The Stipulative Imagination of Thom Gunn

Transcription

1 The Iow Review Volume 4 Issue 1 Winter Article The Stipultive Imgintion of Thom Gunn John Miller Follow this dditionl wks t: Prt of the Cretive Writing Commons Recommended Cittion Miller, John. "The Stipultive Imgintion of Thom Gunn." The Iow Review 4.1 (1973): Web. Avilble t: This Contents is brought to you f free open ccess by Iow Reserch Online. It hs been ccepted f inclusion in The Iow Review by n uthized dministrt of Iow Reserch Online. F me infmtion, plese contct lib-ir@uiow.edu.

2 The Stipultive Imgintion of Thom Gunn John Miller Thom Gunn is British-Americn poet whose wk hs been prised dmned on both sides of the Atlntic. His first book of poems, Fighting Terms (1954), chieved considerble reputtion in Engl, mrking Gunn both s member of "The Movement" then emerging in British letters s n energetic young tlent in his own right. English reviewers of Gunn's lter volumes often decry wht they consider flling wy from the wit, clrity, prosodie control mnifested in Fighting Terms.1 A number of Americn reviewers, on the other h, hve condescendingly dismissed Gunn s " fshionble, rote versifier of some skill intelligence"2 his poems s mnufctured, min llegies.3 Surprisingly few critics hve noted n obvious fct of Gunn's creer: tht he hs been the most self-consciously existentil poet of either Gret Britin Americ in recent yers. Whether his existentilism is dilettntish dllying deeply experienced wld-view, it ffects both the substnce the tech nique of his poetry. Critics reviewers, f the most prt, hve filed to con front this poetry on its own terms, preferring their own criteri prejudices. If only his versifiction were not so stiff trditionl, his lnguge so b strct, Americn critics tell us, his poetry would mesure up to his obvious in telligence. If only Gunn hd mintined the technicl brillince of Fighting Terms, his erly British dmirers ssert, his prosody would not hve succumbed to creeping Americnism. Clerly Gunn cnnot hve the best of both wlds, British Americn, when viewed from such perspectives. My centrl ssumption here, in contrst, is one: tht writes simple poet wht he does not merely to be fshionble to disply his ingenuity, but to en ct enuncite his ttitudes towrd humn experience. Gunn's ttitudes, de rived from consistently existentil outlook, relte very closely to the kind of metph he develops in his poems: to the situtions persons he uses in these poems, especilly to the wy he ssigns vlue to derives signifi cnce from them. However much Gunn my hve been cptivted by literry 1 See, f exmple, the reviews of Ronld Hymn ( "Voznesensky, Elizbeth Bishop, Thom Gunn," Encounter, July 1968, p. 72) Anthony Thwite ("Good, Bd Chos," The Spectt, September 1, 1961, p. 298). 2 Jmes "The in Dickey, Suspect Poetry As Everymn Detective," Sewnee Re view 68 (Autumn, 1960), p Crol Johnson, "Four Poets," Sewnee Review 70 (Summer, 1962), p. 518; John Thompson, Poetry XCV (November, 1959), p. Ill; Hyden Crruth, "Mking It New," The Hudson Review XXI (Summer, 1968), p University of Iow is collbting with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, extend ccess to The Iow Review

3 styles trditions, the strengths weknesses of his poetry re not merely technicl. They result from his sense of how mening cn be chieved, both in poetry f the self-consciously isolted personlity, in wld devoid of in trinsic significnce. Wht I cll the "stipultive imgintion," in Gunn's cse, is tht which s serts identity, within metphic equivlence, mening often provisionl, elbtely concocted sitution. The stipultive imgintion is one tht psses from sitution in terms of its sensible to me perceived prticulrities gen erl "mening" willfully on imposed tht sitution. In literture, the llegicl mode of perceiving conveying significnce seems relted to the stipultive imgintion; f this reson, probbly, the term llegy hs been pplied dis prgingly to Gunn's poetry. Yet most of the gret llegicl wks of the pst?the Divine Comedy, The Ferie Queene, Pilgrim's Progress, f exmple?re not merely stipultive. Their uths ssumed, probbly most of their contempry reders some ccepted, ontologicl ( t lest conventionl) rel tionship between the designtion representtive of vlue tht vlue itself. In society life without pre-existing vlues, however, it is the isolted individul will imgintion tht sserts mening f set of circumstnces. Will volition is primry fculty not only f the existentilly iented self, but lso f the stipultive poet. To define oneself, to crete some met extension of phic mening f prticulr circumstnces, is to ssert stipulte. Such ssertion, in Gunn's often seems exercise of poetry, precious desperte will in the fce of pprent meninglessness. Either the metphic equivlences the semi-fictive persone of Gunn's poems often nnounce their in n significnce explicit yet mnner. provisionl It is s if mthemticin, estblishing the symbols with which he must wk, were to sy: "Let X st f one referent, let Y st f nother, let it be understood tht these vlues f X Y exist only within the specific context of this problem." The mthemticin legitimtely dels with bstrctions: sheer quntifictions shn of substnce, numericl ttributes without ny necessry referents in the relm of physicl things events. The stipultive poet, by contrst, must some how medite between things menings, ppernces significnces, the "vehicle" of metph the "ten" ultimte impt tht the metph should convey. Gunn's erly poems, s products of stipultive imgintion, tend towrd bstrction. re Mny evolved constructs in elbtely which some kind of generlized mening ttches to the prticulrs of experience to the ex periencer himself. In some cses it seems tht Gunn hs strted with generl ides hs struggled to embody them: to provide experientil bsis f other wise bstrct dichotomies concepts. Senstions, gestures, perceptions, ctions become potentil embodiments of mening personl identity, self consciously rryed by the poet his persone s emblems f stipulted sig nificnce. As Gunn clerly indictes, no deity Emersonin Oversoul provides ontologicl bsis f their possible menings; n does ny communl consensus of belief. When reviewer complined tht most of the poems in Gunn's second 55 Criticism

4 volume (The Sense of Movement, 1957) were "mnufctured things tht pss f poetry,"4 he ws merely plying his vrition upon sttement tht Gunn himself hd sserted in the initil poem of tht volume: Men mnufcture both mchine soul, And use wht they imperfectly control.5 Since mening is so rbitrry, trnsient, problemticl gol in Gunn's erly poetry, it follows tht the definition of both wds persons is often self-conscious ssertion, willful posing of tenttive, precrious significnce. The wit energy of such ssertions notwithsting, they often pper s rtificil strtegies utilized in the bsence of ny nturl reltionship between humn cog nition the instruments objects of its wreness. As perhps I hve lredy suggested, Gunn's erlier poetry differs from his me recent wk should not become either criterion n excuse f dis missing it. To dte there re five volumes of Gunn's poetry: fter Fighting Terms The Sense of Movement, My Sd Cptins (1961), Touch (1967), Moly (1971). Reding ll five volumes, one recognizes imptnt shifts develop ments in Gunn's creer. His bsic existentil ssumptions remin firly constnt, yet his lter poems emerge with different strtegies vlues in the fce of these ssumptions. My focus here, however, is on the first three volumes. Fighting Terms introduces stock person of Gunn's verse, the self-conscious, isolted individul, often poised pinfully between ction reflection. In cer tin poems of this volume, Gunn ssumes personl isoltion s his strting point then exples vrious modes of escping mitigting this seprteness. Other poems, by contrst, move lmost in the opposite direction. To relte with feel f others is to to risk emo fego self-sufficiency, misundersting tionl vulnerbility, to expose one's toughly sserted socil identity to the c rosive wreness of nother consciousness. Thus isolted self-sufficiency is both curse n rm to contin defend one's own in blessing: skepticl telligence, loss of opptunity to exercise one's on personlity Others Otherness. A recurrent metphic vehicle f this dilemm is the politicin politicl stte. Ech of these embodiments of the isolted individul is bsiclly self interested. Yet ech must enter into elbte, wr disingenuous negotitions fre with constituency, neighbing stte, feign power. Ech is wre tht his self-conscious mchintions willfulness re likely to encounter eqully devious resistnce, yet ech must proceed under the guise of righteous ness good will. Such poems s "To His Cynicl Mistress," "The Right Possess," "The Court Revolt," "Cptin in Time of Pece," "The Bech Hed," to lesser extent 4 Thompson, op. cit., p Thom Gunn, "On the Move," The Sense of Movement (London: Fber & Fber, 1957), p. 11. All other poems footnoted re Gunn's. 56

5 "The Wound"?ll in Fighting Terms?use politicl-diplomtic-militry fble to exple the plight of n existentil desperdo individul wooer. A strong simi lrity exists between these poems some of Auden's erly wks which utilize the Spy Secret Agent s their persone qusi-politicl dilemm s their centrl metph.6 Gunn, meover, seems influenced nother of Auden's by llegicl devices, tht of the "psychic lscpe," which, s we shll see, p pers in "The Wound." The mj limittion of these pseudo-politicl fbles is not their rbitrry, imposed connection between vehicle ten, their ptent cleverness, but the limited rnge of their centrl metphs. Insted of enriching extending the menings of their poems, these metphs restrict rrest significnce. Let me put the mtter in me generl terms. The reltion between vehicle ten, in metph, idelly involves the progression enlrgement of wreness from prticulr instnce to me generl impliction. Vehicle is to ten s specific understing pprecition is to me extended wreness. Metph, in this cse, trnsfers extends our pprehending focus from smller to lrger richer frmewk of significnce. Or t lest it enbles dynmic inter ply between two relms of humn ctivity. Auden's best politicl-psychologicl metphs, f exmple, llow such interply between the personl the so cil ders of being; one relizes tht it is not only the divided mbivlent commitments of the individul psyche tht pper in poem, but lso the socil politicl mbience in which divided loylties re extended reinfced. Gunn's poems such s "To His Cynicl Mistress" "The Bech Hed," on the other h, use n ostensibly politicl sitution s only stipulted emblemtic frmewk, one with no other interest relity thn s vehicle f Gunn's un remitting focus on individul self-consciousness in its reltion to nother such consciousness. A spurious socil mcrocosm shrinks, in effect, to microcosm of liented individulity. Perhps this is something of wht Mrtin Dodswth ment when he wrote of the "nxious continment of thought" within the poems of Fighting Terms.7 Perhps, too, Gunn is commenting, indirectly by contrst, on his own poetic strtegies metphs in "A Mirr f Poets." This poem, lso in Fighting Terms, chrcterizes Elizbethn Engl s culture of gret vio lence, politicl intrigue, contrdictions between pomp brutlity, mg nificence squl, Pltonic idels ctul disder. Unlike the metphic situtions in some of Gunn's other qusi-politicl poems, the Elizbethn relm described in "A Mirr f Poets" stimultes n exciting commerce between pr ticulr event generl significnce: In street, in tvern, hppening would cry 6 See Monroe discussion of such in Spers's metph The Poetry of W. H. Auden: The Disenchnted Isl (London New Yk: Oxfd University Press, 1968), pp. 34, Mrtin Dodswth, "Tking Plesure," The Listener, October 19, 1967, p Criticism

6 1 m myself, but prt of something greter, Find poets wht tht is, do not pss by, F feel my fingers in your pi mter.8 Poets in Elizbethn erly Jcoben Engl, Gunn indictes, could re lte to socil conceptul der, frmewk of trnscendent beliefs tht incpted, clrified, superseded the fluctuting violence egotism of the ge. The chief tension excitement in "A Mirr f Poets" exist in this dilectic between histicl disder Pltonic trnscendence, "Fms, flood ing like moonlight, /In which the ct thought perceived its err" in which "mnkind might behold its whole extent." Yet Gunn, in holding up this er s mirr f cnnot clim s such mirr prdigm poets, the certinly existentil wld ssumed in other poems. Lcking ny tensive, suggestive re ltionship between prticulr event me brodly deeply pprehended relity, his metphic situtions often fold in upon n liented self-conscious ness. In the wld ssumed Gunn's by poetry, self-continment, self-mstery, self-ssertion re frequent but mbiguous vlues. One of the most intriguing poems in Fighting Terms, "The Wound," dels with debilitting split between reson will. This "wound" of the poem's person ppers initilly in terms of n Audenesque "mlized s lscpe": in Auden's "Pysge Mlis?" "In Memy of W. B. Yets," Gunn stipultes metphic reltion between his speker's psychic wound lscpe contining vlleys villges. While the wound hels, the vlleys drken the villges remin quiet; but with the onset of wrth the loss of self-control, the vlleys re "stm-lit"?the cleft of the vlleys presumbly representing the clevge between will reson. This metphicl geogrphy, however, is incidentl to the poem's bsic pt tern vehicle, which is the Wr. Trojn So s the cn mintin in this long poem's speker neutrlity wr, his wound remins closed heling. To indicte lck of commitment mintennce of resonble control over the will, Gunn hs his speker fighting lterntely "on both sides" of the wr, chnging identities s he switches llegince between Trojns Greeks. He is lterntely Helen, Neoptolemus, Achilles; the lst figure, in his stubbnly proud independence, epitomizes the self-contined self-mstering identity: I ws myself: subject to no mn's breth: own commer ws My my enemy.9 When Thersites cckles the news of Ptroclus's deth, however, the wrth of Achilles cuses him to lose control over his will therefe his self-composure too. His wound re-opens. bout Ptroclus's Thinking "noble pin" induces rge, once gin the between reson clevge volition. 8 "A Mirr f Poets," Fighting Terms (New Yk: Hwk's Well Press, 1958), p "The Wound," Fighting Terms, p

7 Is commitment, with its ttendnt emotionl risks imblnce, nobler me desirble thn toughly isolted self-continment? Gunn's finl poem in Fighting Terms, "Incident on Journey," sserts preference f willfully g gressive, tough-minded individulity. The red-coted soldier who ppers s drem-fetched lter ego of the poem's speker sys: And lwys when living impulse cme I cted, my ction mde me wise. And I regretted nothing.10 Regretting nothing is the refrin throughout this poem, motto finlly dopted by poet person like. Action over self-conscious specultion, simplicity over complexity, over toughness soft-herted re the s feeling preferences serted here. Gunn's metrics tend to reinfce these vlues. The tight fmlity strictly mintined stnzic ptterns of his poems in this volume imply con tinment, rigous ssertion, fer of emotionl involvement relxtion. The Sense of Movement (1957), to my mind much me impressive volume thn Fighting Terms, shows widening slight shift of focus, yet reltively little chnge in poetic technique strtegy. Tht is, Gunn uses greter rnge of situtions references to emblemtize the dilemms with which he is con cerned. The terms contrrieties of these dilemms differ somewht from those in Fighting Terms; Gunn's existentilism emerges me explicitly in this second volume. Yet there is the sme dogged, willful mnipultion of experien til dt into llegy, the sme stipultive insistence tht Observtion X Sitution Y must trnslte into Existentil Doctrine Z. As M. L. Rosenthl writes bout My Sd Cptins, Gunn is preoccupied here "with existentil emp tiness on the one h, with the ssertion of mening through sheer will willful ction on the other... Z'11 Agin, this preoccuption is both the sub ject f certin poems in The Sense of Movement bsis f Gunn's poetic method. Vrious persone in these poems try to ssert thus define them selves through their ctions movements, to brek free of their imprisoning self-consciousness At pssive intellectulity. the sme time Gunn, their cret imgintive lter ego, tries to ssert define vrious menings f the fictive situtions they inhbit. Tht which is imposed, codified, self-con mnifested?whether it be sciously gesture, ct, rticle of clothing, poetic emblem?is tht which ssigns to Gunn's mening subjects. Such self-conscious ssertion of mening is both n energizing principle strit jcket f chrcters poems in The Sense of Movement. The mot cycle boys the young tough of "Mrket t Turk" re whipped into ction by need to ssert their identities. Yet, s they "strp in doubt" buckle them selves within surplus GI bootstrps belts, they become trgi-comic poseurs: locked into self-willed immobility, costumed exemplrs of Bergson's definition 10 "Incident on Journey," Fighting Terms, p M. L. Rosenthl, "Contempry British Poetry," The New Poets: Americn British Poetry Since Wld Wr II (New Yk, Oxfd University Press, 1967), p Criticism

8 f comedy, "the mechnicl encrusted upon the living." Likewise the rhythms in mny of these poems must struggle within ginst rbitrry metricl stnzic ptterns; the poet's concepts must struggle to mnifest themselves with in tngible circumstnces, while rom circumstnces re seemingly mobilized pressed to yield rticulble ides. Hence, I feel, the stiffly regulr fm prosody in these poems. They re less mtter of "fshionble, rote s prosody," Jmes Dickey lbels them in his insensitive review,12 thn n ttempt to impose tngible der upon the mterils of wld tht is perpetully moving but without direction. "On the Move," probbly the best-known poem in The Sense of Movement, provides good illustrtion of Gunn's energetic but rbitrry trnsition from initil circumstnces to sserted significnce. The motcycle boys who re the poem's centrl persone, described distntly objectively in the second stn z, become representtive modern men, emblems f Gunn's existentil selfhood, in lter stnzs. Lcking the utomticlly fulfilled, instinctul purposes of birds the trnscendent, unwvering vlues of sints, "the Boys" re sid to be "The self-defined, stride the creted will." They re the poem's only embodiments of Gunn's qusi-philosophicl sttement tht concludes stnz three tht we hve quoted in prt lredy: Much tht is nturl, to the will must yield. Men mnufcture both mchine soul, And use wht they imperfectly control To dre future from the tken routes.13 Yet these exemplrs of the humn will re those who, in the preceding stnz, pper "Smll, blck, s flies hnging in het" who minimize risk volition by strpping themselves "In goggles, donned impersonlity,/ In gleming jckets trophied by the dust." This is the poem's centrl wekness. Wht igintes s n objective, even judgmentl view of the boys becomes n dultion of their existentil dring. The trnsfmtion is sudden, rbitrry one. A reder suspects tht it is not relly the motcycle gng, "Men" in generl, who exercise their will in vlueless wld; it is the poet, stipultively shifting his perspective ttitude towrd his subjects, who does so. The poem itself, rther thn ny motcycle, provides the mchinery by which mening cn be stipulted humn will sserted. The ssertion of will figures prominently lso in "The Unsettled Motcyclist's Vision of His Deth." Here, gin, the motcycle itself serves s "chosen in strument" f the poem's person. It is not "vlueless wld" into which the cyclist hurls himself in this poem, however; it is settled, hbitul, insenste physicl nture, witless ntgonist to the "unsettled" motcyclist. Written in four-foot Mrvellin couplets, this poem contins some of Gunn's finest descrip tive rhythmic effects, especilly in its presenttion of physicl nture: 12 Jmes Dickey, op. cit., p. 662.!3 "On the Move," op. cit., p

9 I pick my wy Where deth life in one combine, Through the drk erth tht is not mine, Crowded with frgments, blunt, unfmed; While er pst my where noises swrmed The mrsh white plnt's extremities, Slow without ptience, spred t ese Invulnerble soft, extend With quiet grsping towrd their end.14 This reltionship between humn non-humn nture?one which Gunn exples me fully in his ltest volume, Moly (1971)?llows the poet none of the "trditionl" "rchetypl" metphs symbols in which nturl phe nomen (the sesons, the sun moon, the resurrection springtime of plnt-life, f furnish models f humn concerns. exmple) prllels Gunn's existentil ism, t this stge of his creer, seems resolutely set ginst ny kind of pre existing "nture." Thus his poetry poetic symbols re non-mythic even nti-mythic: the self-conscious individul finds himself seprte from niml vegettive nture, often in defint opposition to it. In "The Unsettled Mot Vision.. cyclist's." nture is n lien Otherness, "mere embodiment." Tubers growing in the mrsh fill out the cyclist's clothing, but It is s servnts they insist, Without volition tht they twist; And hbit does not leve them tired, By men lbiously cquired. In "The Allegy of the Wolf Boy," nother poem in The Sense of Movement, the personl evsion of socil humn identity involves his trnsfmtion into werewolf, which relxes his will in surrender to irrtionl nture. The wolf boy goes beyond His understing, though the drk dust: Fields of shrp stubble, boned by mchine To the whining enmity of insect lust.15 In longer me complex poem, "Merlin in the Cve: He Specultes Without Book," the movement, sensuousness, pprent spontneity of nt url phenomen?clouds, birds, grss, bees?impress upon Merlin the dec dent rtificility, the self-imprisoning role sterile perfection of his mentlistic mgicinship. To such n esthetic dy, immobilized in the cold perfection of 14 "The Unsettled Motcyclist's Vision of His Deth," The Sense of Movement, pp is "The Allegy of the Wolf Boy," The Sense of Movement, p Criticism

10 his own clculted system, the flux of nture s struggle pper ttrctive lterntives. Yet Merlin ends his monologue by sserting humn will gency, rejecting both the "rnk convolvulus" s mode of escpe from his cve "the sweet promiscuity of the bee" s model f his ctions. A specific qulity of nture?its dynmic movement?offers n f humn exmple volition, but n ture itself remins lien to the self-defining speker of this poem. Assuming this fundmentl seprtion between humn non-humn n ture, Gunn often estblishes rtificil (mn-mde) situtions s ex metphic tensions, emblems, f the humn ttributes he wishes to ex testing grounds "In Prise of ple. Cities," f elevtes urbn over nturl exmple, consciously lscpe, the fmer being both product multiple symbol of humn desires enterprise. "The Nture of n Action" utilizes two lmost-identicl furnished rooms s strting point ultimte destintion f its speker's self conscious progression. "The Crid," in similr fshion, stipultes in its opening lines metphic eqution between setting psyche: A seprte plce between the thought felt The empty hotel crid ws drk.16 Strting with this stipulted metphic equivlent, the poem exples dilem m of self-consciousness tht ppers in severl other poems of Gunn: dis junction not so much between thinking s feeling between cting ob serving, spontneity self-wreness, self-bon self-control. The poem's development of this dilemm is ingenious logicl, once its terms hve been estblished in the first two stnzs. A reder must, however, consent to the poet's stipultive imgintion its tctics befe pprecting this poem. The persone in Gunn's s we hve poetry, lredy mentioned, lso stipulte f themselves. qusi-metphic "menings" Dress, mnnerisms, jrgon, re gestures their modes f sserting self-elected, self-mintined identities. To crete one's own in this personl identity wy is often, s Oscr Wilde demon strted in the lte nineteenth century, to pose to mnifest vrious ffect tions. F this reson, probbly, Gunn hs been both hiled f his "toughness" ssiled f his chic dyism. Pictured in blck lether jcket spt ing Mephistophelen gotee, he is esily identified with the despertely pre ssertive chrcters of his Becuse Gunn writes cociously poetry. bout "tough" chrcters, he is sid to write "tough" poetry. Perhps it is true, s G. S. Frser sttes in "The Poetry of Thom Gunn,"17 tht there is fr me self-ssertion risk-tking in Gunn's writing thn in tht of his comptriots such s Philip Lrkin Kingsley Amis. Yet there is lso fml, ironic distnce, in some of his poems, between Gunn-the-poet the self- group-stipulted identities of his persone. Gunn might "think of ll the toughs through histy" in "Lines f Book": he ssume might the role of 16 "The Crid," The Sense of Movement, p. 59. pp. 17 G. S. Frser, "The Poetry of Thom Gunn," Criticl Qurterly III (Winter, 1961), 62

11 Srtren hero in "Humn Condition"; but he cn lso st prt from such self-projections, objectively describing implicitly judging them. He does this in "Mrket t Turk," s the following stnz shows: It is militry, lmost, how he buckles himself in, with bootstrps Mrine belt, reminders of the will, lest even with tht hrd discipline the hrdness should not be felt.18 "The Beters," too, contins n explicit identities?, by impliction, on Gunn's mening: on commentry self-imposed, own "violent prbles" of bizrre stipulted And wht pper the dy's ffecttion?the swstik-drped bed, links tht press In twined gleming weight beneth shirt Are emblems to recll identity; Through violent prbles their specil cre Is strictly to exple tht finitude.19 The finl poem in The Sense of Movement, "Vox Humn," is one of Gunn's strongest perfmnces, grdully emerging mnifesttion of the existentilist belief tht ech humn creture chooses, then fulfills, his own destiny future. This future, the vox humn, is the poem's subtly insistent speker which p pers t first s "Being without qulity" (note the grmmticl pun on "Be ing"), "n unkempt smudge, blur,/ n indefinite hze." After fcing itself upon humn consciousness choice, it tkes on the most eminent distinguish ing qulities of ny individul who, in projecting his future, defines himself stipultes his own fte. The poem reches its rheticl climx in the fourth stnz: I ws, f Alexer, the certin victy; I ws hemlock f Socrtes;, in the dry night, Brutus wking befe Philippi stopped me, out 'Cesr!'20 crying To my none judgment of the poems in My Sd Cptins, Gunn's next volume ( 1961 ), mtches the best most complex wk in The Sense of Movement. The 18 "Mrket t Turk," The Sense of Movement, p "The Beters," The Sense 20 "Vox Humn," The Sense of Movement, p. 36. of Movement, p Criticism

12 volume s opening poem, "In Snt Mri Del Pop?lo," receives the prise of M. L. Rosenthl Ronld Hymn,21 but strikes me s insufficiently terse com pelling to justify the contrived ssocitions on which it depends. Severl other poems in the volume?"a Mp of the City," "Blck Jckets," "Hotblood on Fridy"?seem to be replys, with some vritions, of subjects tht Gunn hd lredy delt with in previous wks. Other poems confront exple ng ging problem which Gunn hd touched upon in his two erlier volumes: the problem of lnguge conceptuliztion in wld where "mening" derives from rbitrry linkge between wds referents, where no nturl con sensus bsis f significnce exists. It is problem tht rises when the stipu ltive imgintion exmines its own self-consciously prctices. The very title of Gunn's first book suggests, in its mbiguity, this problem. Fighting Terms: re these terms those ginst which one must re fight, they expressions of one's pugncity combtive energy? Are wds nturl mode of communiction, enemies of sincerity vlid self-expression? A cn poet stipulte?by context, convention, sheer insistence?the metphic extensions of mening his fictions re to convey. An individul cn ssert, through mnnerisms willful ction, the identity "mening" he chooses f himself. Wds themselves, however, cnnot be wielded in quite so cvlier fshion. They re socil s well s personl, "nturl" in their culturl his ticl evolution, yet often shifting rbitrry in their denottion of con cepts, feelings, perceptions. Meover, the reltionship between perception conceptuliztion, between the sensible prticulrs of experience the generl bstrctive terms with which lnguge thought operte, hs become problemticl in severl systems nti-systems of modern thought, from logicl to positivism surrelism. Gunn's involvement in such issues strts erly, but reches of climx in something My Sd Cptins. An erly exmple of such involvement, from Fighting Terms, is "F Birth dy," the first two-thirds of which red: I hve reched time when wds no longer help: Insted of guiding me cross the mos lmrks in Strong the uncertin out-of-dos, Or like dependble frirs on the Alp Sving with wisdom with bry kegs, They re grvel-stones, tiny dogs which yelp Biting my trousers, running round my legs. Description nlysis degrde, Limit, dely, slipped l from wht hs been; And when we gron My Drling wht we men Looked t me closely would too soon evde The intellectul hbit of our eyes; 21 Rosenthl, op. cit., p. 256; Hymn, op. cit., p

13 And either the experience would fde Or our pproximtions would be lies.22 Gunn's ttitude towrd wds is quite explicit here, stted clerly in the open ing lines of ech stnz; but wht bout his use of lnguge metph? All but one line (the opening line) of the first stnz is qusi-metphic, using lscpe, lmrks, frirs, bry kegs, grvel, tiny dogs to enfce simple contrst between useful hindering wds. All but three-fifths of one line (the second line) in the second stnz, by contrst, is exposity n lyticl. How does Gunn mingle relte these two modes of writing: is there nything me thn n rbitrry juncture between them, the ostensibly illustr tive metphic lnguge ctully being less definite thn the exposity writ ing? (Wht does tht second line of the second stnz ctully convey, f ex mple?) Given the clrity potentil impct of his literl subject, why did Gunn stipulte pseudo-metphic set of equivlents f it? Wht trnsition between the "metphic" conclusion of the first stnz the exposity opening of the next stnz does the poem ctully chieve? This poem clerly distinguishes between wds exmined s literlly wds, wds trnslted into metphic equivlents extensions (tiny dogs, grvel-stones). Severl poems in The Sense of Movement, however, blur this distinction in peculir, rbitrry mnner. These poems develop definite situ tion lscpe s vehicle f whtever set of implictions Gunn wishes to ssert; "On the Move," f instnce, uses on motcycle boys country rod to represent the existentil credo tht Gunn ultimtely wnts to embody. Yet within this sitution one of its literl components becomes identified s wds. This hppens in the finl line of the first stnz of "On the Move": One moves with n uncertin violence Under the dust thrown by bffled sense Or the dull thunder of pproximte wds.23 The "dull thunder" would be tht of the pproching motcyclists, s the stnz following immeditely indictes; yet Gunn stipultes nother referent, "pproximte wds," f this noise. A lter poem in The Sense of Movement, "Autumn in Chpter Novel," opens with two chrcters? beutiful French girl young tut?strolling through utumnl woods, while "round their feet/ Mob syllbles slurred to fine complint." This unexpected creltion between utumn leves wds recurs desulty lter in the poem: Sp drws bck inch by inch, to the ground The wds they uttered rustle constntly: Silent, they wtch the growing, weightless mound "F Birthdy," Fighting Terms, p "On the Move," The Sense of Movement, p "Autumn in Chpter Novel," The Sense of Movement, p Criticism

14 "The Seprtion," poem bsed on Henry Jmes's The Turn of the Screw, con tins similr creltion between lscpe lnguge: "the trmpled medow of wds." Gunn's ttitude towrd wds lnguge, then, often is one of suspicion disgust. His poetry hs been criticized f its bstrctions;25 yet he hs lso been prised f his bility to tke n imge sitution, "swinging rpidly between the prticulr the generl, to mke it prdigmtic of the humn condition."26 Now there is nothing inherently wrong with bstrctions in poetry, imgist doctrine to the contrry. N is there ny utomtic virtue in lternting between prticulrs exposity generliztions. At times, s in "F Birth dy," Gunn doesn't leve his bstrct lnguge well enough lone, his metph ic "prticulrs" being the lest justifible nturl wds in this poem. At other times the generliztions seemingly ccumulted from specific situtions re fctitious lmost purely verbl. Conscious of this lck of gnic ontologi cl connection between generlizing terms definite experientil referents, Gunn wrote the following octve in "From the Highest Cmp," sonnet from My Sd Cptins: Nothing in this bright region melts shifts. The locl nmes re concepts: the Rvine, Pemmicn Ridge, Nth Col, Deth Cmp, they men The streetless rise, the dzzling bstrct drifts, To which nmes prticulr dhere by chnce, From custom lightly, not from chrcter. We st on white terrce confer; This is the lst cmp of experience.27 Gunn's self-consciousness bout tkes different lnguge direction, lso, in My Sd Cptins. In the nominlistic relm of the "highest cmp," in cul ture which hs drined ll dignity, precision, socil credibility from its b strct sensuous lnguge, perception ssume n prticulrity exggerted lone re imptnce. They "rel"; they lone provide trustwthy lnguge of tngible, definite references tht n individul cn see, touch, grsp. Thus n uth like Ernest chrcter Hemingwy like Cmus's Meur literry sult in The Strnger strip both their vocbulry their cognition of con ceptuliztions, writing existing s fully s possible in relm of immedite perceptions. Severl of Gunn's poems in My Sd Cptins disply similr im mersion into phenomenologicl prticulrity: rdicl clensing of ll pre-exist ing definitions, beliefs, ptternings of experience. "Wking in Newly-Built House" is such n exercise in perceptul immedi cy; it is minute exmintion of discrete sensy stimuli, the "newly-built 25 Johnson, op. cit., p. 518; Lurence Liebermn, "New Review, Autumn 1968, p Hymn, op. cit., p. 72. Poetry in Review," 27"From the Highest Cmp," My Sd Cptins (Chicgo: University of Chicgo Press, 1961), p. 19. Yle 66

15 house" hving removed the poem's speker from ll hbitul ssocitions thus from ny self-defining context. The only generliztion Gunn llows himself is tht which occurs in the poem's finl stnz: Clmly, perception rests on things, is wre of them only in their precise definition, their fine lck of even potentil menings.28 "Flying Above Clifni," the poem tht immeditely follows, lso effects refreshing seprtion between concepts (highly connottive nmes of Clifni cities, in this cse) perception. As the poem's speker is flying bove semi-imginry Clifni, he brethes the nmes of plces he hs not been to: "Crescent Sn City, Bernrdino//?Mediterrnen Nthern nmes." Then sudden shift occurs; the speker's freely ssociting mind focuses on shrply "fogless dys by the Pcific" where there is cold hrd light without brek tht revels merely no less. Tht wht is?no me limiting c, tht ccurcy of the beches, is prt of the ultimte richness.29 "Considering the Snil" is me complicted poem, inferring the snil's pur posiveness from its stlwrt push through moisture-lden grss; the poem ends with the ssertion tht perception lone would not suffice f ny imginings of the snil's "slow "deliberte The pssion" progress." poem reherses kind of its clims tht his vision of the prdox: speker-observer snil, in its sensuous would prticulrity, preclude ny ttribution of motive to this cre ture; yet obviously the poem itself contins me thn mere perception de scription. In definite contrst to the group of poems just discussed is "The Byrnies," written by Gunn when he ws studying Beowulf in grdute clss t Stnfd using the chin-mil rm of Get tribesmen s its centrl These symbol. wrris re poised precriously ginst hostile, mysterious, monstrous nture, which thretens their emergent humn intelligence s well s their physi cl security. Their byrnies protect them not only "Aginst the nicker's snp, hostile sper," but lso ginst the drkness of ignnce superstition, ginst "Brbric fest, mesh of brnch root." The interlinking of metl bs which is their physicl defense is lso linking of perceptions with con cepts, prticulrs with generliztion, into systemtic thought belief. 28 in "Wking Newly-Built House," My Sd Cptins, p. 29 "Flying Above Clifni," My Sd Cptins, p Criticism

16 Byrnie on byrnie! s they turned They sw light trpped between the mn-mde joints, Centrl in every link it burned, Reduced stedied to thous points. Thus f ech blunt-fced, ignnt one The gret grey rigid unifm combined Sfety with virtue of the sun. Thus concepts linked like chinmil in the mind.30 Seen in retrospect in reltion to Gunn's two lter volumes, My Sd Cp tins is poetic ded end, demonstrtion of self-consciousness stipultive rhetic plyed out to their limits. While The Sense of Movement s ppered n energetic, mture dvnce upon Fighting Terms, My Sd Cptins dds lit tie me thn deepened self-consciousness to the chievement of its predeces ss. Gunn dels me criticlly directly, in his third volume, with the limi ttions rbitrry nture of self-stipulted identities conceptuliztions. At the sme time his persone become me isolted in their perceptions, me rigidly compulsive in their modes of self-ssertion, ltogether less dmir ble s models f existentil ction. The shtcomings of My Sd Cptins, in other wds, re not wholly pro sodie, though some critics jumped on Gunn's exclusive use of syllbic verse in the second hlf of the volume.31 Syllbic verse, s however?especilly Gunn uses it?is not simply prosodie lterntive to trditionl ccentul-syllbic (foot ptterned) lines. On the one h it is stripping-down of rhyme meter to their brest essentils, reducing the recurrence of sound t the ends of lines to minimum doing wy with ny "crrying" rhythm within between these lines. In severl of his s syllbic poems, we hve noted, Gunn n perfms reduction of content to minimum. On nlogous perceptul, phenomenologicl the other h, syllbic verse doggedly sserts the primcy of n rbitrry prin ciple? stipulted number of syllbles f ech line?s its structurl bsis. In defince of ny "nturl" the cn crete s rhythm, syllbic poet truncted, hesitnt, discontinuous movement s he I pleses. suggest, therefe, tht Gunn's choice of syllbic meter prllels his choice of subject mtter ulti mte concerns in My Sd Cptins. As the poet his person reduces his vis ion to perceptul minimum his sserted identities to nrrow choice of gestures ctions, so he sserts miniml but metric f his verse. rbitrry If My Sd Cptins pretty well exhusted ny further possibilities f the stipultive self-consciousness the self-defining "tough," where could Gunn's poetry go from there? Touch (1967), Gunn's next volume, provides cour geous nswer lterntive. As Julin Symons wrote f The New Sttesmn: There re no poems here prising ll the toughs through histy nlyzing sdo-msochism, no threnodies f blck-jcketed tenderly mot cy 30 "The Sd Byrnies," My Cptins, p E.g., Anthony Thwite, op. cit., p

17 clists. Insted we hve pieces which, lmost f the first time in his wk, suggest the possibility of tenderness between humn beings, like the title poem with its relxed...32 rhythms. How cn such tenderness be chieved, credibly unsentimentlly, in the st of wld envisioned by Gunn's previous poems? Or, in Symons's wds, "How mny hostges cn be given to tenderness without dmging vision whose qulity is bound up with its hrd ssurnce?"33 Gunn's mj chievement to dte, seventeen-prt poem clled Misnthro pos, nswers this question. Misnthropos is fr too long complexly inter relted, in its prts imgery, to discuss dequtely here. Wht follows, in sted, is response to prtil modifiction of Merle Brown's criticl enct ment of the poem, which ppers in this sme issue. In Misnthropos Gunn posits n existentil post-holocustl isoltion, within this isoltion projection of himself. This self, in mny wys recog nizble of composite the persone in Gunn's previous three volumes, is mini mlly humn, isolted not only by externl circumstnces but lso by his own misnthropy: his disgust f recent histy, mss humnity, the "dust" of humn wste, futility, cipherdom. Thus the physicl privtion of this "lst mn" functions in one sense s stipulted metph f the psychologicl liention misnthropic fstidiousness of the "sensitive" modern rtist, the liented sensibility tht subscribes to Wste L ttitudes towrd contempo rry life. This ttitude is not merely the Anglo-Ctholic superiity of T. S. Eliot; it is n existentil recoil of disgust from humnity stripped of ll god-like ttributes of its prticiption in ny trnscendent der of being. As Nthn A. Scott wrote in The Broken Center: Wht on every repter the present humn condition hs... to tke into ccount is the sense tht men hve tody of being thrust into the nudity of their own isolted existence. Though "huddled together" in the gret metropolises of the contempry "like dust in hep," tht which most in their wreness is sense figures of prominently the wld's v cncy, the loss of the rel proximity of friends neighbs.34 This existentil solitude, Scott believes, dtes "from tht mning when Bude lire looked out upon the Pris lscpe?'tht vst cemetery tht is clled gret city'? felt n immense disgust."35 It is precisely this disgust, reinfced sense by of over superiity "the msses" "mss culture," tht Gunn ims to excite excise in Misnthropos. In nother sense, the circumstnces in crete not Misnthropos merely metph but frighteningly believble picture of existentil misnthropy trns lted into politicl, militry disster. The poem presents wld of the "lst 32 Julin Symons, "Clen Cler," The New Sttesmn, October 13, 1967, p Ibid., p Nthn A. Scott, The Broken Center: Studies in the Theologicl Hizon of Mod ern Literture (New Hven: Yle 35 Ibid., p. 18. University Press, 1966), pp Criticism

18 surviv," tht one envision himself neo-primitivism might entering when he leves his bckyrd fllout shelter, Drwinin survivl prepred f by the most militntly individul chrcter in Jmes Dickey's novel Delivernce. It is both fer secret fntsy of the isolted, self-ssertive "tough" described in severl of Gunn's erlier poems. In wld considered decdent over populted, it is retret into "gnic," "simple" nture, life wiped clen of ll over-civilized clutter "mss" humnity. In yet nother sense, however, the "nture" in Misnthropos is essentilly lien thus destructive to humn identity. Like the mrshl described in "The Unsettled Motcyclist's Vision of His Deth" the brbric frost slty hill in "The Byrnies," the physicl setting in this poetic sequence is n in senste encrochment upon tht would enble the 'lst mn" to sur everything vive s mn. socil Memy role individul self-conscious fesight, ness, hbit, gesture, clothing "unifm": ll such ttributes of Gunn's erlier dies self-ssertive toughs re pitted ginst n dehumnizing ture, n isolting primitivism tht is both metphic very literl. It is not brute survivl tht is t stke here; it is humn reciprocity, commu nity, reltedness, the interction between knower known, l egotism truism. The lscpe diminishing outlook of misnthropy re not enough; n is mere self-ssertion. In two erlier poems of Touch, "Con "Brvery" fessions of the Life Artist," Gunn hd turned his own brvdo esthetic isoltion into objects f criticl self-exmintion. In Misnthropos these ele ments of himself his pst creer become prts of lrger whole. The 'lst mn" is both the poet himself fictive "representtive mn" of our con tempry ge, s the dilogic fm of Section II suggests?both "he" "I," both the misnthropic element in Gunn the nti-socil, ingrown snobbery of modern rcists, elitists, men of "tste" "discrimintion." The 'lst mn" in the poem is lso the "first mn"?the Americn Adm who must re-socilize himself, t lest ressert his socil ttributes while mintining personl in tegrity, if he is to prticipte in the resttion of humn community civili ztion. Ech reder of Misnthropos must bring his own insight bckground to this poem, s Merle Brown hs done in his essy. Here I wish to cll ttention to only one of its prts, Section XII entitled "Elegy on the Dust." The poetry in this section is remrkble combintion of the medittive contemptu mundi trdition the distinctively modern disgust f "mss mn," which we hve just discussed. Without resting to stipultive llegy, Gunn moves grdully convincingly from his description of literl, se post-nucler of dust to misnthropic view of modern humnity itself: Ech colourless hrd grin is now distinct, In no wy to its neighbour linked, Yet from wind's unpremeditted lbours It drifts in concd with its neighbours, Perfect community in its behvi. 70

19 It yields to wht it sought, sviour: Scttered gthered, irregulrly blown, Now sheltered by ridge stone, Now lifted on strong upper winds, hurled In endless hurry round the wld.36 This section, the cme of misnthropy within the entire poem, still serves s turning point f both Gunn the "first mn." If humns their mss culture re dust bowl, subject to the winds of fshion politicl dem re gogues, lso conscious of their common their they mtlity: compnionte igin rise from dust s well s their eventul return to it. It is the "first mn's" recognition of this fct, in prt, tht enbles him to struggle pinfully ginst his isolted misnthropy in the lst three sections of the poem. s Misnthropos whole is prosodie tour de fce, utilizing syllbic verse, rhymed couplets, qutrins, occsionl blnk verse f its different sec tions, thus lcking ny metricl continuity rtionle. Ech section, in effect, mnifests Gunn's willful imposition of specific rhyme scheme metric recognizble pttern upon its mteril. Other poems in Touch, however, notbly the title poem "Bck to Life," show relxtion of Gunn's tightly contined, strictly controlled verse-fms. As tough highly conscious self ssertion yields grdully to touch of gentleness in these poems, their prosody lso some yields of its stipulted regulrity. In one sense, then, Touch seems divided into the "old" Gunn with his tough minded, rigously controlled verse, the "new" Gunn who moves towrd sensuous, humne contct between existentilly isolted beings. Yet the poems in Touch, s re round crete dilectic rther gnized they Misnthropos, thn demrction between isoltion contct, miniml individulity interpersonl sympthy. F this reson I find Touch the most unified of Gunn's volumes to dte. In Moly, his most recent book (1971), Gunn returns to reltionship delt with in erlier poems such s "The Allegy of the Wolf Boy," "The Byrnies," "The Unsettled Motcyclist's Vision of His Deth": the reltionship between humn consciousness sub-humn "nturl" fms of life. There identity is both fer, holding-bck, tempttion in this reltionship. Gunn's persone, in vrious situtions, inhumn nture s either n encroch perceive ment upon, relese from, n ren f, n extension of their individul personlities wills. We hve seen lredy tht, f the willful existentil self, there is no spontneous, instinctul hrmony with purely "nturl" rhythms fces, no return to of either existence. The mythic ptterns metph stipultive self, no mtter how mny elementl phylogenetic components it subsumes, mintins its distinct s identity Gunn's unsettled motcyclist does: by imposing itself, either s gent viewer, the nture tht surrounds ginst prtly inhbits it. 36 Section XII ("Elegy Fber, 1967), p. 42. on the Dust") of Misnthropos, Touch (London: Fber & 71 Criticism

20 Just s there is softening of self-sserted toughness in Touch, however, there re modifictions in Moly of the polrity between humn inhumn nture. Moly, the supernturlly endowed herb given to Odysseus by Hermes, countercts Circe's enchntment restes men from swinehood Odysseus's bck to humnity. Thus it becomes, in Gunn's title poem throughout the volume itself, tlismn f trnsition trnsfmtion. Though certin poems in Moly express nostlgic urgent desire to merge with unselfconscious nture, Gunn seldom relxes the strict precision of their versifiction stnzic ptterns. Gone re the free-verse of "Touch" rhythms the loosely imbic movement of "Bck to Life," two of Gunn's notble pro sodie dventures in his previous volume. Gone too, in Moly, is the syllbic verse tht so figured prominently in My Sd Cptins less noticebly in The Sense of Movement. The only deprture from tightly ptterned ccentul-syl lbic lines tht Gunn llows himself is the prgrphed "prose-poetry" tht oc curs in "The Colour Mchine" in one section of "Tom-Dobbin." At the sme time tht he tightens the fml prosody of these recent poems, Gunn lso shrpens his focus on the sensy detils cumultive implictions of the mteril with which they del. By doing so, Gunn reduces the willful stipultive ttribution of mening?the qusi-llegicl linking of descriptive detils with uthilly sserted vlues?tht chrcterizes his erlier poetry. There is less self-consciousness in these poems: greter trust in the intrinsic potentil significnce of events situtions. Although still lrgely estrnged from the niml vegetble kingdoms from which they hve evolved, the humn spekers in no re Moly longer the self-conscious toughs dies of Fighting Terms, The Sense of Movement, My Sd Cptins. Gunn's img intion cn the boundries exple between humn nonhumn nture rther thn its own constntly, insistently stipulte identity menings. 72