LITR 5535: American Romanticism
Student Student Poetry Presentation, fall 2000

Reader: Amana Marie Le Blanc

Respondent: Gwendolyn Darrell

September 16, 2000

"Eagle Poem"

by

Joy Harjo

Norton Anthology of American Literature, 5^th shorter ed., 2791

Joy Harjo’s wonderful poem is a classic example of a poet’s dealings with Romantic subject matter. The reader is essentially swept into the poem and is made to circumnavigate its verse both thematically and structurally. Working within the conventions of the Romantic tradition, Harjo nevertheless creates her own mythology of the individual and nature.

Harjo’s poem is an ode to Nature and to the individual insomuch as he or she is connected to Nature. The speaker talks of opening herself up "To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon / To one whole voice that is you." Very much in the tradition of great Romantics such as Wordsworth, Harjo conceives of a personal relationship to Nature whose essence calls out to, connects with, and to a large extent, is her. Harjo’s "prayer" (a term that may in other instances signify the more traditional ritual through which the devout commune with their respective deities) is here a form of supplicating or communing with Nature whose essence we find in ourselves. In so much as Harjo’s subject sees and understands Nature, he or she gains an understanding of his or her own nature. She says: "We see you, see ourselves," and "Breathe in, knowing we are made of / All this."

The extent to which the poem’s speaker understands that "there is more / That you can’t see, can’t hear, / Can’t know…" necessarily aligns this experience with the notion of the Sublime. This daunting sensation brought on by a cognitive connection to things beyond our experience is felt only "in moments / Steadily growing, and in languages / That aren’t always sound." It is a phenomenon that works outside the realm in which spoken language creates and defines the experiential boundaries.

Our poet’s dealings with language are equally fascinating in that she unifies content with structure. Harjo’s speaker talks of connecting in languages that "aren’t always sound but other / Circles of motion" (a rather cryptic concept in and of itself), but the reader is made to feel this phenomenon through the sparse use of language (i.e. , she says "Like eagle" rather than "like the eagle"), though repetition, and through the gyrating motion of her lines themselves. In this manner, Harjo’s uses her verse as an extension of content.

The last few lines seem to bring together all of the rich ideas of the poem and give the reader a climactic (or sublime) moment of circular Truth.

We see the individual connecting to nature in the mention of the eagle that rounds out the morning "inside us." We touch the sublime in our recognition of our own mortality amid this vast, "True circle of motion," which awakens our impetus to open our self as in prayer. Finally, we find expression (however inadequate) for this glorious sentiment through the experience of beauty in Nature, and our desire to let our lives mirror that beauty. The repetition of the last two lines brings the insufficiency of language to the forefront, and the reader is stirred to understanding this great "Circle of motion" more through feeling than through discourse

Question: Why is it appropriate that the eagle be central figure, and namesake of this poem?

Professor – The eagle glides though the air in a circular motion.

Student – A patriotic symbol, a national symbol of ourselves.

Student – It evokes a symbolic sight beyond our sight; the majesty; circle of life and death; point-to-point symbolizes light; good in the experience of living; the ugliness is not seen.

Presenter – "In beauty / In beauty"; reminds one of Keats’ positing beauty as "all ye need to know" in his Ode to the Grecian Urn. What is important to both seems to be the beauty of the thing.

Student – The eagle also connects with Harjo, the American Indian, in that they are both disappearing phenomena (facing extinction). But Harjo’s picture is not one of loss, but of continuation.

Professor – The point-to-point journey that we keep talking about is this sweeping motion, this continuation.

Presenter – What did everyone make of Harjo’s mention of "languages that aren’t always sound but other circles of motion"? It seemed that by omitting words and using the circular structure she was trying to get at something that was necessarily beyond words.

Student – It reminded me of the European notion of the sublime. It’s beyond comprehension, unknowable.

Professor – Close to a divine experience.

Student – And since you cannot rely on language or words, one must trust his senses.

Professor – After she speaks of these non-verbal languages, she moves immediately into visuals; "Like eagle…" It reminds us that although western civilization puts a great emphasis on history, the American Indian tradition puts a perhaps greater influence on place.

Presenter – Harjo also appears to be working against Yeats’s Second Coming in which the circular motion of the falcon serves to indicate a "falling apart." Harjo’s emphasis seems to be on continuation in this "True circle of motion."

Professor – And Harjo’s beauty seems also to stand opposite Yeats’s "terrible beauty."

Student – The message seems to be the dignity of life and death.