Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Paul Muldoon's "Aftermath" is a haunting exploration of violence, memory, and the grim rituals that follow acts of brutality. The poem is structured in three parts, each presenting a distinct yet interrelated image of death and destruction, underscored by a recurring refrain that invites a grim toast: "let us now drink." Through its stark and vivid imagery, the poem delves into the cyclical nature of violence, the perversion of sacred symbols, and the ways in which trauma is remembered and commemorated.

The first section opens with a chilling invocation: "Let us now drink," which sets the tone for the rest of the poem. The imagined cry of one patriot to another after having "shot a neighbor in his own aftermath" introduces the idea of violence committed in the name of a cause, but it is a violence that has immediate, horrific consequences. The word "aftermath" is laden with meaning, suggesting not only the physical aftermath of the shooting—the blood and death—but also the broader, inevitable consequences of such actions. The neighbor’s body, hanging "still between two sheaves / like Christ between two tousle-headed thieves," evokes the crucifixion, a powerful image that has been twisted here to illustrate the desecration of both human life and sacred symbols. The body, "wired up to the moon," suggests a grotesque, unnatural suspension, as if the victim’s suffering is made eternal, tied to the cosmic and the eternal cycles of night and day. The moon, often a symbol of madness or the unconscious, enhances the sense of surreal horror.

In the second section, the poem shifts to "the memory of another left to rot / near some remote beauty spot," continuing the theme of violent death. The juxtaposition of "rot" with a "beauty spot" underscores the grotesque contrast between the natural world’s serene beauty and the human capacity for violence and neglect. The detail of the "skin of his right arm rolled up like a shirtsleeve" adds a macabre touch, suggesting that even in death, there are remnants of the mundane and familiar. The repeated refrain, "let us now drink," serves as a bitter toast to the memory of the forgotten, those whose deaths are commemorated not with reverence, but with a ritual that seems more about numbing the pain or absolving guilt than honoring the dead.

The third section of the poem introduces an event that seems almost mythic in its intensity: "Only a few nights ago, it seems, they set fire to a big house and it got so preternaturally hot." The fire is described with an almost supernatural force, burning so intensely that "there would be no reprieve till the swallows' nests under the eaves / had been baked into these exquisitely glazed little pots." This imagery is both beautiful and horrifying—nature is transformed by violence into something decorative, even precious, but at the cost of life and destruction. The swallows' nests, once symbols of home and continuity, are now reduced to objects from which the speaker and their companion will drink. The final invocation to "let us now drink" ties together the poem’s themes, suggesting that in the aftermath of violence, all that is left is the hollow ritual of commemoration, a ritual that has been stripped of its meaning and reduced to a macabre toast.

"Aftermath" is a powerful meditation on the cyclical nature of violence and the ways in which it is remembered, often in ways that distort or erase the true horror of the events. Muldoon’s use of religious and natural imagery highlights the perversion of sacred symbols and the desecration of the natural world, showing how violence taints everything it touches. The recurring refrain of "let us now drink" serves as a grim reminder of how easily acts of brutality are absorbed into the fabric of culture and history, commemorated in rituals that can feel more like attempts to forget than to truly remember. Through its vivid and unsettling imagery, "Aftermath" challenges the reader to confront the uncomfortable truths about how we deal with the legacy of violence, and how easily we can become complicit in its ongoing cycle.

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