Introduction
The Natural Bridge/Rogue River Canyon poem by Paul Halupa is an excellent example of metaphor-filled modernist work. The negative tone, jagged narrative, and unconventional tact parallel the profoundly personal experiences or reflections the author has put into the lines. However, the essence of the work has not been turned into a metaphor entirely, leaving no backlash or suitable for the reader to err on the side of familiarity with the work. The explicit direction of the narrative implies comparing human life with its problems and complexities to a turbulent river with its rapids, currents, and subterranean caverns.
Comprehension of the Human Life Hardships
The work’s overall theme is quite somber, which symbolizes the author’s goal to convey his mood to the readers. However, the conclusive idea embedded in the final stanzas leaves hope. It finalizes a willingness to go through difficulties, recognizing their inevitability and necessity to achieve what is necessary and find oneself. “We find our all” can be interpreted with some differences, but the essence of the general tone rising does not change (Halupa, line 24). Thus, the impression of negativity dissipates at the end of the reading, leaving an understanding of the importance of the indicated complexities of human life, figuratively embodied in the river’s route through the rocks.
The imagery and metaphorical language in the work are more than interesting. Unlike many other examples of works in this style, Halupa does not favor exclusive imagery but directly parallels human life: “Difficulties mount, pressures build, a rent / Is in the wall, / And plunging in we find a serene cavernous strength” (lines 20-21). What is worth claiming is that despite the brevity of the work, the description of human hardships takes more meaning away from the description of nature. The vividly cited images of the “wall of lava” with its impenetrability, capable of dividing the flow of the river and implying the most difficult moments of life, are chiseled away by water or circumvented by “finding a chute beneath” (Halupa, lines 10, 17). It is likewise possible to detect a comparison with time, which has no way back, like the flow of the river, and which loops around obstacles along with every human destiny.
The third line in the author’s stanzas is the most significant and connects the essence of the work. For example, “I am alone” (Halupa, line 6) has a double meaning, which may suggest both the location of the observer and his state of mind. In other stanzas, the main emphasis and meaning likewise depend to a considerable extent on the extreme, short cut-off line. Due to the writing style, it can be both the end of the previous stanza and the beginning of the next: “But it is an invention / That is the mark: / The river hits the wall…” (Halupa, lines 14-16). In this way, the whole work is united into a single unbreakable whole, despite the not-so-common method of syllabication.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it cannot be denied to note the accuracy of the author’s comparison of the river to the flow of human life. The art of metaphor and the imagery of the gorge walls, lake, and underground channels demonstrate the impregnability of some complications and the different approaches people take to solve them. The overall tone of the writing loses its negative tone by the end of the piece and can contribute to the reader’s reflection and motivation.
Work Cited
Halupa, Paul. “Natural Bridge/Rogue River Canyon.” n.d. Dallas College Blackboard, Web.