06-02-2014, 03:54 AM
Right now I'm looking at version 1.75; I've glanced at the previous iterations but don't have a whole lot to say that hasn't already been covered by other posters.
I wonder about the relationship in this poem, the one between the speaker and the person being addressed. Is that a relationship we should be able to name: mother, lover, friend? Or is it the feeling of the relationship that's the most important, the one of timelessness, of welcoming through the gloom?
I'm also wondering about how impersonal some of the images and metaphors in the poem feel -- maybe not impersonal, but disconnected from either particular person in the poem. It seems to me like "these golden years", "the flames of love", "the heart", "the wide-eyed soul" could all belong either to the speaker, the person being addressed, or both. Did you intent for these images/metaphors to do double duty, to potentially describe both people? Or should they be more connected to one or the other? Actually, I have another question: when I first read the poem I figured these things - flames of love, heart, etc. - had to belong to the speaker or the addressed, but now I'm wondering if these are meant to be general, humanity-wide descriptions. Is "your hearth" supposed to be cheerful and welcoming to everybody, or just to the speaker, who has a special connection with it?
I'm asking because I think the current effect is interesting, but a little bit distancing. And because I'm wondering if I'm reading the poem wrong, and if other readers might get confused by this distance.
I wonder about the relationship in this poem, the one between the speaker and the person being addressed. Is that a relationship we should be able to name: mother, lover, friend? Or is it the feeling of the relationship that's the most important, the one of timelessness, of welcoming through the gloom?
I'm also wondering about how impersonal some of the images and metaphors in the poem feel -- maybe not impersonal, but disconnected from either particular person in the poem. It seems to me like "these golden years", "the flames of love", "the heart", "the wide-eyed soul" could all belong either to the speaker, the person being addressed, or both. Did you intent for these images/metaphors to do double duty, to potentially describe both people? Or should they be more connected to one or the other? Actually, I have another question: when I first read the poem I figured these things - flames of love, heart, etc. - had to belong to the speaker or the addressed, but now I'm wondering if these are meant to be general, humanity-wide descriptions. Is "your hearth" supposed to be cheerful and welcoming to everybody, or just to the speaker, who has a special connection with it?
I'm asking because I think the current effect is interesting, but a little bit distancing. And because I'm wondering if I'm reading the poem wrong, and if other readers might get confused by this distance.