Sonnet V by James Agee: The poem and Analysis

Also Read

 (toc) #title= (Table of Content)

The poem

Strengthless they stand assembled in the shadow,

Blind to all strife and all to sorrow blind

Who reared the tower, who scored the April meadow:

Sheltered, they overshade my strengthless mind.

Those hands that gave their kind ungentle power

To summer's travail, autumn did not spare:

That mind which knew the clear, the intact hour,

Now is disparted on a changeful air.

The hands that ached to help are pithless bone

(Mind, mind, the harsh pain and the unalloyed:

What fruit you bear, that must you bear alone!)

The broken helmet nods around its void:

So I disclothe me of this shadow's blight;

And stand the axis of swift noon, sure night.

Analysis 

James Agee's "Sonnet V" delves into themes of strength, mortality, and the passage of time. The poem opens with a depiction of people who have assembled but seem powerless and unaware, suggesting a sense of futility or resignation. The speaker contrasts this with the hands and minds that once exerted force and understood life's clarity but have now succumbed to decay and change.

The imagery of the "tower" and "April meadow" implies the human desire to leave a mark or build something enduring, only to be overtaken by the natural cycle of seasons. Agee uses the seasons as a metaphor for life's stages, suggesting that what was once vibrant and purposeful inevitably fades and disintegrates.

The poem concludes with a personal reflection on mortality and the acceptance of one's own limitations and fate. The speaker acknowledges the inevitability of bearing the consequences of their actions alone, as represented by the "broken helmet" and the emptiness it now encloses. Despite this acknowledgment, there is also a sense of resolve and acceptance, as the speaker decides to shed the "shadow's blight" and stand confidently amidst the passing of time, represented by the "swift noon" and "sure night."

Overall, the poem reflects on the transient nature of human life, the inevitability of aging and decay, and the need to find meaning and acceptance in the face of mortality.