"Symbiosis or Death": - Rhodes University

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examines evolution at cellular level. It is also important for its exploration of human
purpose, for it demonstrates the limitations of human freedom and so contradicts the
sentiments expressed in the sestet of "A Darwinian Preface". The poem uses as its base
the evolution of bacteria into mitochondria, thus examining the interconnectedness of
biological life from a microscopic perspective. The poem is about humanity’s puny
efforts to escape or deny our “interned energies” (line 30), the mitochondria cells which
process energy and thus keep us alive. It implies that we are merely sets of cells, and, in
the end, this is all we can rely on. 32 Human-constructed concepts like duty, ethics,
autonomy, faithlessness and faith, scripture or religion, history, brotherhood and love
pale into insignificance when life is viewed from a microbiological perspective. The
poem concentrates on the physical aspect of being human, it is the “silent mitochondria”
(line 16), that keep us alive, because without them our bodies would not be able to
process energy from food molecules and we would die (Dawkins 1995: 45). This poem
shows that despite our conscious actions, our claims to “autonomy” (line 22), we are held
hostage by our biological structure.
Previous critics have not grappled with the full import of “Cells”. Brown’s review
of the poem is short and superficial. He focuses on the poet’s ethical and moral dilemma
at examining the cell from the corpse and refers to “cellular fratricide” (99) to explain the
final stanza’s “Woe will betide, betimes, the man / who kills his brother”. Sacks
concentrates on this poem’s treatment of free-will and calls it a “clenched meditation on
choice and fate” (line 3). He does not examine its scientific backbone and it is not clear if
by “fate” he means biological fate.
“Cells” takes the form of a meditation sparked by the sighting of a corpse in the
sea. Livingstone, as scientist, takes a sample from the water, hoping that it will contain a
cell from the repellent corpse, “that out there” (line 10), and looks forward to examining
the contents of the cell through the miraculous voyeurism of the microscope. This
intention to probe leads him into the third and central stanza which examines the power
of the mitochondrium, an organelle that primarily functions to store and release energy
32 Silver, in trying scientifically to define life (and admitting failure), asks “What is a cell?” and answers:
“A cell is an organized dissipative system of molecules, often capable of reproduction… In practical terms
it looks as though the unit of life is the cell” (323). Lynn Margulis makes this point: “Whether bacterial or
nucleated, the units of life are cells” (88).