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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

DESERT WIFE: 3, by                

In "Desert Wife: 3", Ada Hastings Hedges presents a poignant exploration of the hopes and aspirations of a couple attempting to carve out a life in a barren, inhospitable landscape. The poem touches on themes of perseverance, idealism, and the deep desire to transform a harsh environment into something fertile and hospitable. However, underlying this sense of hope is a quiet acknowledgment of the overwhelming challenges they face, particularly in the woman’s struggle to find comfort and security in a landscape that feels isolating and oppressive.

The poem begins with the couple’s dreams of prosperity and abundance: "They had their dreams of green alfalfa fields / With thriving growths to cut— and lusty clover, / Of yellow acres and their yellow yields / To fill their granaries and brim them over." These vivid images of thriving crops and overflowing granaries represent the couple’s optimism and their belief in the possibility of taming the desert. The green alfalfa and yellow fields symbolize not only fertility but also the couple’s hope for self-sufficiency and success in a difficult environment. Their dreams reflect a desire for order and productivity, where the land is cultivated and yields its bounty in abundance.

The next lines emphasize the couple’s belief in the predictability and regularity of nature: "Seasons would follow—summer follow spring / As orderly as in a gentler place." They imagine a rhythm to life in the desert that mirrors more temperate regions, where the passage of time is marked by the steady cycle of planting and harvesting. In their vision, the desert can be brought under control through hard work and determination: "By sowing and by reaping they might bring / Time to a desert that had known but space." This idea of "bringing time" to the desert suggests that the couple hopes to impose human order and structure on a landscape that has been defined by vast, empty spaces—an environment indifferent to human effort.

The couple’s ambition to tame the desert extends to their desire to change the very nature of the landscape: "They would diminish with their poplar trees / Horizons that were too remote and vast." By planting trees, they hope to physically reduce the intimidating vastness of the desert, making it feel more manageable and less isolating. The poplar trees, which would provide shade and shelter, represent their desire to create a sense of home and comfort, to impose a boundary that separates their cultivated space from the wild, untamed desert. The act of planting and nurturing these trees becomes symbolic of their attempt to push back against the "primeval loneliness" that threatens to engulf them.

However, the poem’s final lines reveal the woman’s deep sense of unease and isolation: "She must have trees against the hill, she said, / That frowned unbearably upon her head." The hill, which looms over her, becomes a symbol of the oppressive and overwhelming nature of the landscape. The word "frowned" personifies the hill, suggesting that it exerts a psychological weight on the woman, making her feel vulnerable and exposed. The trees she desires are not just for practical purposes—they are a shield against the vast, indifferent desert that seems to bear down on her.

"Desert Wife: 3" captures the tension between human ambition and the natural world, as the couple’s dreams of cultivation and order clash with the stark reality of life in the desert. Through the imagery of crops, trees, and the looming hill, Hedges explores the deep emotional impact of living in isolation, particularly from the woman’s perspective. Her desire for trees to shield her from the vastness of the desert speaks to a universal longing for safety, comfort, and the creation of a home, even in the most challenging and unforgiving environments. The poem suggests that while the couple may be able to shape the land through hard work, the psychological toll of such isolation is more difficult to overcome.


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