Saturday, March 8, 2014

How does Malouf use the motif of movement in his poems "Radiance" and "Aquarius"?

In the poem "Aquarius," the movement is the kind we can feel: the “sea’s breath," the “reversed” image in the mirror’s lens, turning “towards sleep." These are all movements that we can experience while we, as humans, are still. Think of standing in an ocean or river while its currents move and pull you, or of the strange feeling you get when you are surprised by your reflection in a shop window. These are movements which affect us but which we cannot control, only experience. The title could be a reference to the ways that the movement of stars and constellations have been thought by many cultures to affect human experience.
In "Radiance," we can see movement happening in the “weather we move in," meaning the way that we interpret and experience the world and the paths that our lives take. Malouf mentions an animal totem, an unknown familiar, and an angel. These could refer to the way that external factors affect our path and how humans like to see events as destiny or part of a greater plan. As Malouf says, for some it is a “nudge . . . of circumstance," small changes that seem random but purposeful; for others it is the appearance of a shadow falling across their path at noon, unexpected obstacles that appear suddenly; and for others still it is a “wound” or a “gift” which can be one and the same, a challenge that changes the path of our lives takes but that we accept as a positive. The title, and the opening stanza, could be an allusion to moving toward the light; “come to it, serenely” a reference to accepting death and the way you have moved through life.

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