Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Sailing Home from Rapallo" by Robert Lowell is a poignant and reflective poem that recounts the poet's experience of returning to America with his mother's body after her death in Italy. The poem is marked by vivid imagery, emotional depth, and a meditation on family legacy, mortality, and the contrasting landscapes of Italy and New England.

The poem opens with a tender image: "Your nurse could only speak Italian, / but after twenty minutes I could imagine your final week, / and tears ran down my cheeks...." This line sets the tone of grief and the intimate nature of the final moments, even if the communication barrier left some details to imagination. The poet's tears signal the beginning of his mourning and the emotional weight of the journey.

As Lowell embarks from Italy, he describes the vibrant scenery of the Golfo di Genova, "breaking into fiery flower," and the colorful, lively scene of "crazy yellow and azure sea-sleds / blasting like jack-hammers across / the spumante-bubbling wake of our liner." This juxtaposition of lively Italian imagery with the somber task of transporting his mother's body highlights the contrast between the vibrancy of life and the stillness of death. The description of the casket, "Mother traveled first-class in the hold," and the comparison to "Napoleon’s at the Invalides," adds a layer of grandeur to the otherwise tragic situation, suggesting a historical and personal significance.

The poem then shifts to the contrasting cold of New England, where "our family cemetery in Dunbarton / lay under the White Mountains / in the sub-zero weather." The stark imagery of the freezing landscape—"the graveyard’s soil was changing to stone"—mirrors the poet's emotional numbness and the finality of death. The description of the cemetery, with "its black brook and fir trunks were as smooth as masts," and the "fence of iron spear-hafts / black-bordered its mostly Colonial grave-slates," emphasizes the historical and rigid nature of the family's past, symbolizing a guarded and preserved legacy.

Lowell reflects on his father's burial, noting the only "unhistoric" soul among the predominantly Colonial-era graves. The newness of his father's "unweathered pink-veined slice of marble" contrasts with the aged stones around it, suggesting a jarring addition to the family history. The Latin motto, "Occasionem cognosce" ("Know the opportunity"), engraved on his father's stone, feels out of place and overly pragmatic in this setting, where the inscriptions of the poet's ancestors, the Winslows and Starks, seem to be "illuminated" by the cold, giving their names "a diamond edge." This imagery conveys a sense of permanence and clarity in death, contrasting with the more transient and mutable experiences of life.

The poem closes with a touch of dark humor and irony: "In the grandiloquent lettering on Mother’s coffin, / Lowell had been misspelled LOVEL." The misspelling, alongside the comparison of the wrapped corpse to "panettone in Italian tinfoil," underscores the disconnect between the formality and the reality of the situation. The grandiosity of the coffin's inscription is undercut by a simple error, highlighting the fallibility and imperfection inherent in human rituals surrounding death.

"Sailing Home from Rapallo" is a richly textured poem that juxtaposes the vibrant, warm environment of Italy with the cold, historical weight of New England. Lowell navigates between public displays of grandeur and private moments of grief, reflecting on his family's history, the process of mourning, and the small ironies that accompany death. The poem captures the tension between the living world and the finality of death, and the ways in which we attempt to preserve dignity and meaning in the face of loss.

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