“The Universe: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (2011) by Tracy K. Smith is a free verse poem about the development of the universe and humanity’s place in the cosmos. The poem utilizes metaphors and vivid imagery to present a soundtrack of time and space while reflecting on the tiny role humans play in the development of that soundtrack. Instead of relying on rhyme and a set rhythm like formal poetry, Smith utilizes poetic devices like figurative language to build her imagery; precise vocabulary and economization to establish tone and feel; and alliteration to give the poem its sonic characteristics. Along with the poem’s figurative meaning and auditory quality, Smith’s personal history informs the poem as her father worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and died shortly before the poem’s composition. With this knowledge, readers can understand how the poem works as a metaphorical comment on humanity and as a personal reflection on the poet’s father’s death.

While the poem does not necessarily exist within a historical literary movement, Smith’s influences include many 20th century Modernists, and the poem’s focus on precise imagery, its surreal atmosphere, and its use of free verse connects it to that Modernist legacy. Additionally, the poem’s emphasis on science makes it a distinctly 21st-century work.

Poet Biography

Tracy K. Smith (b. 1972) was born in Massachusetts and grew up in California. Smith’s father was an engineer and her mother was a teacher. Both her parents’ work influenced her poetry as she grew up, including her father’s work on the Hubble Space Telescope. Additionally, her mother’s Christian beliefs and her father’s work as a scientist left Smith with a complicated view of the world as she constantly felt the pull between religion and science.

From an early age, Smith was an excellent writer and a good student; she attended Harvard and Columbia University in the 1990s, earning degrees in American literature, Afro-American studies, and creative writing. She began seriously writing while at Harvard.

One of the most decorated living American poets, Smith has authored five books of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars (2012). Smith has also earned a number of other awards and recognitions, including the most prestigious honor of serving as United States Poet Laureate from 2017-19. While serving as Poet Laureate, Smith began a podcast called The Slowdown that featured readings of contemporary poems; she has also dedicated time to poetic outreach with rural communities, bringing poetry to communities and people often excluded from the poetic world.

Smith’s poetry centers on a wide range of subjects, but most of her award-winning work has to do with love, loss, wonder, race, and history. Her poetry does not shy from controversial topics, either, and she often uses pop culture references from the past and present. Critics often laud her use of genre and her ability to connect personal themes with universal images and emotions, creating an accessible style of poetry.

Along with writing, Smith has established a strong teaching resume. She has taught at a number of renowned colleges, including Princeton, Columbia, and Harvard, where she is currently a professor of English and African and African American studies.

Smith is married and has three children.

Poem Text

Smith, Tracy K. “The Universe: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.” 2011. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

“The Universe: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” is a poem about the cosmos. The poem doesn’t really have a narrative, though the stanzas act as different tracks on a music album, connecting together the images of the poem.

The poem opens with a description of a jazz-like song where the drums and saxophone dominate the track; Smith connects these sounds with the image of the stratosphere’s inevitable “singe-out” (Line 2).

The second stanza shifts to a different kind of music. Here, strings lead the track, and Smith describes the sound of cellophane breaking and crinkling.

The third stanza introduces black and white noise, both of which have their own sorts of rhythms and sound. The speaker compares these noises to voices bobbing up and down “like metal shavings / In molasses” (Lines 5-6). The surreal imagery here turns to a few comments on humanity when the speaker dismissively says, “[s]o much for us” (Line 6), and when she describes that the planting of flags on the moon and the use of rockets to fly into space were meaningless ventures.

Smith ends the poem by asking the reader to listen to the calling of space and the universe. She uses contrasting imagery of noise and silence and concludes with a philosophical observation about matter and reality. The speaker says everything is cyclical and nothing is ever lost.