Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

William Matthews' poem "Bystanders" delves into the collective experience of witnessing an accident, exploring themes of mortality, communal response, and the stark, haunting beauty of catastrophe. Through vivid imagery and a narrative tone, Matthews captures the tension and helplessness of being a bystander to a tragic event.

The poem begins with a description of the challenges faced by cars attempting to navigate a treacherous hairpin turn during heavy snowfall: "When it snowed hard, cars failed / at the hairpin turn above the house." This setting introduces the precariousness of the situation, as cars "slur off line and drift / to a ditch—or creep back down." The drivers' struggles against nature's elements set the stage for the central event of the poem.

Matthews depicts the scene with a detached, almost clinical precision, highlighting the routine nature of these incidents: "Soon he'd be at the house to use / the phone and peer a few feet out / the kitchen window at the black / night and insulating snow." This everyday image of drivers seeking help underscores the normalcy of danger in this environment.

The tone shifts as the poem recounts a specific night when a group of people, including the speaker, gathered to observe the stranded cars: "One night / a clump of them had gathered / at the turn and I'd gone out / to make my usual remark." The speaker's "usual remark" about pride and machines adds a touch of irony and smugness, indicating a sense of superiority over the drivers' misfortune.

The atmosphere changes dramatically with the arrival of a speeding car: "Then / over the hillbrow one mile up the road / came two pale headlights and the whine / of a car doing fifty downhill through / four tufted inches of snow atop a thin / sheet of new ice." The description of the car hurtling down the hill creates a sense of impending doom. The collective response of the bystanders is one of awe and fear: "That shut us up, / and we turned in thrall, like grass / in wind, to watch the car and all / its people die."

The poem vividly portrays the anticipation and horror of the accident: "Their only chance / would be never to brake, but to let / the force of their folly carry them." Matthews captures the inevitability of the disaster with the metaphor of an arrow: "How beautifully shaped it was, like an arrow, / this violent privation and story / I would have, and it was only beginning."

As the car crashes, the poem focuses on the physical details of the event: "Halfway / down the Morgans' boulder- and stump- / strewn meadow it clanged and yawed, / one door flew open like a wing." The imagery of the car's violent descent and final stillness is stark and poignant. The revelation that "The many I'd imagined in the car were only one" intensifies the tragedy.

The poem's climax centers on the aftermath, as a woman tends to the lone victim: "A woman wiped blood from his crushed / face with a Tampax, though he was dead, / and we stood in the field and stuttered." This intimate and unsettling detail emphasizes the human aspect of the tragedy and the helplessness of the bystanders.

Matthews concludes the poem by reflecting on the communal experience of the accident: "So we began to ravel from the stunned / calm single thing we had become / by not dying." The relief of survival and the return to normalcy are captured in the routine actions of the authorities and the dispersal of the crowd: "the county cleared / the turn and everyone went home." The poem ends with the sound of the snowplow, symbolizing the restoration of order: "while / the plow dragged up the slick hill the staunch / clank of its chains, the county cleared the field."

"Bystanders" by William Matthews is a powerful exploration of the human response to tragedy, capturing the tension between detachment and involvement, the beauty and horror of catastrophe, and the shared experience of witnessing. Through its vivid imagery and narrative depth, the poem invites readers to reflect on their own roles as observers in the face of life's unpredictable and often tragic events.

Copyright (c) 2024 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...