Poems with Mythic Allusions

Charon's Cosmology

by Charles Simic (1938-    )

With only his feeble lantern

To tell him where he is

And every time a mountain

Of fresh corpses to load up

Take them to the other side

Where there are plenty more

I'd say by now he must be confused

As to which side is which

I'd say it doesn't matter

No one complains he's got

Their pockets to go through

In one a crust of bread in another a sausage

Once in a long while a mirror

Or a book which he throws

Overboard into the dark river

Swift cold and deep

Why do you think Charles Simic uses no punctuation? Does it have anything to do with the tone of the speaker towards the topic?

In the third stanza, the speaker says, "No one complains." Who does he mean? Who are the possible complainers?

Why do you think Charon throws the mirror or book overboard? What do they represent? What do they indicate about Charon? What do they indicate about the people who took them to the grave? Or about the people who buried the dead with these objects?

Odysseus

W. S. Merwin ( 1927-    )

For George Kirstein

Always the setting forth was the same,

Same sea, same dangers waiting for him

As though he had got nowhere but older.

Behind him on the receding shore

The identical reproaches, and somewhere

Out before him, the unraveling patience

He was wedded to. There were the islands

Each with its woman and twining welcome

To be navigated, and one to call "home."

The knowledge of all that he betrayed

Grew till it was the same whether he stayed

Or went. Therefore he went. And what wonder

If sometimes he could not remember

Which was the one who wished on his departure

Perils that he could never sail through,

And which, improbable, remote, and true,

Was the one he kept sailing home to?

Who was "the unravelling patience/He was wedded to"?

Who were the women who were on each island?

Who wished ill for Odysseus and who was "improbable, remote, and true"?

What does it mean that Odysseus could not remember at times who wished him ill and who was loyal? Is this a fault with Odysseus or with the women or with life itself?

This poem is not just about Odysseus. Who or what does Odysseus represent? What does he symbolize? Is Odysseus a positive or negative symbol or is the answer more complex than that?

Separation

W. S. Merwin ( 1927-    )

Your absence has gone through me

Like thread though a needle.

Everything I do is stitched with its color.

"Separation" is a poem that complements "Odysseus" though that may not have been intentional on the poet's part. In what way can this poem be considered a complement to W. S. Merwin's first poem?