The Mountain

“The Mountain” is a persona poem, written from the point of view of a mountain who does not know its age and continuously asks an unspecified someone “tell me how old I am” (Lines 8, 16, 24, 32, 36). As the speaker continues to ask this question without answer, it moves through multiple emotions of fear, sorrow, confusion, and finally anger as it continues to ask questions that have no real answer. It is possible this poem reflects the poet’s own complex feelings around aging and the loneliness it brings. As with any personification of an inanimate object, “The Mountain” is a vehicle for exploring human feelings.

In the first stanza, the speaker of the poem says it feels something behind it and it “staggeringly halt[s] and burn[s]” (Line 3). The halting and burning suggest the mountain's formation, or birth, in the upheaval of plate-tectonic action. As the formation of mountains happens slowly over millions of years, it is not an event the mountain itself can remember.

In the next stanza, the speaker continues to depict the mountain in human activity. It is trying to read a book, “An open book confronts” (Line 6) the mountain, but now it is “too close to read in comfort” (Line 7). The open book is the nature around it, but it is too close in that the mountain itself is part of nature. In relation to the personification of the mountain, the statement alludes to the way a person’s vision changes as they age. Many people at a certain age become nearsighted, meaning they cannot read what is close to them without glasses. Though it is the conceit of the poem that the mountain is speaking, a reader might infer that this mimics the human experience of the poet, who may also lose some of her eyesight to age.

Next, the speaker alludes to its loss of hearing: “the valleys stuff / impenetrable mists / like cotton in my ears” (Lines 9-11). A mountain has neither eyes nor ears and cannot read or listen the same way a human does. Yet the speaker compares the mists in the valleys to cotton in the ears, complaining that something is stopping it from hearing. The mountain can be said to be in denial about how advanced age is affecting its hearing. Instead, it blames the loss on the mists.

In the fourth stanza, the mountain becomes self-conscious about its attitude. It says, “I do not mean to complain” (Line 13). Then it says, “They say it is my fault” (Line 14) “They” in this stanza might refer to society in general or to younger people. This line reflects the negative way some younger people treat aging adults, treating them as though their hearing loss and loss of vision are their “fault.” This may also be a play on word “fault” since mountain ranges developed along fault lines, thus the mountain’s physical fault is to blame for it being where it is. The line “Nobody tells me anything” (Line 15) insinuates that the speaker of the poem is getting shut out from society. They are no longer being included in conversation and are losing respect from others. The repeated line “Tell me how old I am” (Lines 8, 16, 24, 32, and 36) may be directed at the ambiguous “They” who say it is the mountain’s fault and no longer tell the mountain anything.

Next, the speaker notes that “[t]he deepest demarcations / can slowly spread and fade / like any blue tattoo” (Lines 17-19). The wording of this sentence suggests that the aging process happens to everyone, not just the speaker. Anyone with “deep demarcations” will watch them “fade” over time. The fact that such deep demarcations have spread, “slowly” emphasizes just how much time the mountain has been alive. It takes a long time for a deep cut to spread and fade. The mountain may not be able to tell its own age because it is so old it has forgotten when it was born or maybe because it has lost the mental faculties to retain awareness.

In the next stanza, the mountain expresses some desperation and enacts the quickness of time. “Shadows fall down, lights climb. / Clambering lights, oh children!” (Lines 21-22) suggests how quickly the days and nights pass. The lights are the light of the sun, though the clambering lights belong to those who climb and explore the mountains, who “never stay long enough” (Line 23). It insinuates that the mountain is lonely, and it implies that the children leave quickly because they die off. This emphasizes just how long a mountain lives in comparison to human life. In the repetition of “[t]ell me how old I am” (Line 24), it is clear that the children have not been able to tell the mountain.

The next stanza focuses on “[s]tone wings.” The speaker says they have “sifted here / with feather hardening feather” (Lines 25-26). This may refer to the fact that people have quarried stone out of the mountain and used those stones to carve statues. It could also refer to the feathers of birds fossilizing over time. Both suggest that lively, impermanent creatures—the birds—have become hardened and eternal, i.e., stones. “The claws,” which suggest strength and the ability to defend oneself, “are lost somewhere” (Line 27). This suggests that the birds have lost their self-defense systems. They are more vulnerable, and because the claws are “lost” they cannot regain that strength and sense of defense. The mountain is vulnerable. When it repeats “I do not know my age” (Line 28) it carries the tone of that vulnerability.

In the second stanza, the poem compares the mists to cotton in the ears of the mountain. By the second to last stanza, the poem returns to the topic of deafness. Now the mountain does not blame the mist but admits that it is losing its hearing because of age: “The birdcalls / dwindle.” (Lines 29-30). It also implies it is losing its ability to care for itself. “The waterfalls / go unwiped” (Lines 30-31) could be a metaphor for tears, mucus, drool, or sweat. The mountain can no longer wipe any of these away. When it says again, “What is my age? / Tell me how old I am” (Lines 31-32), it seems more desperate than before, repeating the question twice in one stanza, whereas before it used it as a refrain only once per stanza.

In the final verse, the mountain reaches its emotional climax. It says, “Let the moon go hang, / the stars go fly their kites” (Lines 33-34). The moon is often a sign of eternity, as are the stars. When the speaker says they can hang and “fly their kites,” it implies that it does not care what they do. In fact, the stars flying their kites are characterized as young, able to perform carefree acts that require physical activity. The mountain, in its final stanza, switches from the refrain that “I do not know my age” to stating more directly, “I want to know my age. / Tell me how old I am” (Lines 35-36). However, even in its emphatic demand, it does not receive an answer. The poem ends on those lines and the silence that follows, which reflects the silence of the grave and the coming of death. The mountain ends its monologue in frustration, mimicking the way old age may leave people feeling frustrated, ignored, angered, and ultimately discarded.