Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Eleanor Wilner’s "Attic Light" is a contemplative exploration of memory, light, and the passage of time, where the interplay between natural light and the objects in an attic becomes a profound meditation on the impermanence and revival of past experiences. The poem starts with the slow, deliberate movement of light across a wooden floor, described as a “slow slide of honey-colored fire.” This imagery imbues the light with a sense of warmth and life, transforming the mundane attic floor into something vibrant and alive.

As the light moves, it brings to life the intricate patterns of the wooden floor, "a swirl of spiral lines that made even the milled board of an attic floor into a live and speaking thing." This suggests that even the simplest, most static objects can hold deep, almost magical significance when touched by light. The light is not merely illuminating; it animates and gives voice to the inanimate.

The progression of the light throughout the day, described as a "sliding across the wooden sea," marks the passage of time. The description of the light entering through a "high and dusty pane, motes swarming in a slanted beam of veiled light," evokes a sense of stillness and age, as if this attic has been untouched for years, holding within it a trove of forgotten memories.

The light’s interaction with objects in the attic is significant, particularly when it picks out a painting "time-darkened, in a gilded frame." This painting is identified as Titian's Danaë, a mythological figure who is depicted in a moment of divine rapture as she is bathed in a shower of gold. The light’s brief illumination of Danaë captures a moment of intense passion and divine intervention, symbolizing how fleeting moments of ecstasy and profound experience can be suddenly recalled and just as quickly forgotten.

Wilner’s description of Danaë—“you could almost hear her sigh, and shift in her sweet unease”—emphasizes the sensual and transformative power of light, which revives the ancient painting, if only momentarily. This revival of Danaë’s image, and her subsequent return to darkness, mirrors the way memories can suddenly surface, vivid and intense, only to fade back into obscurity.

The poem then transitions from the attic to a broader cosmic perspective, comparing the attic light to the “life-giving glow of that distant burning star.” This shift to the astronomical scale highlights the vastness of time and space, contrasting the intimate, enclosed world of the attic with the infinite expanse of the universe. The light from the star, a “furious red fountain raised against the black, insensate sky,” symbolizes the enduring presence of life and energy amidst the cold, indifferent cosmos.

The poem’s structure—moving from the specific and detailed (the attic and its objects) to the vast and abstract (the distant star)—reflects a journey from the personal to the universal. The trapdoor in the attic, leading “down into the lighted well of the second story,” acts as a bridge between these two realms, suggesting that our personal memories and experiences are connected to the larger, incomprehensible forces of the universe.

In "Attic Light," Wilner masterfully uses the movement of light to explore themes of memory, impermanence, and the passage of time. The light not only reveals and animates the objects in the attic but also serves as a metaphor for the transient nature of human experiences and the fleeting moments of illumination that connect our personal histories to the broader sweep of time and space.

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