Robert Hilles, a Canadian Poet (Now Living Essay

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Robert Hilles, a Canadian poet (now living in Thailand), is a work that dates from 1976 and looks backward on boyhood memories, which in this case are not particularly uplifting. In fact, Hilles' poem is a kind of questioning paean in an oblique universe that fails to see the beauty in sacrifice or the reward in virtue. No path is lit toward future happiness -- all is bitter, brittle, and cold. This paper will analyze Hilles' "Then" and attempt to explain its focus on banality and depression.

The first line (begun without capitalization, as all the lines of "Then" are begun) implies the abysmal state of education: "poverty teaches no one." It is a rebellious assertion in the face of pressing absurdity: how can poverty be a virtue -- a way to humility? The poet (fresh out of adolescence and bewildered by the lack of masculinity and direction in adulthood -- noted in his father's existence between two non-existent realms) looks back on his childhood in Canada and places his dumbfounded expressions in the mind of a child.

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There is a tone of disgust and revulsion in Hilles' assertion -- but also a certain amount of resistance. Could it be possible that Hilles learns nothing from poverty because he refuses the lesson as a young man -- just as he refuses to conform to grammatical convention?

As his writing teacher would later state, "I'm DELIGHTED to see you using upper-case letters at the start of lines in your new poems…How good that you're rediscovering old virtues!!" Hilles' response is that his later development and respect for grammar is the result of looking backward and forward at the same time. So also, as an older man, can Hilles look back on his poem "Then" with a certain wistfulness while still acknowledging its power.

The poem, of course, admits of no judge but Death -- in the form of….....

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