Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Gary Snyder’s "Under the Hills Near the Morava River" is a brief but striking meditation on deep time, mortality, and the enduring presence of the past within the present. The poem’s spare and archaeological tone reflects Snyder’s long-standing interest in anthropology, prehistory, and our connection to the ancient world. With its measured, almost ritualistic phrasing, the poem invites the reader to consider not just the physical remnants of a burial site but also the larger existential questions surrounding human existence, memory, and continuity.

The opening line, "She lay there midst / Mammoth, reindeer, and wolf bones," immediately places the reader in a prehistoric landscape, one where the boundaries between human and animal life are blurred. The presence of these creatures situates the poem in the Upper Paleolithic era, where humans coexisted with megafauna that are now extinct. The woman’s burial among these bones suggests an ecological and spiritual entanglement between human beings and the animals they depended on for survival. The bones also serve as markers of time, their presence evoking the vast, unknowable expanse of human prehistory.

Snyder then introduces an object of adornment: "Diadem of fox teeth round her brow." This detail, seemingly minor, carries profound implications. A diadem is a crown or headpiece, suggesting a figure of some importance—perhaps a shaman, a leader, or a symbolic figure within her community. The use of fox teeth adds another layer of meaning: foxes, known for their cunning and adaptability, have often been associated with transformation, intelligence, and spiritual mediation. The image of a woman wearing a fox-tooth diadem, then, hints at a person who was either revered in life or prepared in death for a journey into another realm. It also speaks to the ways in which early humans integrated the natural world into their cultural and spiritual practices.

The phrase "Ocher under her hips" further deepens the ritualistic atmosphere of the scene. Red ocher has been found in many Paleolithic burial sites and was often used symbolically in funerary rites. Anthropologists have suggested that ocher might have been associated with blood, fertility, or rebirth—connecting the deceased to the cycle of life and death. The placement of ocher beneath the woman’s hips evokes associations with childbirth, creation, and the generative power of the female body, reinforcing the sacred nature of her burial.

The poem’s most precise and startling detail follows: "26,640 plus or minus 110 years before 'now.'” This insertion of scientific dating, with its exactitude and margin of error, disrupts the poetic flow and emphasizes the sheer enormity of time that separates us from this burial. By including this forensic timestamp, Snyder collapses the distance between ancient and modern, reminding us that this woman—who lived over 26,000 years ago—is still, in some way, part of our world. The reference to radiocarbon dating also underscores the way contemporary science allows us to reconstruct fragments of the past, even as it remains ultimately unknowable.

The final lines—"Burnt reindeer-pelvis bone bits / in her mouth,"—introduce a sense of mystery and perhaps even ritual violence. The presence of burnt bone within the mouth suggests an intentional act, though its meaning is uncertain. Was this part of a funerary rite, symbolizing the consumption of the reindeer’s spirit? Was it an offering meant to accompany her into the afterlife? Or could it have been part of a shamanic practice, a final gesture linking the deceased with the world of animals and spirits? The ambiguity of this act leaves the reader in a state of contemplation, mirroring the way archaeologists and anthropologists often encounter such findings without definitive explanations.

The concluding image—"Bones of two men lying by her, one each side."—implies that this woman was not buried alone but was part of a communal or relational burial. The presence of two male figures raises questions: Were these individuals her companions in life? Were they buried alongside her as part of a ritual sacrifice? Or did their deaths merely coincide with hers? The gender dynamics of this burial, with a central female figure flanked by two men, hint at possible societal structures or beliefs, but Snyder does not offer an answer. Instead, he allows the stark, unadorned facts of the burial site to stand on their own, leaving interpretation open-ended.

Throughout the poem, Snyder employs a restrained, economical style, reflecting the starkness of the archaeological record itself. There is no embellishment, no romanticizing of the past—only a precise arrangement of details that, in their accumulation, generate a profound sense of wonder and unease. The poem resonates with themes that recur throughout Snyder’s work: the interconnectedness of human and non-human life, the deep history of the earth, and the ways in which the past continues to shape the present. By invoking the physical traces of an ancient burial, "Under the Hills Near the Morava River" asks us to consider the fragility of human existence and the ways in which our own lives are embedded in vast, geological and historical cycles.

Ultimately, the poem is a meditation on what it means to be human across time. It situates us within an ancient lineage, reminding us that even as civilizations rise and fall, the earth keeps its memories in layers of stone, in bones buried under hills, in remnants of ocher and teeth. The woman at the poem’s center—lost to time yet now momentarily resurrected through language—remains a mystery, her life and death unknowable, yet profoundly moving in its endurance.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...