24 Poems - Robert Gray Notes PDF

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summary and explanation of the poem '24 poems' by robert gray...

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NOTES - 24 Poems by Robert Gray

24 Poems by Robert Gray is a composite of 24 three-line micro-poems, each conforming to a haiku inspired freeverse style. Each stanza consists of 16-17 syllables, with the first line of many being shorter than the others (often only four or five syllables in length). The poem collectively is a combination of vignettes, which capture brief moments in the day. These separate micro-poems combined form an obscure narrative, which follows the timeline of the day from early morning to evening. The first few stanzas are set early in the morning such as “ Mountainside dusk” which then moves to “ Late afternoon sun” and then finally “A pious sunset”. This framing device of time suggests that the poems, with the intensity of feeling and image, are emblematic of a journey of life evidenced in the final lines of the poem “ Light has paused on its endless journey ”. This poem also describes both the landscape and illustrates the poignant human experiences.  

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The presence of human activity despite the continuance of nature’s beauty is explored in ‘24 poems’. In the third stanza, Gray captures the gentle image of “the Milky Way blowing high above the forest” and then contrasts with the auditory image of “A truck changes down”. The harsh sounds of the truck changing gear can be imagined by the reader while they simultaneously visualise the beauty of the Milky Way in the sky. This juxtaposition reminds the reader that their appreciation of nature will likely be marred by the presence of human activity. The transience of life is conveyed through the series of vignettes in the poem ’24 poems’. The poem, composed of a series of twenty-four, three-line micro-poems, transverses the human experience, beginning with the imagery of change in the first stanza “In the rock pool, grass moves with the water. Violin bows adagio”. The movement of the water within the rock pool is slow and this is reinforced with the slow movement of the violin bow: adagio means performed slowly. › This focus on the slow but perpetual movement of life is evident again in the final stanza where the line “Light has paused on its endless journey ” evokes paradoxical images of inaction and movement, both parts of the human experience. This image suggests both the death of an individual and the continuing of humanity as a species. The poem captures a series of everyday activities in its highly concentrated micro-poems. This is seen in the stanza “Open the door on the gunshot of morning – work all day wounded ” which powerfully captures the experience of being moved by the beauty of the natural world and this experience lasting for the entire day. The metaphor of a ‘gunshot’ dramatically captures the impact that the natural world can have on an individual, reinforced in the image of being metaphorically ‘wounded’ by the experience. The anxiety that is brought by being in hospital, or visiting hospital, is captured in “A hospital room; in the curtains, a slight breeze, Thoughts of living” where the imagery of the curtains blowing suggests a calm acceptance of life’s fragility. The common experience of fighting with a loved one, and the escapism that this provokes, is conveyed in “After a quarrel she makes love in the shower to the limbs of water” where the sensual metaphor of making love illustrates the escapism from hurt into personal comfort, in this case the safety of the warm shower. This poem is a perfect example of Gray’s capacity to convey the intensity of the everyday human experiences, which we take for, granted. In the poem, Gray creates a beautiful image of the river at twilight. The extended metaphor of light on the river as candles works impressively on the imagination “A cathedral – long tapers of rain light candles on the twilit river” Another example of imagery from the poem is his description of moonlight on the sea in the second stanza “I get up. Bright moonlight. The sea is a glass brimming under the tap ”. The domestic imagery of the glass under the tap enlivens the reader’s imagination to the vision of the sea as full and glistening in the moonlight....