Life in These United States
Many of the subjects that Updike takes as fodder for his verse are instantly recognizable to almost anyone who grew up in the latter half of the 20th century in America. “Tao in the Yankee Stadium Bleachers” includes a quote from ancient Chinese myth, but also references to Mantle and Berra without even the consideration of a need to include their first names. That readers will know Mickey and Yoga is as certain as that they will recognize—in some manner from their own experiences—the imagery of a lazy day at a hotel where the wind carries the sound of a game of croquet and the smell of saltwater from a nearby beach. Updike’s verse is, to a point, a historical overview of what it meant to be a typical American in the 20th century.
Death
Updike’s poetry features an oddly overweighted regard for the significance of dying to humanity. Poems that set their focus on dying span a huge range of perceptual techniques that all contribute to the recognition of mortality. This focus can veer from the heartbreaking imagery in “Dog’s Death” to the deceptive lightness of “In Extremis” in which the effects of aging has made actually being able to see his toes a matter of excitement for the speaker. Within each of these poems lies the thematic nugget that unites them. The disappearance of one’s toes from sight resulting from middle-age spread is a sly commentary on the inexorable path from youthful exuberance to the inevitable lack of such in old age while the final image of the dog slowing giving into the death with amid the humiliation of its body betraying control over bowel functions accomplishes much the same goal.
The Little Things
Updike’s poetry more often than not focuses not on the grand ideas which poetry is generally regarding as being the perfect literary form for doing, but rather on the simple minutiae of common existence. Not many poets can wring such emotion from explaining how “Saying Goodbye to Very Young Children” slowly changes over time as a result of their aging, but not yours. “Solitaire” is a short poem that is entirely about the action of playing the familiar card game; it is literally like reading a description of a person playing solitaire. “January” is comprised of just eight short lines that describes the month in imagery about the lack of sunlight, the presence of snow and the effects of extreme weather upon glass bottles left outside. By itself, none of Updike’s poems about the little things are particularly impressively thematically speaking, but taken together they serve to remind us that life is really nothing but doing the little things in between those rare moments where big things occur.
