The Legend (Poem Summary)

Poem Summary

Stanza 1

Hongo begins "The Legend" by quickly establishing the setting of the poem: the streets of Chicago during a soft snowfall, in the "twilight of early evening." The narrator uses detailed images to convey a story, with the language focusing on external events. The first image is that of a man carrying a load of laundry, neatly folded within a crumpled shopping bag; the narrator states that the man enjoys the feel of the warm laundry in his hands. Thus, the narrator is one who can make assumptions about the internal state of the character. The narrator then compares the color of the man's face to a Rembrandt painting, alluding to the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), of the European baroque school of painting. This description reveals not only the color of the man's cheeks but also the character of the narrator: he has knowledge and cultural sophistication. As such, the poet is revealing complexity beyond his simple images. At the end of the first stanza comes an instant of foreshadowing, as the last flash of sunset lends an orange glow to the scene.

Stanza 2

In the second stanza, the narrator describes the man. He is Asian, and the narrator estimates him to be either Thai or Vietnamese. Thus, although the narrator has insight into the character's internal state, he is not omniscient. The man is described as frail and poorly dressed, in a working-class jacket and wrinkled pants. The poem continues to show movement, as the man negotiates the icy sidewalk, opens the back door of his car, and puts his laundry inside. Then, although the man remains nameless, the car is identified as a Ford Fairlane. This is, after all, America, where automobiles have names but people in the streets are anonymous. At the end of the second stanza, the action suddenly intensifies. The narrator mentions a flurry of footsteps and commotion. The Asian man hears shouts from pedestrians, as an armed boy has just robbed the corner package store. The boy fires a pistol and hits the Asian man in the chest, and the man slumps over, surprised.

Stanza 3

The storytelling mode continues into the third stanza, with images of a crowd gathering and a wounded man struggling to speak. The man makes noises that none of the bystanders can understand; in fact, the narrator remarks that the man's noises mean "nothing" to the crowd, endowing the man with a sense of alienation and inconsequentiality. The boy who shot him disappears into the snowy evening, leaving behind only footsteps in the snow. The reader may get the sense that justice will not be served.

Stanza 4

In the fourth stanza, the setting and tone of the poem abruptly change, as the reader enters the narrator's mind. The narrator states that he has been reading about René Descartes (1596 – 1650), a French philosopher associated with the European Enlightenment. Descartes theoretically doubted everything in his world except himself, thus elevating thought as the most important function of his being. He is perhaps most widely remembered for the statement "I think, therefore I am." Individuals such as Descartes helped free science and philosophy from religious dogma. The narrator considers the "grand courage" that Descartes possessed with respect to his intellectualization, all of which is extraordinarily remote from the random shooting he has just described. The narrator asserts that he feels "distinct" from the Asian man; in fact, he feels "ashamed." The narrator may be ashamed of his privilege; he is safe and reading philosophy, while a man going about his working-class life is randomly shot and dies in the streets. Implicit in this passage is the connection that the narrator must feel to the dying man; he cannot merely withdraw back into his thoughts about philosophy.

Stanza 5

In the final stanza of the poem, the narrator again changes tone, moving away from thoughts of himself and speaking to the heavens. He offers both a prayer and a eulogy for the dying man, asking the night sky to cover him and provide his final comforts. He then prays that "the weaver girl cross the bridge of heaven" and take the dying man's hands. The mention of the weaver girl is an allusion to an old legend told in some Asian and Native American cultures on the Pacific Rim. In Japan, this legend is celebrated in an annual festival called Tanabata, which is held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. According to the legend, as explained by Hongo to the interviewer Bill Moyers, the Milky Way is seen as a river of stars in the sky, the River of Heaven. Two young sweethearts, a weaver girl and a goatherd boy, are separated from each other by this river of stars. The weaver girl must remain separated from her true love because she has a huge responsibility: to weave together the fabric of the universe that gives everything existence. The legend is a story of sad separation, except that once a year the heavens take pity on the young couple and provide a way for them to come together, such as by having a flock of birds serve as a bridge over the river of stars so that they can meet. The poem concludes with its reference to this Asian legend.

Media Adaptations

• Hongo reads his poetry aloud and is interviewed by Bill Moyers on The Power of the Word with Bill Moyers. This six-part television series, broadcast on public television in 1989, features a variety of contemporary poets and their poetry. Produced and directed by David Grubin, the video recording was published by Films for the Humanities and Sciences in 1994.