Robert Blys' first collection of poems were released in 1962, titled, Silence in the Snowy Fields. Divided into three sections: "Eleven Poems of Solitude," "Awakening," and "Silence on the Roads," all combine along with the title to explore as Richard P. Sugg states: "human nature as twofold, consisting of both the conscious and the unconscious. . ." A poem "Return to Solitude" explores the conscious and unconscious aspects of human nature, relating a desire to exist in the purest, solitary state; one of inside the womb.

"Return to solitude" seemingly jumps between the conscious and unco

The unconscious comes to play in the second stanza. "We want to go back, to return to the sea," communicates a sense of yearning within the speaker, almost as if a true desire were being confessed. The sea is then described: "The sea of solitary corridors / And halls of wild nights," whose imagery portrays a birth canal, a corridor and also a hall where sexual intercourse, hence the "wild nights" would occur. "Explosions of grief, / Diving into the sea of death," correspond to a sexual climax, but are understood by the speaker as negative. By these events occurring, it is creating a person and hence eventually the birth of him/her and the inevitable loss of the pure, solitary state. Hence the explosive climax is labeled as grievous and paired with an ominous image of "Diving into the sea of death."

"Our life is a house between two hills." The imagery provided here supports a relationship between man and nature. Man's home, could be placed in another context, but for it to be placed between hills makes it seem like a normal part of nature. "Flowers stand open on the altar" continue this sense a natural relationship, since what is normally sacred texts or candles, instead lie flowers, a representation of nature. What normally is a close relationship, that of humankind and religion, is in this case shown by nature, portraying a close relationship between nature and humankind.

"A Third Body" portrays a relationship between two people characterized by a third body, seemingly the psychic manifestation of their love. " . . .they do / not long / at this moment to be older, or younger, nor born in any other nation or time, or place. . ." show that they are content regardless of titles or location. Noting this relationship is important since "Their breaths together feed someone whom we do / not know." The third body, the manifestation of their love encompasses these feelings the man and woman hold for each other. Since the man and woman's breath comes from within, this third body is made up of all their heartfelt secrets and cares, explaining why they obey it and promise to love that body. The final lines help give a wider sense to this third body, "as they breathe they feed someone we do not know, / someone we know of, whom we have never seen." This gives a sense that everyone has a third body, since it is commonly known, yet that third body retains a sense of individuality, unique to every person's relationship. In a sense Robert Bly proposes that everyone knows and acknowledges the existence of this "third body," this representation of a male - female relationship, but also the fact that it is quite attainable by all.

"Asian Peace Offers Rejected without Publication" and many other poems within Light Around the Body showcase a developing Robert Bly. The themes have changed, with a previous concentration on solitude and the conscious and unconscious being replaced by political poetry expressing personal views toward society's path. His poetry has changed in that it began to include direct references, specifically to Dean Rusk and theologian Teilhard de Chardin. Throughout Silence in the Snowy Fields, Robert Bly was consistent in not including specifics and always promoting his theme through imagery, rather than an embodiment of associations found in specific personas. Light Around the Body showcases these changing facets of Robert Bly's poetry and the beginning of his continued development as a poet.

1981 saw the release of Robert Bly's The Man in the Black Coat Turns where relationships were now taken to the personal level. Victoria Frenkel Harris, in The Incorporative Consciousness of Robert Bly states "The poems of Coat tend to be less visionary, more a record of life in the daily world. . .The public man, for example, is at times viewed in Black Coat as victim rather than villain, as one whose externality has devel

Some common words found in the essay are:
Robert Bly, Rejected Publication, Eating Grass, Milky Envisioning, O'Clock Night, Third Body, Return Solitude, Robert Bly's, Black Coat, Snowy Fields, robert bly, third body, robert bly's, prose poetry, conscious unconscious, snowy fields, silence snowy, silence snowy fields, relationship nature, eating grass, eleven o'clock night, pony eating, pony eating grass, black pony eating, peace offers rejected,
Approximate Word count = 2612
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)