West-Running Brook

“What does it think it’s doing running west? (Line 6), the wife asks, as if nature would listen to common sense. The current of the brook triggers the long conversation between the husband and wife. The direction west, because it is where the sun goes down and where night begins, is associated with the movement toward stillness, a darkness that invariably suggests death. Indeed, for the Egyptians, west represented the portal through which the soul accessed eternity.

The current suggests the swift and steady movement of time itself. Every moment, every second, marks the nearer approach of death. The west-running current symbolizes the awareness of the reality of death. Fred ponders the current and sees in its steady and unstoppable energy the ruthless motion of time itself. Fred is grounded in the material world—he knows exactly where they are and how to find their way out of the woods. For him, the eternal rush of the westward current defines the dilemma of humanity since the genesis of awareness: Alone of all species, humanity understands it must die.

Fred observes the material world for insights. He points out to his wife the curious reality of an eddy in the otherwise west-running brook: “Flung backward on itself in one white wave” (Line 25).