To His Love
He's gone, and all our plans
Are useless indeed.
We'll walk no more on Cotswold
Where the sheep feed
Quietly and take no heed.
His body that was so quick
Is not as you
Knew it, on Severn river
Under the blue
Driving our small boat through.
You would not know him now ...
But still he died
Nobly, so cover him over
With violets of pride
Purple from Severn side.
Cover him, cover him soon!
And with thick-set
Masses of memoried flowers—
Hide that red wet
Thing I must somehow forgetI chose this elegy because it seemed to best fit the three main principles of an elegy. It clearly goes goes through the three phases. You can see the narrator going through grief at the loss of the man, then describe him in romanticized terms, she then follows up with with words to put him to rest. they are more for the purpose of covering him so she can have peace as well as him.
I definitely agree with your analysis of the first three stanzas; the cycle of grief, romanticization, and acceptance is abundantly clear. However, I'm not sure about the last stanza being simply to put the subject of the poem to rest. There seems to be grief in the author's heart still, especially considering the line "hide that red wet thing I must somehow forget." She must somehow move on without this man.
ReplyDeleteThe poem itself in this post is gorgeous and heart-rending, a perfect example of an elegy. As you say in the response, the writing clearly goes through the three phases. The response clearly points out the sections required for an elegy, meeting the requirements; however, I feel like you could probably have given more detail, perhaps about your opinion of how the poem's formation increases/decreases the impact of the story?
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