"Symbiosis or Death": - Rhodes University

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four by “informed”. The principle of creation, “informed with more ahead than
heavens or hells” (line 4), thus sets in motion the future of life on the Earth.
The second quatrain offers a description of how life-forms evolved. The hand of
the creator is still evident for it is said to be “irradiating slime-flecks day by day” (line 5)
and “it watched (with love?)” (line 6) the process of mutation and transformation of these
bits of slime from the “primeval soups” (line 8) into viable life-forms with DNA. But the
enigmatic principle’s formative power or active participation appears to wane. It now
stands back and watches the process.
The dense final quatrain deals with evolutionary contingency and “mistakes” (line
10) or “unstrung mutations” which led to evolutionary nightmares or monsters which did
not survive because “Selection took its toll” (line 10). Selection, the basic principle of
Darwinism, is shown to be a powerful levelling force, yet it does not have full control
over free-will or the evolution of human consciousness. “Selection took its toll: / free-will
incurs some debts. The debts get paid” (lines 10-12) may be read as a prediction of the
future extinction of the human race or as a mistake made by the creator. The lines may
also be read as an ecological statement; that humankind, with its free will, is responsible
for the fate of the Earth. In either case, the process of Darwinian selection supersedes the
role of the “puppet-master” (line 12). Thus, the poem claims, the “enigmatic principle” is
not a controlling or omnipotent force.
The concluding couplet, in its switch to a personal statement, reflects the poet’s
sense of disconnection from the ‘life force’. He is “far from its image” (line 13). Given
the context, this is an allusion to Genesis: “And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness…” (Gen 1:26). The poet cannot comprehend the idea of God, yet there
are “vestiges” in him which still connect with his origins, “a time I once breathed in its
sea” (line 14), where “its” refers to the Creative or “enigmatic principle”.
The implied question of whether the poet, and also humankind, owes its initial
origin to a creator is left open. This is the "nod to God”. The poem offers a clear account
of the process of evolution but hangs a question mark over the creationist exploration of
origins.
“Address to a Patrician at Station 8” (24) is also about origins, but from the
Darwinian perspective that all life-forms are descended from a common ancestor. It does
not explore the idea of a creator, but does express awe at the unfolding pattern of life.