The Bath

The Bath by Gary Snyder is a relatively long poem. The poem itself on the surface is about a family bathing together. They seem to be in a sauna, the bathtub is said to contain hot water. Its a couple and their children but only one washed with them. This line from the poem gives a detailed description and adds in nice imagery to the poem-

"Sweating and panting in the stove-steam hot-stone

cedar-planking wooden bucket water-splashing

kerosene lantern-flicker wind-in-the-pines-out

sierra forest ridges night—"

Its centered on a father- Gary, a mother- Masa, and two children- Kai and Gen. Deeper into the poem its meaning is about a man discovering that his family, their bodies are one. He says- "Is this our body?". He makes this statement/question twice in the beginning of the poem and as it continues it transforms into the following lines- "this our body" & "this is our body". At the beginning the narrator is questioning it but as the poem grows he stops questioning it and he says it with meaning and power. It is no longer a question but a statement of truth.