R. S. Thomas's poem "Ninetieth Birthday" intricately weaves the theme of time and memory through its vivid imagery and subtle emotional undertones. The poem, divided into two stanzas of unequal length, traverses both physical and metaphorical landscapes, capturing a poignant visit to an elderly woman, perhaps a familial matriarch, on the significant milestone of her ninetieth birthday. Through this visit, Thomas explores the divide between past and present, isolation and connection, memory and reality.

The Journey Up the Hill

Set on a midsummer day, the poem opens with the visitor’s ascent up a steep hill, meticulously painting a picture of the rural Welsh landscape. The path, likely a dusty dirt road, suggests a more intimate, pedestrian journey rather than one undertaken by vehicle, offering a sense of closeness to the natural surroundings. The landscape unfolds with rugged hillsides where trees surrender to bracken, a distant seascape, and a trickling stream, elements familiar yet detached from the visitor who traverses them. This setting, reminiscent of Thomas’s other works, evokes a sense of timelessness and continuity in nature, contrasting with the transient nature of human life.

The Reunion with the Past

Transitioning seamlessly into the second stanza, the poem shifts focus from the physical landscape to the emotional terrain of human connection. The visitor reaches the crest of the hill, where an old woman awaits, embodying a living connection to a vanished world. Her isolation is underscored by her contemplation of a "lost village," a place preserved solely in her memory, hinting at her detachment from the evolving world beyond her farm. This poignant image of waiting symbolizes the woman's static existence amidst the inexorable flow of time.

The Chasm Between Generations

The poem subtly highlights the chasm between the worlds of the visitor and the old woman. Although the visitor physically stands in the same space, the line "Yet no bridge joins her own/ World with yours" underscores the emotional and experiential distance between them. The visitor's familiarity with the landscape serves only to accentuate their disconnection, as the unchanged natural scenery contrasts with the ever-changing human context. This division is emblematic of the broader human experience, where generations often find themselves separated by time and understanding, despite shared environments.

The Weight of Memories

In the poem's closing lines, the old woman's stories, though attentively heard by the visitor, lack relevance to the present, reinforcing the theme of memory's selective preservation. The visitor listens, yet what the old woman recounts seems to belong to a world that no longer exists, a nostalgic echo fading into obscurity. The poem leaves readers with a sense of lingering melancholy, as the interplay of memory, time, and isolation unfolds quietly yet powerfully, resonating with the universal human experience of aging and the inevitable passage of time.

The poem "Ninetieth Birthday" stands out for its simplicity and emotional depth. Crafted in unadorned language, it manages to evoke complex emotions and vivid imagery without relying on elaborate poetic devices. Through an exploration of simplicity in form and depth in metaphor, the poem captures the essence of aging and the passage of time.

Language and Imagery

The poem employs straightforward language that is deceptively simple, yet effective in evoking clear visual imagery. The sentences, though long, lack syntactical complexity, making the poem accessible. Words are predominantly short, with "history" being the longest in the first stanza. Adjectives such as "green," "warm," and "far" are uncomplicated, reinforcing the vividness of the landscapes described. This plainness gives the poem a contemplative tone, inviting readers to reflect quietly on its themes.

Metaphoric Evolution

In its second stanza, the poem...