Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Wallace Stevens’ poem "Arcades of Philadelphia the Past" serves as an intricate exploration of sensory perception, memory, and the interplay between past and present. Through its layered imagery and meditative tone, the poem interrogates how the richness of lived experience becomes mediated, diminished, or distorted over time. With its focus on the disparity between direct sensory engagement and the fragmented recollection of the past, Stevens crafts a poignant reflection on human connection to history and the material world.

The poem opens with the assertion, "Only the rich remember the past," a line that immediately establishes the divide between those who are capable of preserving memory and those for whom it remains inaccessible. By attributing memory to the rich, Stevens gestures toward the idea that remembering, like wealth, is a luxury—a resource not evenly distributed. Memory becomes an act of curation, a privilege tied to the ability to polish, preserve, and engage with objects of the past. The reference to "strawberries once in the Apennines" evokes a sensuous, idyllic past, one tinged with nostalgia yet irrevocably distant. This image, paired with "Philadelphia that the spiders ate," contrasts the organic and the urban, the pastoral and the decayed, highlighting the fragility of both memory and the physical world.

The poem’s focus shifts to the act of perception, suggesting that the present moment—"to see, / To hear, to touch, to taste, to smell"—is grounded in the immediacy of sensory engagement. However, Stevens complicates this assertion by juxtaposing it with the observation that those who remember the past "do not touch it." They fail to fully experience the world around them, unable to feel the "wind of it" or "smell the dust of it." Their detachment underscores the irony of memory: in clinging to the past, they risk losing the vibrancy of the present. The act of "polishing their eyes in their hands" becomes a potent metaphor for this estrangement—an image of artificial refinement that distances the self from authentic sensory experience.

Stevens deepens this exploration through the symbolic use of lilacs, a recurring motif in his poetry. While "the lilacs came long after," they remain disconnected from the town itself. The disjunction between the lilacs’ "fragrance" and the place they inhabit speaks to the broader theme of dissonance between memory and reality. Even as the lilacs "bloom" and "still bloom," their presence fails to unify the sensory and the temporal. The colors described—"red blue, / Red purple, never quite red itself"—further emphasize this fragmentation. The lilacs are vibrant yet elusive, their hues slipping away from definitive identification, much like the fleeting nature of memory.

The poem critiques the human reliance on isolated senses to navigate and interpret the world. Stevens declares, "The tongue, the fingers, and the nose / Are comic trash, the ears are dirt." This dismissive tone suggests the inadequacy of individual senses in capturing the complexity of existence. Only the eyes, which "are men in the palm of the hand," hold the potential for transcendence. The image of the eyes being held evokes both power and vulnerability, as if human perception is both a tool and a fragile, fallible construct. This duality reflects the precarious balance between experiencing the present and clinging to memories.

A pivotal moment in the poem comes with the line, "A man must be very poor / With a single sense, though he smells clouds." Here, Stevens addresses the poverty of a diminished perceptual experience, where reliance on one sense isolates the individual from the fullness of the world. The absurdity of "smelling clouds" underscores the futility of such efforts, emphasizing that sensory richness depends on integration rather than fragmentation. The subsequent lines—"to see the sea on Sunday, or / To touch a woman cadaverous"—highlight the emptiness of detached or disembodied experiences. These acts, stripped of emotional or sensory depth, become hollow gestures, devoid of meaning or fulfillment.

The poem closes by returning to the strawberries in the Apennines, which "seem a little painted, now." This statement encapsulates the transformation of memory over time. The once-vivid image of the strawberries has become artificial, "painted" rather than real. Similarly, the "mountains" are "scratched and used, clear fakes," revealing how the passage of time erodes the authenticity of remembered landscapes. This degradation underscores the central tension of the poem: the impossibility of recapturing the past in its original vibrancy, and the futility of clinging to memories at the expense of present experience.

"Arcades of Philadelphia the Past" serves as a meditation on the interplay between memory and perception. Stevens challenges readers to consider the limitations of memory and the sensory isolation that results from privileging the past over the present. Through vivid imagery and nuanced critique, the poem illuminates the fragility of human connection to both time and place. Ultimately, Stevens suggests that true richness lies not in the preservation of memory but in the fullness of sensory engagement with the world as it is.

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