Throughout the 20th century, Robert Bly has provided a wealth of poetry on a
wide variety of topics. Alongside his themes, Robert Bly has also developed
different stylistic methods to convey those thoughts. Such themes vary to this
day, dealing with issues that have personally affected him, and also those of
society in general. His poetry is a time-line pondering solitude, the Vietnam
War, nature, frustration and relationships among all sorts, conveyed not only in
conventional stanzas, but in a form called "prose" poetry as well.
Contributing and inspiring to many, the work of Robert Bly provides an
interesting take on American poetry. Robert Blys' first collection of poems were
released in 1962, titled, Silence in the Snowy Fields. Divided into three
sections: "Eleven Poems of Solitude," "Awakening," and
"Silence on the Roads," all combine along with the title to explore as
Richard P. Sugg states: "human nature as twofold, consisting of both the
conscious and the unconscious. . ." A poem "Return to Solitude"
explores the conscious and unconscious aspects of human nature, relating a
desire to exist in the purest, solitary state; one of inside the womb.
"Return to solitude" seemingly jumps between the conscious and
unconscious state, all the while conveying a yearning for a more solitary
existence. The first stanza, portrays solitude via the imagery. "It is a
moonlit, windy night. / The moon has pushed out the Milky Way." Envisioning
these two lines invokes a sense of remoteness, a picture of a single, bright
moon in the night sky without any stars. "Clouds are hardly alive, and the
grass leaping. / It is the hour of return." With the clouds hardly alive,
or non-existent, the moon is now explicitly alone in the sky; an obvious image
of solitude. "It is the hour of return" in effect, makes the first
stanza a conscious thought, since it is a statement, a bold declaration that is
consciously put forth. The unconscious comes to play in the second stanza.
"We want to go back, to return to the sea," communicates a sense of
yearning within the speaker, almost as if a true desire were being confessed.
The sea is then described: "The sea of solitary corridors / And halls of
wild nights," whose imagery portrays a birth canal, a corridor and also a
hall where sexual intercourse, hence the "wild nights" would occur.
"Explosions of grief, / Diving into the sea of death," correspond to a
sexual climax, but are understood by the speaker as negative. By these events
occurring, it is creating a person and hence eventually the birth of him/her and
the inevitable loss of the pure, solitary state. Hence the explosive climax is
labeled as grievous and paired with an ominous image of "Diving into the
sea of death." The third stanza ponders what would happen if the pure state
of solitude was ever reached. "What shall we find when we return? / Friends
changed, houses moved, / Trees perhaps, with new leaves." These images give
a sense of a renewed life, a different life with different friends and a
different home, and even perhaps a rejuvenation in one's self, as conjured by
the new leaves on trees. Robert Bly's "Return to Solitude" is one of
the many poems within Silence in the Snowy Fields that conveys a dual side to
humanity: the conscious and unconscious, and also explores solitude. Following
Silence in the Snowy Fields came the turbulent Vietnam War, where Robert Bly
took an incredible anti-war stance, seen not only in his poetry but by his
frequent activism in protests and rallies. In 1967, Robert Bly published The
Light Around the Body, a three sectioned collection of poetry that leaped into
current issues. "Asian Peace Offers Rejected without Publication" is
such a poem that portrays a different theme and a different methodology in
bringing it to the surface. "Asian Peace Offers Rejected without
Publication" promotes a realization regarding mankind's misconception of
war, while making a statement to never forget the atrocities that have already
occurred in the past. "Men like Rusk are not men: / They are bombs waiting
to be loaded in a darkened hangar." Here Rusk and his fellows have lost all
their human qualities, thereby losing the ability to be compassionate and
understanding. The speaker then labels Rusk and his cohorts as bombs, the
embodiment of modern carnage and destruction. "Rusk's assistants eat
hurriedly, / talking of Teilhard de Chardin," An interesting twist then
takes place, with the speaker introducing the idea that those favoring
destruction, claim to do it under a seemingly noble guise and hence justify it
to themselves. The irony follows in the imagery of the last line: "They
start the projector, and show the movie about the mad pro-/fessor."
Coincidentally, those that are showing the "mad professor" do not
realize the fact that their desire for destruction, their justification for war
and bloodshed are in essence crazy and unwarranted, similar to a madman's
motives. Together, the first stanza sums up a misconception toward war; the
simple dismissal of death and the carnage associated with war because in
someone's eyes it is a just and good war. Stanza two brings images of America's
own similar atrocities, and a call to remember them through vivid imagery.
"Lost angels huddled on a night branch:" portray an image of those who
have died, watching the consequent images pass. Images invoking colonial
intrusion upon native American lands, the westward expansion at the expense of
those natives and lives of workers building the railroad. All these deaths,
release the feeling of "something inside us / Like a ghost train in the
Rockies / About to be buried in snow!" This feeling that the speaker refers
to, this embodiment of pain and despair cries out, "Its long hoot / Making
the owl in the Douglas fir turn his head" asking a symbolic representation
of America, to take notice and realize that what has happened in the past, is
what is occurring with Rusk in Vietnam. "Asian Peace Offers Rejected
without Publication" and many other poems within Light Around the Body
showcase a developing Robert Bly. The themes have changed, with a previous
concentration on solitude and the conscious and unconscious being replaced by
political poetry expressing personal views toward society's path. His poetry has
changed in that it began to include direct references, specifically to Dean Rusk
and theologian Teilhard de Chardin. Throughout Silence in the Snowy Fields,
Robert Bly was consistent in not including specifics and always promoting his
theme through imagery, rather than an embodiment of associations found in
specific personas. Light Around the Body showcases these changing facets of
Robert Bly's poetry and the beginning of his continued development as a poet. In
1979, Robert Bly published another collection of poetry, titled This Tree Will
Be Here For a Thousand Years. Considered a sequel to Silence in the Snowy
Fields, there are similarities in its return to similar elements such as nature,
but in this case Robert Bly concentrates more on the relationship between man
and nature. As Sugg put it, This Tree Will be Here For a Thousand Years
"affirms Bly's metaphysics concerning the interdependence between the
individual and the natural laws that sustain him." "Black Pony Eating
Grass" is a typical poem showcasing such a relationship. The
interdependence between nature and man is portrayed within "Black Pony
Eating Grass." The first lines invoke a sense of a whole, singular
relationship; that everything is inter-related. "Near me a black and shaggy
pony is eating grass, / that crunching is night being ripped away from
day," gives a sense of revealing. For night and day to be ripped away from
each other portrays a scene where there are no differences, where nothing is
contrasting and everything is one. There is no differing night or day, it is
just a wholesome existence, thus marking the beginning of the human - nature
relationship. "Our life is a house between two hills." The imagery
provided here supports a relationship between man and nature. Man's home, could
be placed in another context, but for it to be placed between hills makes it
seem like a normal part of nature. "Flowers stand open on the altar"
continue this sense a natural relationship, since what is normally sacred texts
or candles, instead lie flowers, a representation of nature. What normally is a
close relationship, that of humankind and religion, is in this case shown by
nature, portraying a close relationship between nature and humankind. Stanza
three continues, "In a few years we will die, / yet the grass continues to
lift itself into the horse's teeth," shows that man is merely a part of
nature; that man will die, but the speaker does not view that as tragic. Rather,
the speaker portrays an image of the horse eating grass, portraying death as
part of a natural cycle, hence showing the relationship between nature. A blunt
declaration of humankind's relationship with nature is defined in the last
lines: " A star is also a stubborn man - / the Great Bear is seven old men
walking." Here the stars are being considered men, literally defining a
relationship between nature and humankind. Throughout "Black Pony Eating
Grass" instances of a relationship between humankind and nature become
apparent, and are commonplace within Robert Bly's This Tree Will Be Here For a
Thousand Years. Thus Robert Bly's thematic interests develop over time, from an
interest in the psyche and solitude, to political poetry to relationships
between humankind and nature. 1981 saw the release of Robert Bly's The Man in
the Black Coat Turns where relationships were now taken to the personal level.
Victoria Frenkel Harris, in The Incorporative Consciousness of Robert Bly states
"The poems of Coat tend to be less visionary, more a record of life in the
daily world. . .The public man, for example, is at times viewed in Black Coat as
victim rather than villain, as one whose externality has developed in response
to cultural, familial, and historical demands." With this new level of
exploration, Robert Bly takes on a new stylistic change seen in a section of his
book called "prose poetry." "Eleven O'Clock at Night" is an
example of Robert Bly's developing poetic taste. "Eleven O'Clock at
Night" introduces the speakers various frustrations in his life and a sense
of yearning for an alternate life. It begins with the countless frustrations in
the speaker's life which build upon each other. "I wrote down some thoughts
on sacrifice that other people had, but couldn't relate them to my own
life." Here the speaker admits failure, and begins his downward descent
into self-loathing. "I wanted the mail to bring me some praise for my ego
to eat, and was disappointed." The speaker searches for a way to lift his
spirits, hoping someone has written to him, but again is disappointed.
Frustration again is found, with only $65 in his bank account, pending bills of
over a thousand. The speaker's own distaste for his life is found in another
confession: "There is no way to escape from these. Many times in poems I
have escaped - from myself." Acknowledging his own desire to leave his real
life, he does so through poetry, a testament to the fact that he yearns for an
alternate life. The speaker then admits, "Now more and more I long for what
I cannot escape from. . ." and proceeds to list solid truths that define
reality as having no solution, as lacking a way to get away from. The thematic
aspect of "Eleven O'Clock at Night" and its concentration on exploring
the self seem reminiscent of Silence in the Snowy Fields, yet stylistically
differ. "Eleven O'Clock at Night" utilized a style called "prose
poetry." Robert Bly had previously experimented with this style previous to
the release of The Man in the Black Coat Turns, but had never dedicated a full
section of his collections to prose poetry. Ralph J. Mills Jr. nicely stated the
purpose of prose poetry, "it further encourages the writer to float about
freely in his perceptions by affording him space - blocks of prose paragraphs -
where his consciousness can exercise a flexibility not constrained by problems
of the line." Thus with time a new facet of Robert Bly's changing poetry
becomes discovered. Robert Bly followed up in 1985 with Loving a Woman In Two
Worlds, another collection of poems which concentrated on inter-personal
relationships. Victoria Frenkel Harris adds ". . .Bly feels to be
harmonious as well as between the masculine and feminine dimensions of an
integrated psyche." Robert Bly's poem "A Third Body" explores
that region of psyche between the male and female. "A Third Body"
portrays a relationship between two people characterized by a third body,
seemingly the psychic manifestation of their love. " . . .they do / not
long / at this moment to be older, or younger, nor born in any other nation or
time, or place. . ." show that they are content regardless of titles or
location. Noting this relationship is important since "Their breaths
together feed someone whom we do / not know." The third body, the
manifestation of their love encompasses these feelings the man and woman hold
for each other. Since the man and woman's breath comes from within, this third
body is made up of all their heartfelt secrets and cares, explaining why they
obey it and promise to love that body. The final lines help give a wider sense
to this third body, "as they breathe they feed someone we do not know, /
someone we know of, whom we have never seen." This gives a sense that
everyone has a third body, since it is commonly known, yet that third body
retains a sense of individuality, unique to every person's relationship. In a
sense Robert Bly proposes that everyone knows and acknowledges the existence of
this "third body," this representation of a male - female
relationship, but also the fact that it is quite attainable by all. The thematic
exploration between male and female relationships is another different approach
taken by Robert Bly, but the style in "A Third Body" is also
noteworthy. Here Robert Bly has abandoned the traditional structured, stanza by
stanza poetry, nor does he continue with his prose poetry. Instead Robert Bly
chooses to convey his ideas through line poetry that sometimes is incomplete.
This use of placing certain phrases on a single line brings about emphasis on
the particular words, giving a new sense to what is being portrayed. Robert Bly
never ceases to experiment and develop his unique approach to poetry. Robert Bly
continues to be an active force in the world of poetry and literature, whose
work has developed and changed over a period of time. Beginning with various
explorations of the conscious and unconscious, to political statements, to
better understanding relationships not only with nature but with men and women,
Robert Bly has continuously explored new regions of poetry. Experimenting with
traditional, stanza based structure to wild "prose poetry" format, he
has additionally attempted different methods in conveying his ideas. An
influential member of the literary world, Robert Bly is a poet that truly
deserves recognition.