Interpretation and Central idea of Poem "Keeping Things Whole" | The Magic of Words

UNIT THREE : ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
KEEPING THINGS WHOLE
ENGLISH | MAGIC OF WORDS
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 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 the 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. The nature has small parts. It is divided into the 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 field, air, etc as a part not as a complete. Our lives are also parted but it is only illusion. If we try to make separate parts, that is 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 to the protection of environment.

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

Mark Strand is a Canadian-born poet, educated in the US. He has taught at various universities. His poems of alienation1, treating darkness and double characteristics in man, are minimalist in style and affected by surrealism. “Keeping Things Whole,” taken from his Selected Poems (1980), pleads for wholeness against the usual fragmentation that goes on in life.

• The poet here in the poem elaborates the various objects to make things whole.
• To keep things whole is to keep something absolute and complete from the possibility of division and fragmentation.
• Fragmentation is necessary to keep something whole. Wholeness is formed due to the unification of fragmentation.
• The poet here claims that fragmentation and movement are interrelated to create the absolute object.
• The poet in the poem moves despite the fragmentation in his life to maintain the journey of life and keep things whole.
• When the poet is in the field, he considers that he is absence of the field. On the other hand, the presence of the poet marks some space on the field and that is missing. But as the poet walks on the field, his bodily movement divides the air and then the air again fills the space to make things whole (here air is whole) that is made by the body of the poet. The poet says that everyone has reason to move, and he has the reason; to move to keep things whole.
• As we move the particular space is in the process of being fragmented and whole.
• To keep things whole, the three major things happen; Movement, fragmentation and unification for wholeness.
• * The poet walks in field moving so as to make the field and fragmented air whole, thus the entire backdrop will be whole.

Interpretation and the Central idea of the poem

The poem, “Keeping Things Whole” talks about the wholeness against the usual fragmentation which goes on in life. The course of actions; incidents and happenings of our life are often fragmented. Nothing is absolute in fragmentation and division. So the poet stresses on wholeness. The poet claims that movement in the course of action is the key to keeping things whole or undivided. The poet gives example of field, he says if one presents or stays in the field; he takes some of the space of field, thus the field is fragmented. But as he moves from there, the field will be whole. Movement is thus necessary to keep things whole. The poet has a distinguished (remarkable, eminent, notable) notion regarding the term “wholeness” and it is essential, according to the poet, to think about the perception of wholeness.

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