Poem Response 8

Paul Cezanne, "L'Estaque"

"Cezanne's Ports"

By: Allen Ginsberg

In the foreground we see time and life
swept in a race
toward the left hand side of the picture
where shore meets shore.

But that meeting place
isn't represented;
it doesn't occur on the canvas.

For the other side of the bay
is Heaven and Eternity,
with a bleak white haze over its mountains.

And the immense water of L'Estaque is a go-between
for minute rowboats.
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Allen Ginsberg's poem describes Paul Cezanne's painting "L'Estaque".
This poet's mixture of direct descriptive language and imaginative
imagery is very interesting to me as it brings across a point disguised
as basic reflection. Ginsberg is making a sharp contrast between
the heavily populated shores and the unpopulated mountains still
belonging to nature. He does this by describing the mountains in the
distance as "Heaven and Eternity", while saying that the foreground is
in a race to meet the other side.

I found the statement that the "L'Estaque is a go-between
for minute rowboats" made the ocean the "safe zone". It is the one
place where humans can go, but not completely inhabit like the land.
It makes humans seem small in comparison.

The structure of the poem seems to give adequate description of each
section of the painting and what the speaker is thinking about it.
The poem speaks of separation and illustrates it in the way that it
separates the stanzas.