Introduction to the Poem:
The poem entitled Wilderness Gothic was published in a collection called Wild Grape Wine when A.L. Purdy’s career started to take shape. The poem reflects on the themes of human aspiration and the possibility of failure, which corresponds with A.L. Purdy’s own struggle to succeed in the literary world.
The poem begins in the present time and describes the actions of an ordinary man who has undertaken the task of repairing a church spire. The man has staked his life by hanging from a rope. He seems to be wholly committed to offer his service in the feet of God. The poem then shifts in time and place so as to discuss history. The poem also shows human aspirations to show something which is beyond capacity. Human aspirations cannot be suppressed in any way. Aspirations and illusory way of man’s thinking provoke him to undertake the Herculean task. In the poem the poet presents a fact before us that man often thinks that he can be a part of the scheme of divine things by offering petty or humble service in the feet of God and he can please God. But it is man’s greatest mistake because he does not know which deed done by him can be helpful for reserving his place to God.
In the poem the poet also throws light on inevitability of death. Death is an ultimate object of human life. Death comes to all sooner or later. The poet expresses his grief at unexpected death which comes due to materialistic. progress.
Summary of the Poem “Wilderness Gothic”:
The Poet’s Observation of the Scene:
The poet (the narrator) is standing on the shore of Roblin Lake which seems to be near of his house. The poet observes a group of workingmen sheathing the church spire with new metal just two shores away. As he cannot observe clearly from a great distance, so he goes near to that place where the workingmen are offering their service. He feels extremely surprised to see a lone man who is hanging in the sky over there from a piece of rope. The man is repairing the cross on church. In fact, by accepting this kind of job, man has staked his life. He is clearly taking a chance with his life to fix the spire because he is working his way up along the spire until there is nothing left to nail on. In other words, his falling down cannot be avoided. Actually, man has blind faith in selfless service and he will be included in the grand scheme of things of God. But divine scheme. He remains under this illusion that God will be pleased with his he is entirely unaware of the fact that in the grand scheme of things, this act may just be a minor, inconsequential job.
The Workman’s Faith and Mythic Struggle:
While pondering over the workman’s motivation for his work, the poet hypothesizes that it is the man’s firm faith in God that drives and encourages him. However, because the work is so dangerous, the man’s faith reaches beyond touches intangible, wrestles with Jacob. Jacob has a vision of stairway that leads to heaven and later builds a pillar in the place which he believes is the gate of heaven. Jacob’s experience leads him to believe that God manifests Himself and His purpose in times of hardships. Thus, the poet believes that the man working on the church is not only doing God’s work but also thinks his faith in God will protect him from harm. As the man pounds hard in the blue cave of the sky, he contends heroically with difficult problems of gravity, sky navigation and mythopoeia. The man hanging in the sky might see his work in mythic terms and its value in mythic proportions, which could lead to a struggle with maintaining his humility to avoid an act of hubris that is a sin in God’s eyes. If the man hopes to reach heaven’s gate through his acts of good will, he must remember that acts alone do not guarantee to enter in heaven. Ultimately, it is the man’s faith that will redeem him in God’s eyes.
Sacrifice, Death, and the Reality of Life:
The poet tells us about the man’s commitment, saying that in addition to contending with the above issues (gravity, mythopoeia), he is not being paid for his work. Rather, the man is volunteering his time and labour to the church and to God. The poet refers to the man’s labour as a non-union job without tangible benefits such as health insurance. (This comment is a testament to the sacrifice one makes to God in doing his work; however, it also implies that the compensation is intangible, and, therefore, it has the potential to be more spiritually rewarding.) Then the poet mentions the fields and woodlots that line the environment and how death is yodeling quiet throughout the land. The mention of death silently hovering around the man alludes to the fact that death is a common occurrence. In fact, it has taken the lives of three young birds that were crushed in the sub-surface of the new country highway. These deaths confirm the idea that death is a necessary part of life, even when great risk is not being taken. In addition, the act of progress, shown in the creation of a new highway, can often result in the sacrifice of innocent victims.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem Entitled “Wilderness Gothic”:
Introduction:
Wilderness Gothic was published in 1968 in a collection called Wild Grape Wine. The poem reflects on the themes of human aspiration and the possibility of failure, which corresponds with Purdy’s own struggle to succeed in the literary world. At the start of Purdy’s career, he endured criticism of his early works and his lack of formal education, yet he continued to create poetry, a testament to his own commitment to his craft and his unbridled faith in his ability. The poem begins in the present time and describes the actions of an ordinary man who is working hard to repair a church spire. The man hangs from a rope and takes a great risk to donate his time and labour to God. The poem then shifts in time and place so as to discuss history.
Thought-content:
The first section focusses on a workman repairing the church steeple on the far side of Roblin Lake. The man has devoted his time and labour to God, a non-paying, non-union job. The speaker says that perhaps he wrestles with Jacob as well as with rotten timbers and new pine. The second section introduces the surrounding fields “yellowing into harvest,” “death yodeling quiet in green woodlots,” “three young birds that have disappeared,” “in the sub-surface of the new county highway.” The last section identifies the scene as a Durer landscape, where “gothic ancestors peer from a medieval sky”.
Yet in the next lines they are transformed into Victorian pioneers, looking for omens in the weather, strange births, a miscarriage. And they then merge in the final lines with the speaker and the workman across the lake. Secular time and divine time, the slow pace of nature and the accelerated violence of the urban world, the historical past and the immediate present all converge in a single moment. All things living, the living and the dead, without distinction, share an unfolding and uncertain present, suspended between vertical and horizontal, faith and doubt, order and chaos.
Element of Pessimism:
In the poem, the poet’s own pessimism dramatically influences the perceptions and conclusion of the poem itself. He writes:
“That picture is incomplete, part left out
that might alter the whole Durer landscape:
………………………………………………..
Something is about to happen. Leaves are still.
Two shores away, a man hammering in the sky.
Perhaps he will fall.”
The dramatic tension of this poem lies in his explicit suggestion of failure- for death can be, for Purdy, the ultimate negation of mortal achievement. Yet, in this poem, there is no actual realisation of falling or failure, simply the poet’s own perception and alarm. The scene might merely be, as he tells us a, “Druer landscape”. Yet, the landscape and perspective are notably cast by his own consciousness of failure, and the imminent failure with which he culminates his observations suggests how such a mentality can transform possibilities, vision and imagination.
The Use of References and Allusions:
The spire is described as “God’s belly-scratcher,” implying that while the man is dedicated to his work, there’s a sense that in the grand scheme of things, the act may just be a minor, inconsequential job. The mention of Jacob refers to the Book of Genesis in which Jacob has a vision of a stairway that leads to heaven and later builds a pillar in the place which he believes is the gate of heaven. The poet mentions a Durer landscape, a reference to the artist Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). One of Durer’s woodcuts is called The Fall of Icarus, which reflects some of the themes of Wilderness Gothic. According to the myth of Icarus, Icarus and his father, Daedalus, tried to escape imprisonment by flying with wings fashioned of feathers and wax. However, Icarus did not heed his father’s warning about flying too close to the sun. Rather, Icarus was so exhilarated by the act of flying that he flew too high and the sun melted the wax in his wings, and Icarus fell to his death. As a result, Icarus has become a symbol of aspiration, yet he also represents the human capacity.