This is a metaphysical poem and famous for its metaphysical
conceits, which are odd and surprising figures of speech in which one thing is compared to
another thing that is very much unlike it. These metaphysical conceits are of course presented in
the context of the poem, which concerns a dying husband telling his wife to behave with quiet
dignity as they part, just as virtuous and good people die without drama or display. The
metaphysical imagery is used to describe their relationship as a union of souls that are so
united that even death or distance cannot truly part them from each
other.
The most beautiful image that the poem uses is when the
speaker compares their souls to the two "feet" of the the compass, which are of course
united:
Our two souls
therefore, which are one,Though I must go, endure not
yetA breach, but an expansion,
Like
gold to airy thinness beat.
Imagining
their souls as the feet of the compass allows the speaker and his wife to see their separation
not as a "breach" but only as "an expansion" as the two feet of the compass part. Note how this
powerful and poignant image is developed:
And though it in the centre
sit,
Yet when the other far doth
roam,
It leans, and hearkens after
it,
And grows erect, as that comes
home.
This is a beautiful image that
describes the way that, while separate, they still remain connected, as the centre "foot" "leans"
and "hearkens" after the other foot to which it is connected. Thus it is that this poem describes
the connection of a man and wife and their souls after one of them dies, and how, through their
union, they never really "separate."
No comments:
Post a Comment