02-17-2016, 06:49 AM
In need of punctuation for clarity. Starting every line with a capital letter makes the piece harder to read (see note below on typesetting).
The first stanza appears seems to be a description of a group of people, as "knots" and "lapels" are plural, indicating a group of men dressed in similar fashion. Upper crust, possibly, as the " gold fingertips" may be meant figuratively. So a men's group or club of some sort.
S2 An individual " he drinks"
" he drinks coppers tonight" idiomatic (British), I assume it means cheap as contrasted to the "gold fingertips"
What the following means, or why it is in this poem completely bypasses me.
"The other covered with scars, cut by the wind
Aged leather and missing drawstrings"
However, "Aged leather" is singular, whereas "drawstrings" is plural. One generally talks of a drawstring as there tends to be one per object, not multiple ones.
S3 One could infer that the individual who is a member of the group has fallen on hard times " he drinks coppers tonight" and so when he
"He reaches out"
for money, for morale support, et al.
he is "met by contempt."
About what one would expect from a bunch of snobs. Or maybe the man's an alcoholic and they have given him many chances and he has blown them all away, and so they are no longer will to help this former friend. Yet nothing is clear, and the end brings only confusion to this reader as well as to most of the other reviewers.
Best,
dale
*typesetting
As a service to your reader(s), please do not cap the start of every line. That was originally a necessity related to typesetting. Capping the lines in print went out in the 1950's, primarily because it was no longer a need in typesetting, and it was less confusing to the reader. Most people coming up through the school system tend to read poetry either in text books or in anthologies. The compilers of these texts prefer not to use copyrighted material, which leaves more of the older material that is typeset in the old way, giving the impression that is how it should be done which is an unfortunate misapprehension.
The first stanza appears seems to be a description of a group of people, as "knots" and "lapels" are plural, indicating a group of men dressed in similar fashion. Upper crust, possibly, as the " gold fingertips" may be meant figuratively. So a men's group or club of some sort.
S2 An individual " he drinks"
" he drinks coppers tonight" idiomatic (British), I assume it means cheap as contrasted to the "gold fingertips"
What the following means, or why it is in this poem completely bypasses me.
"The other covered with scars, cut by the wind
Aged leather and missing drawstrings"
However, "Aged leather" is singular, whereas "drawstrings" is plural. One generally talks of a drawstring as there tends to be one per object, not multiple ones.
S3 One could infer that the individual who is a member of the group has fallen on hard times " he drinks coppers tonight" and so when he
"He reaches out"
for money, for morale support, et al.
he is "met by contempt."
About what one would expect from a bunch of snobs. Or maybe the man's an alcoholic and they have given him many chances and he has blown them all away, and so they are no longer will to help this former friend. Yet nothing is clear, and the end brings only confusion to this reader as well as to most of the other reviewers.
Best,
dale
*typesetting
As a service to your reader(s), please do not cap the start of every line. That was originally a necessity related to typesetting. Capping the lines in print went out in the 1950's, primarily because it was no longer a need in typesetting, and it was less confusing to the reader. Most people coming up through the school system tend to read poetry either in text books or in anthologies. The compilers of these texts prefer not to use copyrighted material, which leaves more of the older material that is typeset in the old way, giving the impression that is how it should be done which is an unfortunate misapprehension.
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.