Keeping Things Whole

 

Keeping Things Whole

                   - Mark Strand

The poem Keeping Things Whole is taken from Selected Poems (1980). The poet pleads for wholeness against the usual fragmentation that goes on in life. The poet believes in whole part and not in partial. He knows the value of each and every part of nature to present nature as a whole. He tries to know the value of each and every small and small constituents of nature to continue the wholeness of nature. The poet indirectly pleads human beings to fill the gaps in nature if they separate the parts of nature. The poet indirectly pleads human beings to keep nature whole by conserving its every small part in every small part in every nook and corner.

The poem deals with two separate things of anything, which are part and whole. Nature has small parts. It is divided into separate elements. He has lost himself in the field. He is losing himself everywhere. The poet parts the air forward but it becomes whole behind him. He only makes the air whole, not a part. But everything becomes whole itself. We see the field, air, etc as a part, not as a complete. Our lives are also parted but it is only an illusion. If we try to make separate parts, that is the only hollowness of concept.

The poet has presented himself in the field missing and parting in the air and he is whole not part in the bank drop. He wants to be whole, not part. He is not happy with himself because he is an intruder in the natural environment. He feels that he is fragmenting, disturbing and damaging the natural wholeness that is why air moves to fill the spaces occupied by his body while he walks. He becomes careful not to disturb the wholeness of things in the environment. This shows his concern about the protection of the environment.

The poet suggests that if a human being involves encouraging the existence of nature, nature also gives a reaction. For example, if we cut down the forest, land erosion, flood, landslides occur. Then, men get knowledge from the nature that nature itself is powerful rather from human beings. Even if a man tries to challenge the existence of nature, he can’t get victory over it. So, the poet becomes very much sensitive for the delicate balance of nature.

The last stanza suggests that we all move to make a whole, not part. The poet moves forward and he parts the air but it becomes whole again. So, what we think of being parted i.e; that is wrong. Everything in the world is whole.

1. Interpret the poem “Keeping Things Whole.” Or, Write the central idea of the poem.
Ans: We human beings move from one place to another place to fulfil our purpose. We all have our own purposes for moving. When we move from one place to another place, we divide the air but the air moves in to fulfil the place from where we have gone through. Similarly, we become absent in the place which we leave. According to the poet this happiness all the time in our life, we try to do wholeness/completeness but everything remains incomplete. When we solve one problem, other problems move in like air moves in. In the same way, we find something missing in the first place when we go to another place.

How does the poet view himself in the field, in the air, and in the backdrop?

The given poem “Keeping Things Whole” has been composed by the 20th-century Canadian poet Mark Strand. The poem “Keeping Things Whole” is written as a defense of nature conservation, in fact, it focuses on the need for wholeness in everything because the poet feels the absence of wholeness everywhere.

The poet is in the field but in abstract form. He is fully absent from his own concrete form. Wherever he is he is himself missing. It is the truth of living things and nonliving things. When he walks he parts the air. He walks making way through the air but the air fills the gap space immediately. Everything is moving and everything moves to keep things whole. The poet also moves to keep things whole.

The poet in this poem pleads for wholeness against the usual fragmentation that goes on in life in the earth. The poet believes such fragmentation is due to human causes.

The poet views his absence in the air. He thinks that the air in spite of being extremely mighty is not as powerful as himself, the wholeness. He also finds his absence in the fields where he should have been. He tends to say that everywhere there is a gap, a hollowness, and a vacuum. Similarly, he views himself to be absent or missing everywhere.

In fact, the poet in “Keeping Things Whole” tries to present a horrible picture of the imbalance in the systems of nature, the gap of vacuum is seen perhaps because of the factors like deforestation, extinction of various species, imbalance in the ecosystem, growing population, pollution and so on.