Mythistorema - Triceratops Home

64 JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
Under the leaves of that plane
And teach him to study the trees.
One can discern in this appeal, beyond the general level of the poem,
the more personal disaster associated with the disaster of war. Seferis
is using the historical context for subtle instruction. When he says in
the last line "teach him to study the trees," the implication is that the
study of the laws of nature can help one search for harmony and order in
his own life.
This last line of the poem ("And teach him to study the trees") is
connected with the second stanza of the poem, which refers to tradition:
The olive trees with the wrinkles of our fathers
The rocks with the wisdom of our fathers
And our brother's blood living upon the earth
Were a robust joy a rich injunction
For the souls who understood their prayer.
Olive trees live for centuries, and their trunks are full of cracks and scars,
symbolizing here the long suffering of the ancestors and the struggle
through the years to maintain this classical Greek tradition. Rocks in
Seferis' poetry often stand for classical Greek concepts and ideas, and
the "brother's blood living upon the earth" is a symbol of the countless
sacrifices that the Greeks have made in order to survive in this ancient
land. All these were "a robust joy a rich injunction/ For the souls who
understood their prayer," namely the souls who were in harmony with
their universe, who lived with certain beliefs and who knew where to
address themselves in difficult times.
Although the poet's plea to save the children from the consequences
of the war is very important, the message of the last line to "teach the
children" cannot be missed by anyone familiar with Seferis' emphasis,
throughout his work, on the Aeschylean principles of the order of things
and the mechanism of justice.
As far as the symbolic journey is concerned, the poem seems to suggest,
although very indirectly, that the journey cannot be realized if one
does not become aware of these principles very early in life.
18
In poem "18" the symbolic journey is presented as an immense waste
and failure:
I am sorry to have allowed a broad river to pass between my
fingers
Without drinking a single drop.