Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Adrienne Rich's poem "Innocents" explores the juxtaposition between the innocence of childhood and the inevitable awareness of mortality that comes with age. Through vivid imagery and reflective language, Rich delves into the natural and unspoiled perspective of children, contrasted with the resigned wisdom of adults.

The poem opens with a recollection of an attempt by the elders to impart knowledge: "They said to us, or tried to say, and failed: / With dust implicit in the uncurled green / First leaf, and all the early garden knowing / That after rose-red petals comes the bleak / Impoverished stalk, the black dejected leaf / Crumpled and dank." This imagery immediately sets a scene of both the vibrant beginnings and the inevitable decay that follows. The "first leaf" and "early garden" symbolize the freshness of youth, while the "bleak / Impoverished stalk" and "black dejected leaf" represent the unavoidable decline that comes with time.

Rich then contrasts the elders' perspective with the children's experience: "And yet beneath the flecked leaf-gilded boughs / Along the paths fern-fringed and delicate, / We supple children played at golden age." The children, unburdened by the knowledge of mortality, find joy and freedom in their surroundings. Their play is described as carefree and innocent, emphasizing their detachment from the elders' concerns.

The poem continues to highlight the children's innocence: "And knelt upon the curving steps to snare / The whisking emerald lizards, or to coax / The ancestral tortoise from his onyx shell / In lemon sunlight on the balcony." These activities illustrate the children's engagement with nature, driven by curiosity and wonder rather than fear or foreboding.

Rich further contrasts the perspectives by describing the adults: "And only pedagogues and the brittle old / Existed to declare mortality, / And they were beings removed in walk and speech." The adults, aware of their mortality, are depicted as distant and disconnected from the vibrant life of the garden. Their preoccupation with death separates them from the innocent joy of the children.

The poem explores the source of this apprehension: "For apprehension feeds on intellect: / Uneasy ghosts in libraries are bred— / While innocent sensuality abides / In charmed perception of an hour, a day, / Ingenuous and unafraid of time." Rich suggests that intellectual awareness breeds fear and unease, while the innocence of children allows them to live in the moment, untroubled by the passage of time.

Rich then returns to the garden, emphasizing the children's freedom from fear: "So in the garden we were free of fear, / And what the saffron roses or the green / Imperial dragonflies above the lake / Knew about altered seasons, boughs despoiled, / They never murmured." The children, like the natural elements around them, are unconcerned with the changes and decay that come with time.

The poem contrasts the children's innocence with the adults' awareness: "And to us no matter / How in the drawing room the elders sat / Balancing teacups behind curtained glass, / While rare miraculous clocks in crystal domes / Impaled the air with splintered chips of time / Forever sounding through the tea-thin talk." The elders, engrossed in their conversations and the passage of time, are unable to convey the gravity of their knowledge to the children. The "miraculous clocks" symbolize the relentless march of time, which the children remain blissfully ignorant of.

The poem concludes with a reflection on the elders' failed attempts to communicate: "They knew, and tried to say to us, but failed; / They knew what we would never have believed." This final line encapsulates the central theme of the poem: the gap between the innocence of childhood and the awareness of mortality that comes with age. The elders' attempts to impart their knowledge are in vain, as the children cannot comprehend or accept the inevitability of decay and death.

"Innocents" by Adrienne Rich poignantly captures the dichotomy between youthful innocence and the sobering awareness of mortality. Through her evocative imagery and reflective narrative, Rich invites readers to consider the transient nature of life and the enduring value of innocence and living in the moment.

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