Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Jane Hirshfield's "Fado," a lyrical tapestry is woven, connecting the deeply personal with the universally transcendent through contrasting images and parallel narratives. The poem captures fleeting instances that encapsulate entire worlds of emotion, mystery, and meaning. Named after a genre of Portuguese music known for its melancholic and soulful melodies, "Fado" delves into themes of wonder, balance, and the interconnectedness of disparate lives.

The poem begins with an almost-magical moment: "A man reaches close / and lifts a quarter / from inside a girl's ear, / from her hands takes a dove / she didn't know was there." This sleight-of-hand magic trick serves as a metaphor for the hidden wonders that exist within and around us, often unrecognized until revealed by an external force. The quarter and the dove, one with a "serrated murmur" and the other with a "knuckled silence," embody contrasting aspects of experience. Their juxtaposition provokes deeper questions: "Which amazes more, / you may wonder: / the quarter's serrated murmur / against the thumb / or the dove's knuckled silence? / That he found them, / or that she never had?"

The notion of amazement takes many forms: the tactile experience of the quarter, the unexpected presence of the dove, and the girl's ignorance of their existence until that moment. This leads to an existential query about what truly amazes us-discovery or ignorance?

As if answering this question through a shift in narrative focus, Hirshfield transports us to Portugal, "this same half-stopped moment," where "a woman in a wheelchair / is singing a fado." The connection between the two scenes is not just temporal but also thematic. The woman's song balances "every life in the room / on one pan of a scale, / itself on the other, / and the copper bowls balance." The fado's melancholic weight is equal to the collective life experiences of the room's occupants. This culminating image serves as a poetic equilibrium, tying together the earlier instances of discovery and wonder with a larger, almost cosmic, sense of balance.

"Fado" challenges the reader to consider how individual moments, no matter how small or localized, can carry universal resonance. The magic trick becomes more than a mere act of deception; it evolves into an allegory for the unknown wonders that exist within us all, waiting to be discovered. The fado, traditionally a song that encapsulates the complex Portuguese concept of 'saudade'-a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something or someone absent-serves as a musical counterpoint, balancing sorrow and joy, presence and absence.

Through her profound juxtapositions and narrative shifts, Hirshfield crafts a poetic universe in which wonder and balance, the mundane and the magical, coexist in harmonious tension. With each element acting as a counterpoint to the other, "Fado" serves as a poignant reminder of the interconnectedness of all things, echoing the intricate balance that makes life both mysterious and meaningful.

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