Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Christopher Okigbo's poem "Eyes Watch the Stars" is a deeply symbolic exploration of secrets, identity, and the tension between the earthly and the celestial. The poem is rich with imagery that evokes the natural world, particularly the beach, as a place of both revelation and concealment, where personal truths are buried and uncovered in the cycles of nature.

The poem begins with the image of "eyes open on the beach," immediately placing the reader in a liminal space where the land meets the sea, a setting often associated with transitions and transformations. The "eyes open, of the prodigal" suggests a moment of awakening or realization for the speaker, who, like the biblical prodigal son, may be returning to a place of origin after a period of estrangement or wandering. The upward gaze toward heaven, "where stars will fall from," indicates a search for meaning or divine intervention, a longing for something greater than the earthly realm.

The "secret" mentioned in the poem is central to its theme, representing a hidden truth or knowledge that the speaker has entrusted to the earth rather than to another person. The speaker emphasizes that this secret has been "told into no ear" and instead has been "planted into beachsand." The act of planting the secret in the sand suggests an attempt to bury or hide something deeply personal, something that is meant to remain concealed yet is intimately connected to the natural world. The beach, with its transient nature, where the sand is constantly shifting, becomes a metaphor for the instability of secrets and the inevitable forces that bring them to light.

As the poem progresses, the natural elements begin to react to the buried secret. "Salt-white surf" breaks on the "stones and me," symbolizing the relentless force of nature that uncovers what has been hidden. The imagery of lobsters and shells, combined with the "iodine smell," evokes the raw, organic nature of the beach, where life and decay coexist. The "maid of the salt-emptiness, sophisticreamy, native" appears as a personification of the beach itself—both alluring and indifferent, embodying the purity and harshness of the natural world. This figure, described as "native," suggests a deep connection to the land and sea, a force that is both part of the secret and the one who guards it.

The repeated phrase "whose secret I have covered up with beachsand" reinforces the idea of concealment, but the surf's breaking suggests that such concealment is temporary. The natural world, in its perpetual motion, cannot keep secrets buried forever; eventually, they resurface, whether through the movement of the surf or the shifting sands.

The poem’s concluding lines introduce the "shadow of rain" as it moves over the "sunbeaten beach" and "over man with woman." The rain, a symbol of cleansing and renewal, casts a shadow that brings a moment of cool relief to the heat of the sun, symbolizing the duality of life—pleasure and pain, revelation and concealment. The "man with woman" suggests a human connection that is overshadowed by the complexities of life and the secrets they carry. The shadow over them could represent the burdens they share or the unspoken truths that lie between them.

"Eyes Watch the Stars" is a meditation on the relationship between the hidden and the revealed, the personal and the universal. Okigbo uses the setting of the beach, with its ever-changing landscape, to explore how secrets are buried and how they inevitably resurface, influenced by the forces of nature. The poem’s rich imagery and symbolic language convey a sense of unease and contemplation, as the speaker grapples with the transient nature of life, the weight of secrets, and the inescapable pull of the divine. In this way, Okigbo invites readers to reflect on the complexities of identity, the burdens of knowledge, and the tension between what we hide and what we cannot keep hidden.

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