Amy Lowell

Of all the poetry I skimmed through this week, I really enjoyed Amy Lowell's. She has an amazing way of weaving her words in a cohesive, yet coded manner, making her poems some of the most enjoyable that I've experienced. Many of her poems caught my eye - but I thought I'd just share a few of them here and then delve into the meaning - whether it be right or wrong - of how I interpreted them.

We already discussed "The Letter" in class, but it truly was one of them that stuck out for me.

THE LETTER

Little cramped words scrawling all over the paper

Like draggled fly's legs,

What can you tell of the flaring moon

Through the oak leaves?

Or of my uncertain window and the bare floor

Spattered with moonlight?

Your silly quirks and twists have nothing in them

Of blossoming hawthorns,

And this paper is dull, crisp, smooth, virgin of loveliness

Beneath my hand.

I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against

The want of you;

Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,

And posting it.

And I scald alone, here, under the fire

Of the great moon.

Just like Heather, I initially thought that since Amy Lowell transcribed the poem, then she was the one feeling the way the lover in the poem feels. But it is very likely that Lowell is taking on a man's character and the poem would sound just as legitimate. I love how intimate the poem is. I know I've felt this way, and plenty of girls and guys feel the insecurity of having someone they love who isn't quite reciprocating the way that they would have hoped as well. Lowell writes, "I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against the want of you; of squeezing it into little inkdrops, and posting it." In my depictions of the scene, I see her telling the man she loves that she's tired of writing him love notes when he either is not returning her love or she hasn't seen him in a long while. I think she's telling him that she misses him and wants to see him or she's become exhausted with their situation of no reciprocation. Either interpretation still rings true for me, I've been there - done that.

Another one of my favorite poems of Amy Lowell's is "Grotesque." This seems like such a deep poem that far expands the surface meaning of plucking a lily to wear in your hair. It encapsulates the essence of life, death, choices, fear, anguish, just emotions in general.

GROTESQUE

Why do the lilies goggle their tongues at me

When I pluck them;

And writhe and twist,

And strangle themselves against my fingers,

So that I can hardly weave the garland

For your hair?

Why do they shriek your name

And spit at me

When I would cluster them?

Must I kill them

To make them lie still,

And send you a wreath of lolling corpses

To turn putrid and soft

On your forehead

While you dance?

My thought about this poem is that it is either describing the inevitability of death or the obstinance of good. Lowell asks why the lily writhes and twists and strangles themselves against her fingers which may symbolize how people fight against the idea of death. They may abhor the idea and try and do anything in their power to avoid it. It is also interesting to note that the lily is a flower that symbolizes death. In the thought of the latter possibility of the obstinance of good, I thought that Lowell may be saying that we, as human beings, at times push away the good things in our lives. I also have experience in this - sometimes the clouds of misery follow overhead and there doesn't seem to be any alternative in making life better.

I also enjoyed Venus Transiens and just wanted to include Boticelli's depiction of the Venus.