11-15-2013, 07:36 AM
Hello Christopher,
Thank you for your reading and your questions. For me, the connection between the voice in the poem and its supposed addressee relates precisely to the tension between concealment and revelation. Thus, though the speaker, asking the other to remove a barrier, tries to see him clearly, there is still a fog between them. Then there is a gift, almost, an attempt to reach through to the other through an act which seems to the limit, or edge, of understanding. Yet this seems to be characterized only in negative terms, through what we cannot sufficiently see. Hence, the concluding image of a prism, where these fragments of light and meaning spiral without forming a central image. It is thus mirror like, without being a mirror; reflecting, but also obscuring whatever the connection is between the speaker and the other. Yet I agree with your implication that the third sentence needs a more concrete subject. I had earlier experimented with the image of a window. Do you think this would help? Also, perhaps the first dash would be more effective as a semicolon?
Thank you for your reading and your questions. For me, the connection between the voice in the poem and its supposed addressee relates precisely to the tension between concealment and revelation. Thus, though the speaker, asking the other to remove a barrier, tries to see him clearly, there is still a fog between them. Then there is a gift, almost, an attempt to reach through to the other through an act which seems to the limit, or edge, of understanding. Yet this seems to be characterized only in negative terms, through what we cannot sufficiently see. Hence, the concluding image of a prism, where these fragments of light and meaning spiral without forming a central image. It is thus mirror like, without being a mirror; reflecting, but also obscuring whatever the connection is between the speaker and the other. Yet I agree with your implication that the third sentence needs a more concrete subject. I had earlier experimented with the image of a window. Do you think this would help? Also, perhaps the first dash would be more effective as a semicolon?