Poetry for Students

310 Poetry for Students

sledge, peavey and maul, / little axe, canteen,

piggy-back can / of saw-mix gas and oil for the

chain, / knapsack of files and goggles and rags.”

Snyder could be writing about his early log-

ging days in a poem like this, which captures in

words the grit and strain of sensation. But the dis-

tance he has traveled since those early days is re-

vealed in the final stanza, in which the task at hand

is shown to be a collective one, and in which Sny-

der emphasizes the continuities of family and

community which the work helps to develop:

the young men throw splits on the piles

bodies hardening, learning the pace

and the smell of tools from this delve

in the winter

death-topple of elderly oak.

This is a community task, with the young men

learning and hardening to the jobs they will inherit

when their elders pass, like the toppled oak. Here

is the sense of continuity and cultural transmission

which Snyder has acquired as a husband, father,

and homesteader, a sense which has changed him

over the course of his career from dharmahitch-

hiker to domestic visionary.

Source:Robert Schultz and David Wyatt, “Gary Snyder and

the Curve of Return,” in Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol.

62, No. 4, Autumn 1986, pp. 681–94.

Sources

Bly, Robert, ed., News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold

Consciousness, Sierra Club Books, 1980.

Lawrence, D. H., Selected Poems, Penguin, 1971.

Murphy, Patrick D., ed., Critical Essays on Gary Snyder,

G. K. Hall, 1991.

—,A Place for Wayfaring: The Poetry and Prose of

Gary Snyder, Oregon State University Press, 2000.

—,Understanding Gary Snyder, University of South

Carolina Press, 1992.

Schultz, Robert, and David Wyatt, “Gary Snyder and the

Curve of Return,” in Critical Essays on Gary Snyder, edited

by Patrick D. Murphy, G. K. Hall, 1991.

Snyder, Gary, The Real Work: Interviews & Talks, 1964–

1979 , edited and with an introduction by William Scott

McLean, New Directions, 1980.

—,Regarding Wave, Fulcrum Press, 1970.

Wordsworth, William, “Lines Written a Few Miles above

Tintern Abbey,” in Lyrical Ballads, edited by R. L. Brett

and A. R. Jones, Methuen, 1971, pp. 113–18.

Further Reading

Halper, Jon, ed., Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life, Sierra

Club Books, 1991.

This book was published in honor of Snyder’s sixti-

eth birthday; it is a collection of affectionate and

appreciative essays written by Snyder’s friends and

colleagues. It covers varying aspects of Snyder’s life

and work.

Molesworth, Charles, Gary Snyder’s Vision: Poetry and the

Real Work, University of Missouri Press, 1983.

This scholarly study, hampered by the lack of an in-

dex, emphasizes Snyder’s political concerns, showing

how he responds to and corrects the values of multi-

national capitalism. It was published before Axe Han-

dlesand so includes no discussion of that volume.

Snyder, Gary, The Practice of the Wild, North Point Press,

1990.

This is a collection of nine essays that describe Sny-

der’s many journeys into nature, both literal and

metaphorical, and his thoughts on the interaction of

nature and culture.

Steuding, Bob, Gary Snyder, Twayne’s United States Au-

thors Series, No. 274, Twayne Publishers, 1976.

This is an excellent introduction to Snyder’s poetry.

It covers his major works up to and including Turtle

Islandand contains a useful annotated bibliography.

True Night

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