Apology for Impatience for Gloria.
On first reading, this poem seems quite incomprehensible. Out of context, the poem appears to be about love and relationships.
“Apology for Impatience” was written in 1963 (wife dead?) and it was written for Gloria, his wife. Dawe rarely uses a first person persona and it is through his use of the first person persona and the fact that it was written for his wife, that leads me to believe that Dawe was not just making a comment on love, but on his love for Gloria.
Dawe, when asked “What good, finally, does publishing, ‘going public’, do?” replied “…If we are lonely then it will help us recognize that we are not alone in our loneliness. If we are hopeful, or angry, or loving, or sad, then it will help us see these as universal experiences that proclaim us human…” It is through the context of the relationship Dawe had with Gloria, and this quote that transformed my understanding of his poem “Apology for Impatience”. Transforming from that of a poem about a relationship, to a poem intended as a farewell (or preventing a farewell) and an expression of the inexpressible lost love.
The poem is free verse. Dawe uses the flow of the stanza’s to reflect the recurrent image of growth; this image is reinforced by the metaphors of plants and nature used in the poem. The stanzas seem to be heading nowhere, but they are always moving forward. This reflects the growth of the persona’s character and the growth of the love throughout the poem.
“Beans, beans are climbing,” climbing is a metaphor for his love and for the development of his character. Incomplete, not having reached their full potential but ever “growing”.
“Lying hunched in darkness” represents the lack of direction and loss of hope, it is a critical point in the relationship, he is fearful of an end to the relationship. It shows how lonely he is in this time of uncertainty. Dawe may be reflecting on his past, or he may visualize the future as bleak should the relationship take a turn for the worse.
Nature’s “blossoming” and “sprouting” reinforces love throughout the poem. The beauty of nature is a reflection on his marriage to Gloria and the beauty she has held throughout her lifetime. “Even waking” suggests the eternal nature of her beauty and his love for her.
Each stanza is composed of words that present a logical flow of growth through the entire poem. The words in the poem do not rhyme and the lines are different lengths.
The Desert at Hand, the first poem she read to us, although by far the one which moved me the most, seemed very confusing at first. She opens "Love is also fragment: the cheek of the moon's fat-boy face giving itself up to be kissed, the ingredient phrase, I can't live without you, the sum of the few words that truly invent themselves - You are." At first, the impression of the poem's direction and attitude seemed positive, inspiring the thought that love really is self-sufficient despite it's fragility. Even the title The Desert at Hand seems to imply a biblical simile, that love is a test which can both test and strengthen you, just as Jesus' 40 days in the desert was a time of great temptation and redemption for him.
The speaker is supposed to be writing a love poem to his wife, but the unmistakable criticism he places on her makes one wonder if this is really love he speaks of. It may not be a "traditional" love story, but he does not need to degrade his wife in this manner. Reading through this poem the first time made us feel defensive and almost angry at the speaker for criticizing his wife so badly. Although it is flattering to be the subject of a poem, we do not think many women would like to be written about in this way.
I would not say this is a love poem, as the narrator never once says
This poem helps us to recognize and appreciate beauty through its dream sequence and symbolism. The poem opens with the Dreamer describing this
The poem “Risa del monte, de las aves lira” starts off with a praise of nature’s beauty: “Risa del monte, de las aves lira, pompa del prado, espejo de la aurora, alma de abril, espíritu de Flora por quien la rosa y el jazmín respira; aunque tu curso, en cuantos pasos gira, perlas vierte, esmeraldas atesora, tu claro proceder más me enamora que cuanto en ti naturaleza admira (Villamediana).” Here, Villamediana gives nature human qualities. The mountains laugh, the birds sing, the meadow has pomp, the seasons have a soul, and the flowers breathe. In this poem, nature is seen as a living, breathing part of our world,
The theme throughout the poetry collection is the emotion of melancholy and the speaker speaking with a wise and philosophical tone. She has also used the repetition of nature and religion-based implications in her poems. Most of the poem titles is named after a specific plant because it fits in the meaning of her entire poem collection. The title of the poems hold symbolism because of the flower language. You can constantly see the cycle of rebirth through the beautiful description of a nonphysical form of a soul and develop into beautiful flowers in her garden. The vivid imagery of the flowers by describing the color and the personification of these living beings. She is also trying to explore the relationship between humans and their god. The poet is a gardener who tends to the flower and she prefer the flowers in her garden over her god, “knowing nothing of the
Line two and three are “more than spring’s promised blessing; on new beginnings hanging”. Using the word hanging demonstrates how the promises of spring, and more importantly love, are very fragile gifts that can easily fall off the tree, that is their life, and disappear from a person forever. If lovers want their love to last they should not shake the tree, or test their love, but simply let it be. Hanging also creates a very ugly image with almost anyone, whether they think of people being hanged or meat hanging in a freezer like in Rocky, very few people can get a pos...
He is simply mocking this idea that people hold about love, that this man can actually fall in love with this woman after three days, and only keep loving her if things don’t change at all. He is trying to say that yes, you love someone as they are but if things change, your feeling shouldn’t change either. There is no shift in the tone of the poem, the tone of mockery, and humor, stays within in the play along with the idea of this man only finding interest in this woman for her beauty and nothing more(“Had it any been but she And that very face, There had been at least ere this A dozen dozen in her place” (stanza
This poem does contain a certain amount of poetic effect but if you were a listener it wouldn’t be obvious. Nevertheless there is a certain structure which is kept to through the poem.
The poem is basically just about the distinction of imagination and reality. That imagination does exist and it can be just as powerful as reality can be. And it is up to the person how he/she is going to handle the tool of imagination. It's either that one can get swayed by it or one can easily reject it. But nevertheless, reality and imagination co-exist, the present and the same time, the vision. And so, one should never underestimate nor undermine the power of the imagination.
She defines her idea of what is right in a relationship by describing how hard and painful it is for her to stray from that ideal in this instance. As the poem evolves, one can begin to see the author having a conflict with values, while simultaneously expressing which values are hers and which are unnatural to her. She accomplishes this accounting of values by personalizing her position in a somewhat unsettling way throughout the poem.
Wilde begins setting the mood of the text with excessive descriptions of nature, and natural beauty: “The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn” (Wilde 5). While this description hardly sounds like the language of the gothic, the use of nature sets up a contrast to the darker tones which appear later in the text. The nature theme is also present in the descriptions of Dorian Gray, whom at this point in the text has not been corrupted by the influences of Lord Henry Wotton or his search for pleasure and experience. Not only is Gray described as someone who encompasses flower like beauty, he is a representation of a flower himself. As Lord Henry describes, Gray is “some brainless, beautiful creature, who should be always here in winter when [there are] no flowers to look at” (7). Wilde extends this flower allusion with the metaphor of the aging man, and the beauty which dies with age. Like a flower Dorian’s beauty will fade, wither, a...
In the first stanza, the poet seems to be offering a conventional romanticized view of Nature:
This poem is all about Shakespeare writing about his beloved. There is controversy as to whether Shakespeare is addressing this poem to a man or woman - male romances were quite common during the Elizabethan Era.