Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"In the Evening" by Adrienne Cecile Rich plunges the reader into an intimate moment between two figures, a woman and a man, standing in a porch and facing an uncertain world. While the poem may appear to be a snapshot, it carries the weight of history, change, and a sense of existential anxiety, painting a rich emotional landscape within the seemingly simple setting. The temporal setting, referred to as "the half-dark sixties," imbues the poem with the turbulent energies of that era, an age of upheaval and questioning.

The poem opens with the image of "Three hours chain-smoking words," suggesting that there's been an intense, perhaps draining, conversation. This evokes a feeling of urgency and tension. Words are not merely spoken; they are "chain-smoked," as if they are consumed and exhaled rapidly, loaded with the same addictive, dangerous qualities of cigarettes.

The second stanza introduces a historicizing aspect. "The old masters, the old sources, / haven't a clue what we're about," Rich writes. There's a generational disconnect, the sense that traditional frameworks and understandings have become irrelevant or inadequate. The implication is that the societal changes and personal complexities of the "half-dark sixties" have rendered old wisdoms moot or at least insufficient. The "shivering" suggests both cold and perhaps a kind of existential dread, uncertainty about the future, or the sheer intensity of living through times of change.

The lines "Our minds hover in a famous impasse / and cling together" suggest a mental and emotional gridlock. Though they are together, there's a sense of stalemate or deadlock, which might be political, ideological, or emotional in nature. Yet in this moment of impasse, they "cling together," finding some form of support or solace in each other's presence. "Your hand / grips mine like a railing on an icy night" amplifies this image, creating a metaphor for their relationship as a safety railing that one holds onto tightly, especially when navigating through 'icy,' unstable conditions.

The poem concludes with a haunting image: "The wall of the house is bleeding. Firethorn! / The moon, cracked every which-way, / pushes steadily on." The bleeding wall, adorned with Firethorn, and the cracked moon symbolize a world that is both violent and beautiful, fractured yet persistent. Like the moon, the two figures in the poem are compelled to "push steadily on," despite the ambiguities and anxieties that surround them.

"In the Evening" is a succinct yet profound meditation on a moment of connection amid broader cultural and personal uncertainties. It encapsulates the complexities of human relationships, especially when those relationships are set against the backdrop of a changing world that defies easy comprehension or traditional guidance. Rich masterfully weaves together the personal and the historical, making it clear that even in moments of intimate stillness, the world outside-fractured, challenging, and relentless-continues to exert its force.

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