What If This Were My Final - Old Pond

If today was May 23rd and I was faced with the poem Old Pond by Gary Snyder for my final, my process would be as follows;
1) Firstly, I would read the poem repeatedly until I have the gist of it.
2) Along the way I would make note and mark obvious metaphors, repetitive language, unique structure, and identify the speaker and audience;
a. Structure of the 2 stanzas is similar where the first 2 lines are indented further towards the right, and those 2 lines are the descriptive segments of the poem. The poem ends with the word Splash, which is indented in the same manner. This word is made to stand out in the poem and brings the readers attention to it, it is also the only action that occurs. Also, you can notice that short, and choppy sentences are used throughout, which are fairly descriptive
b. A lot of alliteration is found in the 2 stanzas; for example hemlock half, ragged rocky, little lake to name a few, which adds rhyme and beat to the poem
c. As the poem is highly descriptive, there is imagery of; Blue mountain white snow gleam, and use of several colors; blue, white, brown, which are all tranquil and peaceful colors
d. The setting is evidently at Five Lakes Basin, which is an old pond surrounded by mountains
e. The audience is perhaps someone who is currently present at the lake, who is providing a description of the place. Perhaps, by using ‘up through time’ it indicates a definite time period has passed since this person has visited the lake. Perhaps by using ‘a naked bug’ it represents the person’s closeness to nature
f. The diction consists mostly of adjectives and lacks verbs
g. The mood/tone of the poem appears to be tranquil and serene
h. I don’t see any metaphors or similes, and also any irony.

The poem, at first glance seems very simplistic in styling, and almost child like. I seem to imagine a white male youth who is enjoying nature, though age is not indicated. The poem in my mind has an American feel to it though technically the beginning as the commentator has mentioned could be anywhere in the world which houses scenic beauty of lakes and mountains. It is for me reminiscent of the protagonists of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckelburry Finn, as it conjures up the imagery of small town boys enjoying nature on a hot Summer’s day. The commentator is very detailed and prolific in his analysis and makes some very thoughtful comments. He sums up the poem’s theme as being contemplation to action, where the first 12 lines are dedicated to contemplation and only the last two are given to action. He likes to compare many parts of the poem to the style of leading poets such as Wordsworth, Kafka, Basho and Byron which is perhaps unnecessary in the analysis of a poem of a stand alone poet. The poem starts with colors and the commentator says rightly that these colors represent nature, but I disagree with his statement, “The sky that’s blue and not the granite mountains”. While it is apparent the snow covered peaks of the mountain do hit the blue sky, it is also possible the poet did refer to the mountains as blue and not the sky. After all the light reflecting from the sky to the white peaks could appear blue to the eye, and further in America there are the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

I like his interpretation of calling the mountains “ragged” which suggests unraveling rather than the expected highly strong and masculine, jagged. His analysis of the bird was a surprise to me as I was not aware of any flute like substitute of a Judeo-Christian God. I also would have thought the short sharp sound of the bird would disturb the tranquility of the mountains and not lead one into a trance of luxurious silence. I was also intrigued to learn that the title is reminiscent of a phrase from a classic Japanese haiku.

It is particularly interesting when the commentator muses if the poet who dives in the water will emerge or not but contradicts himself by stating the poets recollection by writing this poem tells us the answer.