The Bath by Gary Snyder
"The Bath" by Gary Snyder is a poem that explores the interconnectedness of family and nature through the lens of fatherhood. Set in the serene environment of Snyder's backwoods home, the poem begins with a tender scene of the poet bathing his older son, Kai, in a sauna. This intimate moment is marked by a sense of ease and attentiveness, as Snyder reflects on the physicality of his son's body and its relation to his own. The poem evolves to include his wife, Masa, and younger son, Gen, highlighting the familial bond and the playful joy that emerges from their interactions.
Snyder draws vivid analogies between his family's bodies and the natural landscape surrounding them, using personification to convey the vibrant spirit of nature. The recurring refrain “this is our body” emphasizes the unity between human experiences and the ecological world. Unlike many of his other works, which express environmentalist anger, "The Bath" celebrates the joy and love found in domestic life, presenting a harmonious vision of family life that is intimately connected to the natural world. This poem serves as a gentle reminder of the beauty of nature and the importance of cherishing it.
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The Bath by Gary Snyder
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1974 (collected in Turtle Island, 1974)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“The Bath” illustrates how the experience of fatherhood has provided Snyder with new perspectives on the interrelationship between the bodies of humans and the ecological “body” of nature.
The poem begins with a vivid description of Snyder giving his older son, Kai, a bath in the sauna at their backwoods home. The poet’s mood is relaxed, yet also attentive to details of his son’s body and how that body relates to his own. When Snyder washes his son’s penis, it surprises him by becoming erect. Yet rather than becoming embarrassed or anxious, Snyder is amused and delighted:
Laughing and jumping, flinging arms around,
These italicized words become a refrain throughout the poem: first “is this our body?,” then “this is our body” as Snyder’s wife, Masa, and his younger son, Gen, also become involved in the scene.
In the second stanza, Masa joins Snyder and Kai in the bath, and the poet draws a loving analogy between her body and that of the landscape where they make their home: “The body of my lady, the winding valley spine.” Snyder caresses and kisses his wife, acts which stimulate him to draw further imaginative connections among the sexual and nurturing powers of his family:
Kai’s little scrotum up close to his groin,
Coming out of the bath, and out of the sauna enclosure, Snyder, Masa, and Kai enjoy a variety of nature’s sights, smells, and sounds. The poet’s use of personification (“murmuring gossip of the grasses,/ talking firewood”) further contributes to his theme that his family’s interrelated body is part of the larger interrelated body of nature. At the end of the poem, as he and his wife play with their children, Snyder brings the refrain into his domestic narrative; this theme is now firmly grounded in reality and no longer needs to be treated as a separate “cosmic” thought.
This is our body. Drawn up crosslegged by
In many other poems in Turtle Island, Snyder gives vent to righteous environmentalist anger. In “The Bath,” however, he allows the reader to share in a joyous domestic scene that reflects a surrounding joyous spirit in the natural world. With its humor and love, “The Bath” reminds readers in a gentle way of some of the reasons that nature is worth fighting for.
Bibliography
Almon, Bert. Gary Snyder. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University Press, 1979.
Altieri, Charles. Enlarging the Temple: New Directions in American Poetry During the 1960’s. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1979.
Dean, Tim. Gary Snyder and the American Unconscious. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.
Halper, Jon. Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1991.
Molesworth, Charles. Gary Snyder’s Vision: Poetry and the Real Work. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983.
Steubing, Bob. Gary Snyder. Boston: Twayne, 1976.
Suiter, John. Poets on the Peaks. New York: Counterpoint, 2002.