Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Osiris, or the Flight in Egypt" by Jacques Prevert is a poem of poignant contrasts, blending themes of war and love, antiquity and modernity, sleep and wakefulness. Set against the backdrop of a world at war, the poem becomes an odyssey through the desolation and the quest for a fleeting moment of peace and happiness. In this lyrical narrative, the historical context and the cultural artifacts come alive as characters, both haunting and inspiring.

The poem opens with the lines, "It's war, it's summer," establishing an immediate tension between the season typically associated with life and renewal and the destructive realities of conflict. Prevert repeats this paradox in reverse, reinforcing the cycle of destruction that seems unavoidable: "Already summer again the war." And yet, the "desolate lonely town" is urged to "Smile, smile anyway," emphasizing the resilience of the human spirit even in the bleakest of times.

A couple, a man and a woman, are walking through "a deserted museum." It is none other than the Louvre, and the city is Paris. Their presence in this sanctuary of human achievement during wartime adds another layer of irony to the narrative. Art and history become both a refuge and a mirror reflecting human potential for both creation and destruction. "The freshness of the world / Is there all asleep," suggests that humanity's better angels are dormant, yet not extinct.

The presence of the guard, who briefly awakens to push a button before falling back into his dream, illustrates the indifferent role people sometimes play in their own circumstances, numbed by the weight of despair or the routine of life. However, it's this very action that causes "the wonder of Egypt standing in its light"-Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god associated with the afterlife-to appear.

Osiris, "in the dead wood / Alive to die once again," embodies the dualities and cycles highlighted throughout the poem: life and death, history and the present, love and war. The irony is not lost on the reader that this deity of the dead is the one "alive," perhaps suggesting that love and art, even in times of war, lend us a vitality that transcends our mortal condition.

The juxtaposition of Osiris with "all the dead idols of the churches of Paris" perhaps critiques the lost spiritual values in the face of contemporary calamities. It's Osiris who "marries" the lovers, officiating their union with a touch of antiquity that transcends time and circumstance. They then move into the "shadows / Of his living night," suggesting both the transient nature of their happiness and the eternal resonance of their love.

"Osiris, or the Flight in Egypt" serves as a timeless reminder of the persisting cycles of human experience: the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. Even in the darkness of war and the complexities of a modern world, it suggests that love and the appreciation of art and history can serve as a small but everlasting light. It's a paradoxical hymn to life, born out of the ruins of war and the timelessness of art, sealing the duality of human existence in an eternal kiss.

POEM TEXT:

It's war, it's summer

Already summer again the war

And the desolate lonely town

Smile smile again

Smile smile anyway

With her sweet summer gaze

Smile gently at those who love each other

It's war, it's summer

A man with a woman

Walk through a deserted museum

This museum is the Louvre

This city is Paris

And the freshness of the world

Is there all asleep

A guard wakes up hearing footsteps

Push a button and fall back into his dream

However what appears in its stone niche

The wonder of Egypt standing in its light

The living statue of Osiris in the dead wood

Alive to die once again

All the dead idols of the churches of Paris

And the lovers kiss

Osiris marries them

And then go into the shadows

Of his living night.

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