Apostle Town Summary

“Apostle Town” is a 1995 poem by Anne Carson about the experience of grief in the wake of
bereavement.

 The speaker addresses a deceased individual, discussing the windy conditions that defined
her life after the addressee’s death.

 The speaker and a companion traveled along a road against the wind but found they could
not communicate. There were gaps between them that became solid and black.

 These interpersonal spaces remind the speaker of an old woman who was once beautiful
and vivacious.

 Summary
Introduction
"Apostle Town" is the first poem in Anne Carson's "The Life of
Towns," a sequence of poems that revolve around different
towns, real, symbolic, and imaginary. "The Life of Towns" was
published in 1995 in Carson’s Plainwater, a collection of essays
and poetry in which Carson often combines the two forms within
discrete sections, as can be seen in “The Life of Towns.” In her
introduction to the series of poems, Carson’s narrator announces
that she is a "scholar of towns" and that there is no such thing as
an "empty town"—only an empty scholar or observer. Each poem
can be seen to offer, therefore, a scholar's observation on a
particular town.

Summary
"Apostle Town" is a short poem, composed of seventeen lines
which are, for the most part, brief. It is written in free verse, and
while it does employ certain features characteristic of traditional
poetry, such as capitalization at the beginning of each line, there
is no consistent meter, line length, or rhyme. Each line ends with
a period, regardless of whether or not it is the end of a sentence,
creating a halting, tentative atmosphere which reflects the
feelings of urgent grief with which the poem is concerned.

The speaker begins by addressing an unknown person who has

died, stating that after this person’s death, every day “was
windy.” It isn’t clear whether the speaker means this in a literal
sense or if she is describing a metaphorical sensation. She goes
on to elaborate that each day felt like a “wall” which presented an
opposition to the speaker and to the addressee. The juxtaposition
of the lines creates a blending of the two statements: the speaker
is experiencing life as if walking into a very strong wind which
never stops blowing.

The speaker goes on to say that "we" continued down the road,
shouting at one another, but that this was "useless" because of
the wind. It is unclear whether the “we” refers to the deceased
addressee or to the presence of another companion with whom
the speaker travels. The next line depicts this pair “Shouting
sideways” towards one another as they progress down a road.
This conversation is, at some level, figurative, representing a
breakdown of communication, though it may be that the
speaker’s movement “Along the road” is literal. The speaker then
notes that the “spaces between” herself and her companion
hardened, eliciting a feeling of futility.

Carson continues with this imagery in the subsequent lines,

although there is a shift from the past tense to the present tense.
The speaker describes how the spaces between herself and her
companion, although “empty,” are, paradoxically, “solid.” She
describes these spaces as "black" and compares them to the gaps
between the teeth of an elderly woman. The spaces, like those
gaps, are particularly "grievous," because the elderly woman in
the image is someone "you" knew when she was young and
beautiful. The “you” appears to refer to the deceased addressee,
but it may function as a generalized address as well.

The final line of the poem is considerably longer than the others.
In strong contrast to the short, almost effortful lines which have
preceded it, it represents a release of tension. In this line, the
speaker describes how the aforementioned elderly woman was
once “Beautiful the nerves pouring around in her like palace fire.”
Where the preceding lines of the poem have been constrained by
strong wind and by opposition, the outward rush of this last line
seems to mimic the fire to which it alludes, which in turn reflects
the verve and vitality of the woman in her young and beautiful
days.

Apostle Town Themes

The main themes in “Apostle Town” are grief and bereavement, the passage of time, and life as a
journey.

 Grief and bereavement: The poem explores the psychology of grief and loss through
metaphor.
  The passage of time: The damages caused by time are depicted in the addressee’s death and
the woman’s loss of beauty.

 Life as a journey: The poem uses the conceit of life as a journey, suggesting that life must go
on, even in the face of difficulty and loss.

Grief and Bereavement

The primary theme of this poem is grief and how it manifests after a bereavement. The speaker
opens the poem by addressing a deceased figure, presumably a loved one. The poem becomes an
exploration of how life has changed in the "town" of the speaker following the loved one’s "death."
This death ushers in a metaphorical change in weather, leaving those who loved this person besieged
by difficulties which are represented as wind.

The extended metaphor comparing grief to wind is an effective one. The speaker and her companion
—who may be either the spirit of the deceased or another, still-living individual—know that they
cannot deviate from the “road” they are on, but while they continue to travel it together, the high
winds “oppose” them at every turn, making each step laborious and hampering communication
between the pair. Their grief, in the form of the wind, stops them from fully facing each other, leaving
them “shouting” in a “useless” way across a distance which is ever-widening.

The speaker suggests that grief first puts space between herself and her companion and then
solidifies those spaces into something “black,” “solid,” and insurmountable. While bereaved, we
know we cannot step away from the ongoing journey of life. It can often change our relationships
with our fellow travelers, making communication difficult and each day halting, like the poem’s short
lines with their jarring, repetitive punctuation. If the speaker’s companion is taken to be the
deceased loved one, the implication is that grief is experienced as a hardening barrier between the
griever and the deceased. If the companion is read as a separate character, the implication is that
grief can produce a distance between those who have suffered a loss. Both possibilities are
poignantly expressed.

The Passage of Time

Time brings change, whether or not this change takes the form of bereavement. In this poem, the
speaker suggests that the feeling of being bereaved evokes similar feelings to the grief one feels
when one recognizes how much devastation time can wreak. Towards the end of the poem, the
speaker compares the grief of a loss, represented as “black” spaces, to a different sort of “grievous”
pain—that of recognizing the negative changes time has wrought on a woman, now elderly, who was
“once” beautiful. In both cases, something has been lost, and in both cases, the person who
remembers how things once were suffers.

However, there is also a positive aspect to the description of this once-beautiful woman. While she
may now be elderly and no longer beautiful, the final line of the poem brings a joyful rushes of
words, no longer interrupted by the terse, halting punctuation that constrained the previous lines.
The symbolism of wind and void is absent, and the memory of this woman's beauty is depicted in the
form of “palace fire.” Her “nerves,” or her youthful beauty and vitality, seem to “pour around in her.”
The image is visceral and alive; it temporarily offers the speaker a respite from the plodding pace
bereavement has imposed upon her and her language. Moreover, the abundant “nerves” and the
image of the “palace” evokes a plenitude that stands in contrast to the emptiness and blackness
conjured in the previous lines. Although it is saddening to recognize how time destroys beauty, we
can think of the riches of the past and draw sustenance and strength from them. By the poem’s logic,
the past is a fire which can be set in opposition to the wind of grief.

"The Life of Towns: Apostle Town" by Anne Carson is a poignant exploration of grief, memory, and
the changing nature of relationships after the loss of a loved one. Through the metaphorical
landscape of Apostle Town, Carson captures the emotional tumult and disorientation that follow
death, as well as the enduring impact of absence on the living.

The poem begins with the stark, simple statement, "After your death," immediately setting the tone
for a meditation on the aftermath of loss. The recurring wind that follows serves as a powerful
symbol of the persistent, unseen forces of grief that buffet the survivors, making everyday
interactions and communications challenging, "It was windy every day. / Every day. / Opposed us like
a wall."

The imagery of people "Shouting sideways at one another / Along the road" vividly portrays the
struggle to connect and understand each other in the face of overwhelming emotions. The wind
renders their efforts "useless," reflecting the ways in which grief can distort and hinder our attempts
to maintain bonds with those around us.

Carson's description of the spaces between people becoming "hard they are / Empty spaces and yet
they / Are solid and black / And grevious as gaps / Between the teeth / Of an old woman" is
particularly striking. This metaphor conveys the tangible absence left by the deceased, a void that is
both empty and oppressively present, altering the landscape of relationships and memories. The
comparison to gaps between teeth suggests a sense of incompleteness and the pain of remembering
what was once whole.

The poem then shifts to a reminiscence of the lost individual as they were in life, "Beautiful the
nerves pouring around in her like palace fire." This line evokes the vitality and complexity of the
person who has died, contrasting sharply with the desolation and fragmentation that characterize
the poem's opening. The image of "palace fire" suggests something magnificent and consuming,
highlighting the intensity and beauty of the individual's presence in the lives of those they left
behind.

Through "The Life of Towns: Apostle Town," Anne Carson offers a deeply felt reflection on the impact
of death on the living, the ways in which grief reshapes our world, and the enduring power of
memory. The poem navigates the difficult terrain of loss with sensitivity and insight, capturing the
paradoxes of absence and presence, silence and noise, that define the experience of mourning.
Carson's work invites readers to contemplate the complex emotions and altered realities that follow
the death of a loved one, and the ways in which we seek to find meaning and connection in the
aftermath.
Introduction

Towns are the illusion that things hang together somehow, my pear, your winter.

I am a scholar of towns, let God commend that. To explain what I do is simple enough. A scholar is
someone who takes a position. From which position, certain lines become visible. You will at first
think
I am painting the lines myself; it's not so. I merely know where to stand to see the lines that are
there.
And the mysterious thing, it is a very mysterious thing, is how these lines do paint themselves. Before
there were any edges or angels or virtue -- who was there to ask the questions? Well, let's not get
carried
away with the exegesis. A scholar is someone who knows how to limit himself to the matter at hand.

Matter which has painted itself within lines constitutes a town. Viewed in this way the world is,
as we say, an open book. But what about variant readings? For example, consider the town defined
for us
by Lao Tzu in the twenty-third chapter of the Tao Te Ching:

A man of the way conforms to the way; a man of

virtue conforms to virtue; a man of loss conforms
to loss. He who conforms to the way is gladly
accepted by the way; he who conforms to virtue
is gladly accepted by virtue; he who conforms to
loss is gladly accepted by loss.

This sounds like a town of some importance, where a person could reach beyond himself, or meet
himself,
as he chose. But another scholar (Kao) takes a different position on the Town of Lao Tzu. "The word
translated 'loss' throughout this section does not make much sense," admonishes Kao. "It is possible
that
it is a graphic error for 'heaven.'" Now, in order for you or me to quit living here and go there -- either
to the Town of Lao Tzu or to the Town of Kao -- we have to get certain details clear, like Kao's tone. Is
he
impatient or deeply sad or merely droll? The position you take on this may pull you separate from
me.
Hence, towns. And then, scholars.

I am not being trivial. Your separateness could kill you unless I take it form you as a sickness.
What if you get stranded in the town where pears and winter are variants for one another? Can you
eat winter?
No. Canyou live six months inside a frozen pear? Now. But there is a place, I know the place, where
you will
stand and see pear and winter side by side as walls stand by silence. Can you punctuate yourself as
silence?
You will see the edges cut away form you, back into a world of another kind -- back into real
emptiness, some
would say. Well, we are objects in a wind that stopped, is my view. There are regular towns and
irregular towns,
there are wounded towns and sober towns and fiercely remembered towns, there are useless but
passionate towns
that battle on, there are towns where the snow slides from the roofs of the houses with such force
that victims
are killed, but there are no empty towns (just empty scholars) and there is no regret. Now move
along.