Elizabeth Madox Roberts’ perspective in this poem beautifully displays her consistent focus on nature and existentialism. Ultimately, Roberts uses the sky as a metaphor and example representing time, nature, and God. The sky is constantly around us – we are always in it, and it is always changing. We are ultimately at its whim, being the constant observers of nature’s pendulum of change, through which the sky is often the instrument.
This first stanza shows the speaker’s awareness of their place in the world – recognizing the sights and sounds around them in this moment, leading to a specific focus on the sky. The call of the blue jay and the imagery of shadows moving across the ground help the speaker to stop and pay attention to this fleeting second in time, of which they are a part of, rather than being removed and separate from nature.
In the second stanza, Roberts describes the sky as being “hung up on the poplar tree” establishing this physical, tangible interpretation of the sky, rather than it being the very abstract and eternal presence that it is. The aliveness of the sky is reinforced through personification, as it jerks and moves away. Moreover, the speaker realizes that nature, memories, and time cannot be captured or tangibly reproduced.
The third stanza continues to grapple with this inability to capture the sky, as it continues to move further away without stopping. The speaker even surmises, “I think it must be tied with chains/ And something pulls it from the top” which opens up a more religious point of view, with a higher power being in ultimate control of the sky and the passing of time. Within the heavily Protestant culture of Kentucky and Appalachia, this sense of predestination and one’s insignificance in the face of God is surely a contributing factor to this existential line of thinking.
The fourth and final stanza ultimately captures the helplessness that all human beings experience in the battle with time. This moment is a turning point for the speaker, wherein they move away from a child-like wonder and simplistic understanding of the world, into an almost existential crisis, recognizing that the world has existed and will continue to exist without them there to bear witness. The speaker has a profound realization that they are one small part of a much bigger picture, and that one day, their own existence will be as fleeting and passively accepted as the sky passing by.
Through this image of the sky, Roberts emphasizes that, regardless of how much we may wish to capture moments or memories, it’s a never-ending and futile task. The sky will always be out of our reach – we will always yearn for more time, and more memories, but must seek comfort in each moment and find contentment and beauty in what we’ve been given.
