The Great Explosion

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



The universe expands and contracts like a great heart.
It is expanding, the farthest nebulae
Rush with the speed of light into empty space.
It will contract, the immense navies of stars and galaxies,
            dust clouds and nebulae
Are recalled home, they crush against each other in one
            harbor, they stick in one lump
And then explode it, nothing can hold them down; there is no
            way to express that explosion; all that exists
Roars into flame, the tortured fragments rush away from each
            other into all the sky, new universes
Jewel the black breast of night; and far off the outer nebulae
            like charging spearmen again
Invade emptiness.
                                No wonder we are so fascinated with
        fireworks
And our huge bombs: it is a kind of homesickness perhaps for
        the howling fireblast that we were born from.

But the whole sum of the energies
That made and contain the giant atom survives. It will
        gather again and pile up, the power and the glory--
And no doubt it will burst again; diastole and systole: the
        whole universe beats like a heart.
Peace in our time was never one of God's promises; but back
        and forth, live and die, burn and be damned,
The great heart beating, pumping into our arteries His
        terrible life.
                            He is beautiful beyond belief.
And we, God's apes--or tragic children--share in the beauty.
        We see it above our torment, that's what life's for.
He is no God of love, no justice of a little city like Dante's
        Florence, no anthropoid God
Making commandments,: this is the God who does not care
        and will never cease. Look at the seas there
Flashing against this rock in the darkness--look at the
        tide-stream stars--and the fall of nations--and dawn
Wandering with wet white feet down the Caramel Valley to
        meet the sea. These are real and we see their beauty.
The great explosion is probably only a metaphor--I know not
        --of faceless violence, the root of all things.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:40 min read
124

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXCBXXXXXDBXXXXEX CBFGAXXDXXFECXHHGXXFXX
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 2,048
Words 331
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 18, 22

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

2 fans

Discuss the poem The Great Explosion with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Great Explosion" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32878/the-great-explosion>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    1
    hour
    58
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    What type of writing draws the reader in emotion?
    A Lyric
    B Sylibis
    C Reflection
    D Bold