Subject: Re: Winter Solstice
From: Robert G Eckert (robertgeraldeckert@JUNO.COM)
Date: Thu Dec 23 1999 - 09:51:32 EST
Yes, there is weariness in the last stanza.What comes to mind is that
life is suffering. Everybody struggles. The narrator does not easily
resume his journey after his time of contemplation. But there is no
choice. There is the seductive idea of being exclusively connected to
nature, but we have promises to keep that involve our connections to our
fellow humans. The repeated last line gives the feeling of endurance,
even if a tired endurance. Maybe the value of the poem is that it helps
us endure. There is never any question about the narrator's enduring.
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From: David Alan Beck <dabeck@IUPUI.EDU>
To: PERCY-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU
Subject: Re: Winter Solstice
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 21:37:40 -0500
One of my favorite poems. I keep this poem in my wallet, and what an
appropriate time to share this wonderful poem. I agree with your
interpretation, but what about the sound of weariness in the last stanza?
It sounds as if the narrator has this beautiful experience (forget the
suicide nonsense), but has this sense of weariness at the poem's end. Are
we to understand that our appreciation of natural beauty is always
hindered by the limitations and constraints that are placed upon us by
modern society?
I don't know. I love this poem and teach it every year. But I never feel
that I do it justice. Any comments?
Meanwhile, I'm going to take my six year old son out and see if we can
see
the the beauty of the winter solstice through the midwestern clouds.
Have a blessed holiday!
David Beck
"A man can stand almost anything execpt a succession of ordinary days."
-- Goethe
On Wed, 22 Dec 1999, Robert G Eckert wrote:
> From: robertgeraldeckert
> Subject: Winter Solstice
> Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999
>
>
> Happy solstice.
>
> I don't have a copy in front of me, but I think it goes
>
> "Stopping by a Woods on a Snowy Evening"
>
> Whose woods these are I think I know.
> His house is in the village though:
> He will not see me stopping here
> To watch his woods fill up with snow.
>
> My little horse must think it queer
> To stop without a farmhouse near
> Between the woods and frozen lake
> The darkest evening of the year.
>
> He gives his harness bells a shake
> To ask if there is some mistake.
> The only other sound's the sweep
> Of easy wind and downy flake.
>
> The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
> But I have promises to keep,
> And miles to go before I sleep,
> And miles to go before I sleep.
>
> First stanza-- For some reason, I think that they are his woods. And
> he's there for some time if they are filling up with snow while he
> watches.
>
> Second stanza-- He's out there in nature on this "darkest evening of
the
> year" meditating. Here he may indeed intend the authentic "darkest
> evening"-- the winter solstice.
>
> Third stanza-- I like to think of this as the precise moment of the
> solstice itself. The cycle has just surpassed its darkest point and
> begins to open up to the new solar year.
>
> Fourth stanza-- recognizes the darkness that has just passed and the
> opening up of the a new phase of light and life.
>
>
> Robert Gerald Eckert
> Rochester, New York
> "Understanding and being open to all things,
> Are you able to do nothing?"
> --- Tao Te Ching (10) - Lao Tsu
> --------- End forwarded message ----------
>
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