Explanation of “The Modern Gyre”


I want to provide anyone who reads this with some of my inspirations, an explanation of my meaning and really, just an idea of where this piece came from. Here goes…
My original references to the word “gyre”:
• Yeats and Eliot
• I read both in a 20th Century Lit class studying, among other things, modernism and postmodernism including some of the ideas of fragmentation within modernism.
Another place I should have known this word from:
• Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky”- I am fascinated by the movie Alice in Wonderland, particularly a 1980’s tv version that ends with Alice meeting the Jabberwocky.The focus and main theme of the poem is the chaos existing within society today. It is present in my own neighborhood as gas prices and unemployment rates rise again. I know numerous people that have lost their jobs due to the recession, as have I. Additionally, I’m one of the starving artists of the world, trying to make it as a creative, which becomes more and more difficult as the recession continues to affect the economy. As the economy slows, people cut their extra expenditures greatly, and these extra expenses include creative services.
The Poem’s Conception:
I started writing this poem a month or so ago when Wes and I were out on a photo shoot. He was shooting some friends in front of a Nashville sign painted on a building downtown. I was inspired by his creativity, so I started pacing back and forth jotting down lines on our water bill. My creativity is more important than our water bill, right? Pacing is one of my creative tricks. Somehow walking back and forth gets the creative juices flowing and the words pour out of my brain.
Breaking it down:
The first section is meant to convey this sense of chaos and fear of darkness, fear of the unknown. As our country begins a recession, there are some that fear it will be like The Great Depression. There are many financial experts, political science experts, and everyday people that fear the direction our country is going. Fear of the unknown drives the trepidation we all feel as we tighten our purse strings. We are now uncertain about our future and our continued success in the global economy.
Another of my inspirations for this first stanza is the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As you can tell by the second line in the first stanza, I am referencing the scene in which the children and their families board the colorful but eerie boat headed into the dark tunnel. Willy Wonka sings his strange song about how there’s no way to know where they’re going, fires of Hell are glowing, and the rowers keep on rowing. While this is another of my favorite films, the lyrics of this song reflect feelings brought on by the recession…in a literary sort of way. There is no way of knowing where our country will stand after the recession. Economists try to predict based on history and previous trends, but they are only putting together educated guesses. As previously mentioned, Gene Wilder says, the fires of hell are glowing. I’m sure some of the religious fanatics, doomsdayers, and writers out there could see how our recession is similar to Biblical ideas. We reap what we sow, and we will have to pay for harming the environment and holding monetary possessions in such high esteem.
The next sections remind us of how quickly life changes, especially in today’s uncertain times. We go from children enjoying everything around us to a very large, very complicated world. War, national debt, and huge amounts of money going to bail out “big business” all contribute to the complexity and delicacy of our current national and global economic situation. This world is much different than the one in which I grew up. There’s a constant buzz of uncertainty as younger generations learn how to adapt and struggles to survive in this rapidly changing economy. When we are young, we’re told to go to college, get a degree, and that will get us a job. These rules don’t necessarily apply anymore. Getting a degree is no longer a free pass to finding a job. As a Generation X-er who is now an adult and dealing with these realities, it can be a hard does of truth to swallow. The promised land of employment after college no longer exists. The rules of the game are different now, and beginning a career is very challenging.
The last sections of the poem are a reminder and warning to us all. We must be cautious and make better and smarter decisions than ever before. We all must recognize the dangers and instability in our society, so we can prevent the situation from getting worse leading to another depression and so we can actively contribute to the stabilization of the world’s economy. If we don’t act now, as with any situation, things will get worse.
Another aspect of being responsible members of the world is monitoring what we fill our bodies and minds with. While it is crucial that we all stay educated on the world around us, we must be careful not to overfill our minds with the ills of the world. For me, sometimes enough is enough. Some days I’ve simply seen enough of the fighting around the world and don’t need to watch any more news to fully understand reality and be spurred to action.
The Bottom Line:
We must be shrewd with our decisions these days. Otherwise, because of our own mistakes, we will fall…governments will crash, “Global Super Power” status will change hands, and the world may be unrecognizable when the dust settles. Then where will we be?