18 pages • 36 minutes read
Gary SnyderFour Poems for Robin
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Blooms That Fall
During the speaker’s stay in Siuslaw Forest, he “slept under rhododendron / All night blossoms fell” (Lines 1-2). This prominent image, while a realistic depiction of springtime in the Pacific Northwest, also prepares the reader for the way Robin will drop into the speaker’s life. These events particularly occur while the speaker is sleeping or trying to sleep. The petals of the flowers serve as a metaphoric correlation to the way the speaker’s memory of Robin works, falling into his nightly existence and disturbing rest. The memories of Robin serve as the reason why the speaker isn’t fully engaged in “living this way” (Line 13), appreciating the “green hills” (Line 14) in Siuslaw Forest, or later, his Zen study in Japan. Thoughts of Robin interrupt his life like the falling petals disrupt his sleep.
The Myth of Yugao
In A spring night in Shokoku-ji, the speaker compares Robin to the “trembling ghost of Yugao” (Line 24). This is a reference to a prominent female figure in the ancient Japanese story, The Tale of Genji, written in the 11th century. In it, the romantic adventurer Prince Genji falls for a mysterious beauty who won’t reveal her true name. He therefore calls her Yugao after the pale, delicate flowers that grow around her house. The speaker refers to similar flowers in Part One and Part Two of “Four Poems for Robin,” particularly the “blossoms” (Line 2) of Pacific “rhododendron” (Line 1), which can be light pink in color, similar to the hue of “cherry blossoms” (Line 18). Robin is not correlated to these flowers directly, but her memory is associated with these blooms, echoing The Tale of Genji symbolism. In the myth, when Yugao succumbs to Genji’s amorous advances, she dies the next morning, killed by the jealous spirit of his former lover. Although they knew each other for only a short time, Genji often remembered her after her death. In Japanese art, she is often portrayed as a wistful ghost. This echoes how the speaker sees Robin, as she functions as a kind of apparition.
The Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter
In An autumn morning at Shokoku-ji, the speaker sees the planets “Venus and Jupiter” (Line 39) in the sky. The speaker notes that this is “[t]he first time I have / Ever seen them so close” (Lines 40-41). This might be the first time the speaker has been near to them, given altitude or clarity of the sky, but it might also refer to an astronomical phenomenon called a “conjunction”—the planets align to create an optical illusion of touching even though they are miles and miles apart. This supports how “last night[’s]” (Line 27) memory makes Robin seem as if she’s present when she’s halfway around the globe. It is said that Venus represents material desire while Jupiter represents spirituality, which might allude to the emotional distance between the former couple, hinting at the conflicting aims of Robin, who teaches in the United States and the speaker who studies Buddhism at Shokoku-ji in Japan.
