Analysis of Arthur Clarke
A poem that begins with ellipsis' and continues with a volta at each new stanza, a poem that in the second line verbs (unworlding), easily holds the interest, if not grabbing it by the throat. Austin Clarke, creates such vivid atmosphere, and gives intense shifts in action -- from an orphaned boy, to burial alive, to wet dreams and a leather wall -- their own space. Abrupt change from the previous perspectives, the cadence of the action, and positioning of narrator and reader, serve to create Clarke's series of states -- realities, dreams, or fiction. An 'inward-outness' quality effects many aspects of the poem, at times it almost seems like a chain of
The door is flung open and blankets thrown in from outside -- symbols of comfort and protection. And air was catchcry in the stillness. " It is as if the narrator has evaluated the situation and, a padded cell being much more reasonable a thing than burial alive (yet what is a coffin but a padded cell), he is calm with the stillness and pervasive dark. But does he ever actually begin?" -Rainer Marie Rilke, online Duino ElegiesWhat does he do with the blankets? He filthies them, then wraps himself in his squalor childishly fearing dire punnishment. " However, the mood of stanza four is calm and not as marred with such jolting punctuation. Succeeding, he throws off their weight and settles in the bower of your heart. ' The blankets disrupt the peaceful tranquility of stanza four, but offer warmth and herald Margaret, "his pale protectress," who shields him from the inner terror written long ago by another poet;"It is true you startled his heart but terrors more ancient rocked him, awakened by your touch. Call as you will, you cannot free him from those dark companions,though he himself desires escape . The final line of the poem is serenely ambiguous. The fact that they "mock the cringer on the floor," expresses a deep division between the 'cringer' and the 'jailer. Discovering the seed of himself within you, he begins to manifest his individual being.
Common topics in this essay:
Austin Clarke,
Duino Elegies,
,
Marie Rilke,
padded cell,
burial alive,
catchcry stillness,
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