Dr. Glance says to interpret the poems as we see them, so I'm going to give this a shot. When I read it, it spoke to me as a lovers quarrel that never seems to end. I imagine an argument that went well into the night and finally the couple turns in.
"I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day. What hours, O what black hours we have spent this night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went! and more must, in yet longer light's delay." (778 1-4) The woman has slept so hard from exhaustion that she is sure it has to be the next day. She closes her eyes again and thinks over the painful things that were said. She feels the hurt that penetrated her heart to the point that it seems her heart was an outsider viewing in disbelief at the things it saw. She's dreading the morning, for fear the argument will begin again.
"But where I say hours, I mean years, mean life. And my lament is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent to dearest him that lives alas! away." (5-8) Have you ever been in a relationship that has been so emotionally draining that each fight seems to last for days or years? I don't mean literally, but some words hurt so bad that, long after the fight is over, they still have life. Sometimes the tears you shed are because of your inescapable present, and sometimes they're for the pain of losing the good one that got away.
"Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see the lost are like this, and their scourge to be as I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse." (12-14) This women is saying that the heat from hell looks better than where she's sitting. Often when a relationship goes bad, you look for some glimmer of hope. You keep telling yourself, he or she will "come around". Although it's good to not give up on the ones you love, you may one day have to take off your rose-tinted glasses and move on.
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2 comments:
Sherri,
Fascinating reading and exploration of Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem. The author is male, and so his poems are usually read as having a male speaker--it is interesting that you project a female perspective onto the poem. This poem is also usually read as the author's wrestling with God, but your comments on a relationship are perhaps relevant.
Sherri,
Wow! What a great post! I say that often but mean it! You have a completely different perspective than myself and I gotta say...I don't hate it :) I really enjoyed reading your female's voice as it was being projected into Hopkins. So gooood! Your idea about the arguments...truly the material that good poetry is made of. Thanks for helping me see it in a different light!
-kyle
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