Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

William Stanley Merwin's poem "Among Bells" is an intricate exploration of time, memory, and the interconnectedness of human experiences and nature. Through detailed and evocative imagery, Merwin guides the reader through a journey that melds the ancient with the contemporary, the still with the moving, and the known with the forgotten.

The poem begins with a vivid ascent: "At the top of the dark emerging from one more upward turn on stones hollowed by feet so far ahead that nothing of them would ever be known." This opening sets a tone of historical depth and mystery, suggesting a path well-trodden by many but whose individual stories have been lost to time. The "surprising light still as glass around the green furred hillsides of the bells" introduces a moment of clarity and beauty, contrasting with the darkness and the wear of the stones.

Merwin captures a scene filled with layers of history and culture: "a square with red tables down there under dusty sycamores / Yugoslav flags kiosks posters loud in Cyrillic across the flaking façades." This imagery situates the reader in a vibrant yet decaying urban landscape, where the present is in constant dialogue with the past. The presence of various elements—hats, horses, piled carts, buses—creates a tapestry of daily life, animated by movement and purpose.

The poem's focal point shifts to the belfry, a place where time itself seems to hover: "telling for each of them / a different age at the same time even for the ancient belfry in which the hour hovered as though nothing that breathed / were living up under / its vaulted stone ceiling." This description underscores the theme of time's fluidity and the coexistence of multiple temporalities within a single space. The belfry, with its ancient bells, serves as a symbol of continuity and the passage of time.

Merwin introduces a powerful image of a still swift, perfectly preserved: "a smooth wing of a swift so still that nothing except wind seemed to move in its feathers no flash of eye betrayed life in it the stiff quills." The swift, initially appearing lifeless, embodies a moment frozen in time. The detailed description of the bird, with its "burnished swelling in the dust" and "bill gleaming like a chip of twilight," evokes a sense of both beauty and fragility.

The poem then delves into the swift's sudden reanimation: "the wings before they could be seen to flash suddenly vanished out of the cradling palms to reappear trembling on the stone balustrade." This transformation from stillness to motion symbolizes the fleeting nature of life and the unexpectedness of change. The swift's departure, with "one eye for a moment glancing / back as a black planet," signifies a brief acknowledgment of the past before moving into the future.

As the swift vanishes into the afternoon light, the poem returns to the bustling cityscape: "while in the streets the same / hats legs and wagons were / moving toward unchanged destinations." This return to the ordinary world highlights the continuous flow of life, where individual moments of transformation are juxtaposed with the persistent rhythms of daily existence.

The final lines reflect on the cyclical nature of time and the constancy of human activities: "and at the station trains were arriving on time without a sound and just leaving." This closing image underscores the theme of movement and the passage of time, where arrivals and departures are part of an ongoing, silent process.

"Among Bells" by William Stanley Merwin is a rich and layered meditation on time, memory, and the interconnectedness of life. Through its detailed imagery and reflective tone, the poem captures the tension between stillness and motion, the ancient and the present, and the fleeting and the eternal. Merwin's exploration of these themes invites readers to consider their own place within the continuum of history and the natural world, offering a profound reflection on the beauty and transience of existence.

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