"The Enigma" Poetry Analysis Essay

The Enigma is in itself an enigma. A poem that has meaning yet the meaning hides more meaning within itself. Anne Stevenson outdid herself with this poem. The poem is a nice short read with simple English, yet it leaves the reader more confused, with more questions, and yet the answer can be found within you. What you as the reader makes of the poem will make sense to you. Indeed, the Enigma is a poem yet its description and story is a familiar occurrence that we face every time we go to sleep and find our minds drifting into dreamland where reality is all but what you make of it, and it is something that you do not expect. It is evident that the poem hides a message and within it lies a hidden message. This poetic analysis aims at explaining the universal subject our beliefs recontextualize the universal truth, truth doesn't change, but our understanding of it does.

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The Enigma identifies itself with the ability that dreams have in forcing individuals to confront their difficulty in accepting and understanding the world. It goes further to bring out our unpreparedness and inadequacy to face the greater sleep that is to be faced by everyone at any point in time. Indeed, one of the universal truths of this world is that no one lives forever. Every individual has a timeline and a time frame whilst they are here on earth. As the thesis statement suggests, in as much as people may want to reinvent the truth or add particular creative narratives to it that at times distorts the meaning, the fact of life remains. This in itself is the biggest message that the poem aims at conveying (Spencer 24).

Faith is conveyed in the poem in the overlaying of particular ideas and ideas in a complex reality that has intent sense. The dimensions in the animals and how they keep changing describes an inexistent and impossible fete of nature yet there is an unfound hope in the reader as well as in the author in that it is impossible to deny their existence. Furthermore, there is an implication that these are not just animals but are symbols and even though the reader is unaware, yet he/she holds faith in the critical and important understanding and meaning as conveyed in the poem. Another instance of faith is in the lamb whose cry for help indicates that it has faith that help is coming albeit from whatever source. Indeed, the cry would be heard by a predator which would lead to its ultimate demise, but there is enough faith in the lamb in that help is coming albeit it is uncertain from who or where especially considering that the narrator indicates that there is no indication of other sheep in the area (Stevenson 42).

With faith is hope. Hope that the narrative will change. Hope that at some point, the all familiar dream will change and have a meaningful ending. As is suggested, man is always hopeful. It is why he/she can change the narrative of truth yet knows well that the truth remains. It is indicative in the poem with the changing nature "now lambs, now birds, now floating points of light- fireflies signaling how many lost New England summers?" (Stevenson 43). Man is ever hopeful for what tomorrow holds. It is why rather than desire to stay awake and keep off from the many rough disturbing dreams that seem to be plaguing his/her sleep night after night, he/she still lay in bed hopeful that the enigma will change, and even if it doesn't, at least there will be another night to try and change it for the better (Spencer 15).

The world needs hope and faith to be able to deal with the universal truth. We have faith that we will live for many years in this world even though we do not have the assurance of the same. There is a particular uncertainty in the world and the poem all but conveys this uncertainty/change. The first instance of uncertainty is presented where the poet is confronted by the options of either helping out the little lamb which is driven by conscience and what he/she was taught in Sunday school about the "Good Shepherd" and how it is important to emulate him in all we do, and the fear of killing the lamb considering she had no idea about lambs (Stevenson 43).

Change is also presented in the ever-changing nature of animals as described. These changes are based on the uncertainty about the universe and about what these different stages in life mean. It is, however, clear where they are headed for as at some point, they will be so far out of reach similar to fireflies that are only seen through the light they emit and the ultimate end where they will remain stories and tales only seen or remembered once in a while, similar to stars (Stevenson 43). They will remain like memories, locked deep in the folds of the brain. The only way of coping with the universal truth is through our beliefs, thoughts, and recreations of the truth and these are conveyed well through changes which can be presented as have been done in Enigma (Spencer 22).

Indeed, life is an enigma. It describes how afraid we all are of the inevitable- death. It shows that even though we are ever trying to understand the meaning of life and understand its nature, we are still left unprepared to deal with death. It's uncertain and untimely nature that all but catches the best of us as a surprise greatly leads to our minds refusing to think about such issues. Dreams have a way of reaching into the deepest closet of our minds and open up certain thoughts that need to be addressed although we insist on hiding them. They force us to confront such issues and even use particular symbolism that at times all but catches us unawares (Spencer 9). The Enigma is the mind's suppressed thoughts about the understanding of truth which I believe is the meaning of life and death brought out through the poem. Indeed, different cultures all over the world have different understandings of life and death. The similarities in their different takes are that life has a beginning and end which is supported by the thesis statement that truth doesn't change, however, our understanding of truth changes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Enigma is a portrayal of life and how we perceive of it. It is an indication of how difficult it is to understand the truth of existence. Anne Stevenson has depicted that dreams have a way of forcing us to deal with the uncertainties that we may have locked up in our thoughts. The Enigma confronts and challenges us to deal with the uncertainty, unpreparedness, and inadequacy in what awaits us when we wake up. It is a poem that leaves the reader with more questions, considering it also has questions left hanging which is typical of Stevenson's poems. All in all, it is a great poem, an easy read but a difficult one to understand.

Works Cited

Spencer, E. "'The mind's harmonic mappings': Dream States and Dreamscapes in the Poetry of Anne Stevenson." A Moveable Type, vol. 6, 2010.Stevenson, A. Stone Milk. Tarset : Bloodaxe, 2007.