After the Last Dynasty by Stanley Kunitz
"After the Last Dynasty" by Stanley Kunitz is a poignant love poem that reflects the complexities of personal relationships and emotional turmoil. The poem draws an early connection to the renowned Chinese poet Li Po, known for his delicate imagery and themes of nature, which sets a contemplative tone. Kunitz wrote this piece during a turbulent period in his life, as his marriage was deteriorating, and it serves as an exploration of abandonment and the struggles inherent in love.
The poem employs free verse, breaking away from traditional iambic structures, symbolizing Kunitz's desire to forge a new path both personally and artistically. In it, he utilizes vivid metaphors, comparing his feelings of love and betrayal to the tactics of Chinese guerrilla warfare, highlighting the emotional conflict he experiences. The recurring motif of "mistress" evokes a blend of tenderness and irony, as Kunitz navigates his feelings of affection and disappointment.
The final stanza introduces a tender note, contrasting with earlier references to political slogans and "red crayon language," which underscore the poem's multifaceted emotional landscape. Overall, "After the Last Dynasty" encapsulates the intricacies of love and loss, making it a compelling reflection on the human experience.
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After the Last Dynasty by Stanley Kunitz
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1958 (collected in The Testing-Tree: Poems, 1971)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
Kunitz’s early reference in “After the Last Dynasty” to Chinese poet Li Po (701-762 c.e.), from the T’ang Dynasty, brings to mind his poetry. Li Po, from China’s Szechuan province, was known for the delicacy of his verse and for both his frequent references to flower petals and his water imagery.
Kunitz’s work is a love poem but an ironic one. It was written just as his marriage to Eleanor Evans, his second wife and the mother of his daughter, Gretchen, was crumbling. The poem, like “River Road” from the same period, breaks from the iambic lines so prevalent in American poetry, almost in defiance of past poetic conventions. Just as he is striking out into a new life, so is he launching his poetry on a different course with crisp, almost abrupt lines of free verse.
“After the Last Dynasty” is a deeply felt poem about abandonment. Kunitz compares loving the object of his poem to Chinese guerrilla warfare. She, with a “small bad heart,” failed the man who loved her, fighting him not with strength and health but with her weakness and sickness. He ponders whether she is still “mistress of the valley.” The term “mistress” recurs frequently in his poems.
Kunitz is at once impudent and sentimental in this poem. He is also guardedly humorous. In the final stanza, however, he is tender, saying that he wants to pin a new note on the door of the loved one, a message from which the sloganeering of Chairman Mao is absent. The Chairman Mao part of the poem and the “red crayon language” are subtle devices for constructing the atmosphere that makes the shift of tone in the final stanza particularly effective.
Bibliography
Busa, Chris. “Stanley Kunitz: The Art of Poetry XXIX.” The Paris Review 24 (Spring, 1982): 204-246.
A Celebration for Stanley Kunitz: On His Eightieth Birthday. Riverdale-on-the-Hudson, N.Y.: Sheep Meadow Press, 1986.
Hagstrum, Jean H. “The Poetry of Stanley Kunitz: An Introductory Essay.” In Poets in Progress, edited by Edward B. Hungerford. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1967.
Hénault, Marie. Stanley Kunitz. Boston: Twayne, 1980.
Kunitz, Stanley. Interview by Caroline Sutton. Publishers Weekly 228 (December 20, 1985): 67-68.
Kunitz, Stanley. “An Interview with Stanley Kunitz.” Interview by Cynthia Davis. Contemporary Literature 15 (Winter, 1974): 1-14.
Lundquist, Kent. “Stanley Kunitz.” In Encyclopedia of American Literature, edited by Steven R. Serafin. New York: Continuum Press, 1999.
Martin, Harry. “Warren and Kunitz: Poets in the American Grain.” The Washington Post Book World, September 30, 1979, 10.
Orr, Gregory. Stanley Kunitz: An Introduction to the Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.
Ostroff, Anthony J., ed. The Contemporary Poet as Artist and Critic. Boston: Little, Brown, 1964.
Shaw, Robert B. “A Book of Changes.” The New York Times Book Review, July 22, 1979, 1, 20.