Notes from a Bottle Found on the Beach at Carmel by Evan S. Connell
"Notes from a Bottle Found on the Beach at Carmel" by Evan S. Connell is a complex, modern poem that encapsulates the existential journey of humanity through the allegory of a seafarer's voyage. The poem, structured in a series of fragmented notes, explores themes of human suffering, loneliness, and the search for meaning amidst chaos, drawing parallels to historical and literary traditions from Saint Augustine to Anglo-Saxon works. Connell's writing style is notable for its clarity and accessibility, utilizing free stanzaic forms and spoken language rhythms rather than conventional poetic structures. The poem's allusive nature echoes the works of modernist poets like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, yet it stands out by presenting a universal narrative that resonates with contemporary readers. As the narrator’s journey unfolds, it reveals the stark realities of existence in an atomic age, culminating in a profound reflection on submission and the human condition. Despite its radical themes, the poem maintains a direct and coherent expression, inviting readers to engage deeply with its rich tapestry of references and ideas. Overall, Connell's work is a significant contribution to modern poetry, challenging conventions while resonating with timeless human experiences.
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Notes from a Bottle Found on the Beach at Carmel by Evan S. Connell
First published: 1963
Type of work: Poetry
Critical Evaluation:
In NOTES FROM A BOTTLE FOUND ON THE BEACH AT CARMEL, Evan S. Connell, Jr., has boldly and simply accomplished what was only recently called the impossible. He has written a long, complex, subtle, book-length modern poem which is at once readable and worthy of admission into the small group of major poems written in our time. Known as a gifted short story writer and novelist, Connell’s interest in poetry and, more important, his ease and ability in handling complex verse forms and conventions, were virtually unknown until a version of this poem appeared in CONTACT. That initial appearance and the publication of the full poem in book form should have startled the small, tight little world of poets writing today, but the book has largely been ignored in the world of poetry because it jars safe assumptions and rattles skeletons in closets. Although it came upon the scene unannounced, like a poor relation, it has found an audience.
The basic fable of the poem is clearly established in the title. It is, indeed, a work in the form of notes, snippets and fragments written by an archetypal seafarer and addressed to whom it may concern. He, the narrator, is at once all voyagers, all sailors and, as well, the author himself. The poem ranges wide and free among cultures and traditions, in time and space; and in the modern fashion established by Eliot and Pound its method is chiefly allusive. If this poem were to be indexed and footnoted, it would surely equal the CANTOS in its multiplicity of reference; yet Connell’s allusions are not so much personal as representative of the fiber of our modern intellectual culture. Thus the work is accessible to the intelligent, educated reader. It should also be noted that the book bears a definite relationship to the work of James Joyce. Like FINNEGANS WAKE, it is a nightmare of all human history, all recorded time being, as in a dream, simultaneous, equally valid, and dramatic. Yet, somehow, Connell has managed to create a dream which is more universally the troubled dream of Western man in the atomic age.
The reason for the universality of the poem must surely lie in the fact that, even though it is radical and altogether modern in decoration and details, its general metaphor of the life of man as a blind pilgrimage, a sea voyage without chart or destination, is one of the oldest in our literary history. During the transition from paganism to Christianity Saint Augustine preserved this image as a valid one for the Christian era. In the history of English literature we are familiar with its implications from the Anglo-Saxon “Seafarer” (to which Connell frequently alludes) into our own time with such poems as Joyce Cary’s THE DRUNKEN SAILOR, a poem which in many ways parellels Connell’s. Connell is obviously aware of the tradition to which his poem belongs, for on several occasions he invokes Saint Augustine as the patron saint of the poem.
Not surprisingly, the basic theme is human suffering in all ages, from Babylonian sacrifice to the modern concentration camp, to reveal the evidently irremediable loneliness and cruelty of the human animal. As the voyage continues, one by one all hopes and illusions are stripped away from the seafarer. Nothing makes sense or has meaning except the lonely voyage itself. At the moment of truth, however, the naked existential corner from which no man can flee, Connell turns back to the example of Boethius and Saint Augustine, achieving a resolution which must be called a triumph in a world without victories. It is the wisdom and triumph of Job. The final line of the poem, an insistence on submission, is precisely the Boethian choice, the more profound because, in spite of its merciless view of the ashes of human history and absurdity, it is a free choice.
Although the matter of NOTES is complex and cumulative in the sense that bits and pieces cannot be abstracted easily from the texture of the whole, still it is characterized by lucid writing in verse. There has been no attempt to make the manner correspondingly difficult. Line by line, stanza by stanza, the verse is clear and coherent. There is no virtuoso writing for its own sake which might conceivably detract from the total impact. Basically, Connell uses a wide variety of free stanzaic forms. Periodically for the sudden intrusion of abstract speculation he employs a quick one-or two-line epigramatic statement, as though it were a marginal note to the action of the poem.
Variation is created by differences in length of line and stanzaic unit. Familiar verse forms are not used and Connell does not rely upon the obvious devices of poetry. Instead, he bases his form upon direct statement and the various rhythms of the spoken language.
Connell has written a long, religious poem at a time when both the long poem and the religious symbols which are its life blood have been declared defunct.