What is this poem "Nocturne In A Deserted Brickyard" about?

Nocturne In A Deserted Brickyard

by Carl Sandburg



Stuff of the moon

Runs on the lapping sand

Out to the longest shadows.

Under the curving willows,

And round the creep of the wave line,

Fluxions of yellow and dusk on the waters

Make a wide dreaming pansy of an old pond in the night.



I love this poem and keep rereading it and still cannot see what it is about or what Carl meant by the words. Any ideas?

What is this poem "Nocturne In A Deserted Brickyard" about?
I'm glad you like Sandburg's poem. He's an interesting poet, usually easy to understand. But, I agree, this poem is a bit puzzling.



Start by asking yourself, "What is the 'stuff of the moon'?" That's the key. Wouldn't it be moonlight? Apparently the speaker is standing near a body of water. If so, you can see how, to one's eye, the moonlight "runs on the sand" of the beach. Of course, the light then would go "out to the longest shadows" and perhaps "under the curving willows" and even around where the waves of water are creeping up on the shore -- maybe the tide coming in.



"Fluxions" is a mathematical term: it refers to "the infinitely small increase or decrease of flowing in a certain infinitely small period of time"; that is, tiny, tiny movements that one can hardly perceive but that. over time, one can see have taken place. In this poem it would refer to the change in the moonlight ("yellow and dusk") on the waves of water.



What the moonlight does is to make the "old pond" visible in the dark at night. With the only metaphor in the poem, Sandburg compares this visible pond under the moonlight to a "wide dreaming pansy," in other words a large flower with pale variations of color that has a kind of mystical or "dreaming" air about it.



What makes the poem problematical to me is what kind of body of water the speaker is looking upon. If it's simply a pond, it might well have willow trees growing by it, but it would be less likely to have a sandy beach or waves that make a lapping movement. If, on the other hand, he's talking about the ocean, it would be less likely to have willow trees; and calling it an "old pond" would be a peculiar familiarity that diminishes its size and power.



To me, this may simply be a flaw in the poem. But one might argue that Sandburg is playing with the word "fluxions," a mathematical concept of Isaac Newton's, which might make the tiny movements of even an old pond seem like the tide of an ocean--in constant motion that would be so infinitely small that it might seem invisible to the eye.



I hope this helps -- and doesn't disturb your affection for the poem. It reminds me of a pond we had on our farm when I was growing up. If you looked at it under the moonlight, it would gleam white, silver, almost gold and be as beautiful as a blossom.