrates the man but also encapsulates a profound lesson in humility, work, and the true nature of artistic creativity.

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