Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Irving Feldman's poem "Progress" is a two-part meditation on the notion of progress and its impacts, contrasting the ideological and monumental with the personal and the natural. Feldman explores the idea of progress through the lens of a famous mural by Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros and juxtaposes it with the quiet life of an unassuming worker. Through this juxtaposition, he critiques the grandiose claims of progress and points to a more delicate, human rhythm that persists despite history's often brutal march.

In the first section, Feldman begins by noting that progress "becomes history in time," and describes it as "lurching forward on three wheels." The metaphor of progress as a faulty vehicle conveys its unstable nature. Feldman’s use of "dialectic overrides the dialect, the lowly local mud and straw" suggests that progress imposes abstract ideologies upon local realities, erasing them in favor of grand narratives. This overriding force is further emphasized as "its spiraling logic mimes and makes obsolete the seasons."

The poem then shifts to a description of Siqueiros’s mural, which is painted on a university wall. The mural represents progress in all its bombastic glory: "the universal on tour makes Mexico its moral." The mural features "symbolic sentimentalized citizens—monumental mannikins," and "its pencils like cannon, oil derricks, factory stacks." The imagery of tools and instruments turned into weapons reveals the militaristic underpinnings of progress as portrayed by Siqueiros.

Feldman acknowledges Siqueiros's skill: "Siqueiros painted it well: the brutal fore-shortenings and blatant hyperkinesis… successfully elbow the eyeball of the beholder with Progress's big kapow." The use of colloquial expressions like "big kapow" and "Forward march!" hints at irony, as the mural's "roundhouse haymaker Sunday knockout punch" reveals its exaggerated, propagandistic style.

In contrast to the grandiosity of the mural, Feldman introduces a small "service strip" a hundred yards away, where buses stop and people go about their daily business. Here, he describes a "tiny colorín," an old tree adorned with a "straw hat hung on the stump of a lower limb," and other humble objects. These objects—a worn jacket, a bright straw basket, sacks bulging with food, and a long-handled tray for gathering litter—suggest a simple, everyday life. The tree serves as "a quiet shrine to work and rest, their rhythm, delicate, varying," and stands in stark contrast to the monumental progress of Siqueiros's mural.

The old man who tends to the tree is described as "the guardian," who "comes out, sweeping with a straw broom all ten dusty feet roundabout." Despite being oblivious to his own "obsolescence," he remains grounded in his work, finding meaning in simple tasks. The old man’s dedication and mistrust of outsiders with cameras hint at his attachment to this piece of land. Feldman writes, "He doesn't know he's obsolete and charming, / he only finds you alarming," emphasizing the disconnect between the monumental claims of progress and the ordinary lives it affects.

In the second section, Feldman contrasts the mural’s “great sonic boom” of progress with the quiet persistence of the old man. The mural is described as a “benevolent rapist,” an oxymoron that highlights its violent imposition. Progress is likened to a "big wind turning the leaves all one way, / more monstrousness than any season will bear." In contrast, the old man is “tactful and delicate, / to each one whispering a different thing.”

Feldman argues that true justice requires both personal and collective commitment: “who will be just to others / who has not been just to himself?” The old man, working his way from heart to heart, exemplifies this personal commitment to justice. His quiet work is described as “too slowly to be history,” yet his delicate persistence sheds “a thousand diffident gleams” like the colorín tree. The poem closes with the notion that the "messiah has been here from the first, / busying himself about the tree," suggesting that true progress is found in small, everyday actions rather than grand ideological movements.

Structurally, "Progress" is divided into two distinct parts that complement each other. The first part establishes the monumental, ideological narrative of progress, while the second part subverts it by focusing on the quiet, natural rhythm of the old man’s life. The free-verse form allows Feldman to weave these contrasting narratives fluidly, and his use of vivid imagery and irony enhances the poem’s critique.

In "Progress", Feldman ultimately critiques the grand claims of progress by contrasting them with the natural and human rhythms that persist despite historical forces. He acknowledges the power of ideologies but emphasizes the importance of personal justice and the small acts that bring meaning and dignity to human life.

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