Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Eleanor Wilner's poem "Knowing the Enemy" employs the mythic imagery of the whale and Jonah to explore themes of burden, memory, and release. The whale, a monumental creature, symbolizes the enduring weight of past traumas and the struggle for liberation from these inner burdens.

The poem opens with a vivid image of the sun striking the whale's back as he dives into the depths, escaping the harsh light and entering a realm of green, aquatic darkness. This initial act of diving symbolizes a retreat into the subconscious, away from the searing realities of the surface world. The whale's understanding of himself as "full-grown" indicates a maturation process, a realization of his own strength and the recognition of the burdens he has carried.

Jonah, the biblical figure who lived inside the whale's belly, represents a personal and historical memory that has been internalized by the whale. Jonah is depicted as a "stone" within the whale's belly, a heavy and persistent presence that the whale has finally managed to release. This act of disgorging Jonah back to God signifies a moment of catharsis, an expulsion of the internalized antagonist that has long haunted the whale.

The poem then delves into the history of this burden. The whale has carried Jonah "under the furrowed trenches of his brow," a metaphor for the deep, entrenched lines of worry and memory. The caves beneath the "great hill of his back" suggest hidden recesses of the mind where these memories have lingered and grown. Jonah, or the memory of past trauma, has been a pervasive presence, entwined in the whale's psyche since he was small, affecting his perceptions and preferences, such as his need for filtered light and mist, which serve as metaphors for clarity and obscurity, respectively.

The act of disgorging Jonah is described with a sense of strangeness and relief. The whale finds it "strange how puny his antagonist had grown," indicating that the feared memory or trauma has diminished in power over time. The description of Jonah as a "twin-tailed tadpole flashing off in foam" emphasizes this diminished threat, transforming the once significant burden into something almost inconsequential.

In the final stanzas, the whale's liberation is marked by a powerful visual of his "silver geyser" rising into the air, symbolizing freedom and release. The bad dreams, which have plagued him, disappear "like islands off his starboard flank," suggesting that the burdens he carried are now behind him, dissipating into the past. The whale's movement through his "own mist," with his body "oiled silver by the moon," evokes a sense of renewed grace and resilience. The imagery of St. Sebastian, known for his martyrdom and depicted as bristling with arrows, draws a parallel to the whale's own suffering and the marks left by his struggles.

Wilner's poem concludes on a note of ambiguous triumph. The whale, though marked by harpoons, moves through his element with a newfound sense of peace and autonomy. The transformation from burdened to unburdened, from tormented to serene, is a journey of profound personal and existential significance, capturing the essence of liberation from the past's weight.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...