Stanley Kunitz - The Layers

Stanley Kunitz' (1) poem "The Layers" offers observations on the transitory and always changing nature of human existence by a speaker who is mature and knows "the milestones" are "dwindling / toward the horizon." Kunitz was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1905 and named Poet Laureate in 1974 and 2000 (McCormick 1). Kunitz personally knows the loss and change in life that is a focus in this poem, since his father committed suicide before he was born and his stepfather died when he was just fourteen. Yet "The Layers" is a poem that offers realistic optimism despite its sad and fatalistic tone, showing Kunitz was able to overcome the losses in his life and remained unwilling to depart this existence and its experiences at any age.

The speaker in "The Layers" is a mature man who has moved about during his life, resulting in the loss of many friends and continual change. In recognizing this fact the speaker's tone is one of lament, "Oh, I have made myself a tribe / out of my true affections, / and my tribe is scattered" (Kunitz 1)! The speaker muses about the continual change in and the transitory nature of human existence. While he is sad during these observations, he ultimately finds the strength to "turn, turn" and finds "every stone on the road" of life's journey "precious" (Kunitz 1). In this sense, the speaker overcomes the sadness we all feel over lost friends and loved ones and our own mortality, embracing whatever milestones he may have left

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