Winter Song

[spiderpig]

Thoroughly BAD. Not very satisfied, I think my whole train of thought was very stunted. It shows in my essay. But anyway, I'm putting this up because I need to get it printed in school and it's haha, for convinience.

Winter Song – Elizabeth Tolletxml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

 

Elizabeth Tollet’s Winter Song’s primary theme is no doubt centered on love. It is safe to assume that the speaker of the poem is a woman, judging from the overall long vowel sounds used, which renders a fluid, soft and feminine tone to the poem. In addition to that, the poem addresses someone who we presume would be a man (“hunter’s spear”). The poet explores the savagery of man’s love, in a somewhat trite and clichéd way. However, there is a sense of sincerity amidst the contrived manner of the poem.  Even in the title of the poem itself, we can see the idea of someone perhaps pining for her lover as ‘winter’ suggests a despair-filled, lonely and colourless world. To combine it with the word ‘song’, also suggests a lament, a quiet grieving for a love the speaker cannot have but wants. This is further encapsulated by the imagery that shall be discussed further on.

The poet plays around with visual imagery, to convey to us the cold and hard world the speaker is faced with and how the speaker is feeling. The line ‘To regions of eternal snow’ gives us an idea that perhaps her lover’s heart is extremely frigid, cold and hard like winter and also places emphasis on the lengths she would go for him. Adding on to that theme of longing, the next line delivers a poignant image of floods and solid ice, expressing the paradoxical feelings she has. As solid ice does not melt, yet there are floods. She is trapped (‘confined’) by her want for his love, yet she is willing to overcome all these obstacles for him. The northern wind has the reputation of being one of the coldest winds, and this adds further meaning to the ‘winter’ theme of the poem. The wind is powerful enough to strip the forest of all its foliage, probably leaving just the skeletons behind. There is a very drab and dreary visual image, but can lead on to a deeper meaning that even though she has been put through so much suffering, she still remains for him in the ‘wild’ and ‘waste’-like land. The image of the moon and stars give a dream-like quality to the poem, and adds a more hopeful facet in contrast to the bleak images of the first few lines. They give the impression of a forever watchful woman (in this case, the speaker) who looks after her lover. The physical landscape described, like the mountain’s ‘hollow brow’’ and the ‘rocky cells’, perhaps another allusion to her lover’s heart or the savage love she receives from him, is very rugged and again signifies the extent that she would travel and face. ‘Rocky cells’ may also mean the warmth and comfort she feels when he is around her at home. The image of ‘moss’ gives a soft, sensuous feeling, showing us the tenderness she has.

There is also masculine or hunting-associated imagery present in the poem, which gives us further insight to the speaker’s undulated feelings for her lover. The ‘timorous stag’ perhaps refers to the speaker herself being apprehensive about the savage-love of the man, and contributes to the hunting imagery. ‘Fiercer race’ gives us the impression that her lover is an extremely responsible man to want to protect the speaker, yet there is an ambiguity on who or what exactly is this fiercer race. The pun on the word ‘bear’ has both meanings by which her lover protects her, and also plays on the hunting associated image of a real bear. There is a slight phallic implication with the reference to ‘the hunter’s spear’, which further suggests the savagery of her lover. In addition to that, the ‘rural feast’ although it might refer to the simple meal that the speaker prepares faithfully for her lover, it can also have sexual connotations by which she submits herself to her lover (evidence from ‘bed’, ‘savage spoils about thee spread’). The reference to ‘palaces’ might insinuate an image of the speaker’s body that is for her lover. The emphasis on all these masculine imagery suggests that the speaker does not mind suffering or being subjugated by her lover.

Structure also plays a very important part in Tollet’s conveyance of her theme of love. The general tone is one of a slight lament, however there are flashes of irritation and exasperation in the beginning of the poem.

Most significantly would be the dramatic monologue which has a very balanced iambic rhythm of 8 and 9 syllable lines. This gives the impression that the speaker is objective, serious and had put a lot of consideration into her speech. The lines flow smoothly with the assistance of rhyming couplets. The first pair of rhyme (‘prove’ and ‘love’), because of the visual impact; imply a sense of discordance and disruption which goes hand-in-hand with the theme of longing. The half-rhyme present in the poem is a sign of irritation, perhaps signifying that the speaker is slightly exasperated that her lover does not believe that she loves him as much as he does. The repetition of ‘I would’ also gives a sense of slight irritation as she declares the strength of her love for him.

The sentence structure of the poem is quite archaic and sometimes convoluted, and with the line ‘With thee I would in exile go’, the artificial insertion of ‘with thee’ shows us that the speaker puts her lover before her. The tone here is of slight irritation and exasperation, as from the slow emphatic rhythm of the vowel sounds. There is a lovely parallel in line 11 and 12 where ‘thy arms’ evolve into ‘thy hand’. The association gives a sense of closeness, of security.

The constant usage of ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my, immediately tells us that the speaker is trying to show her lover how much she loves him in a sort of pleading, insistent way. She is trying to prove that she loves him no less than he loves her. It might even have a slight implication that the speaker perhaps is possessive and self-centered.

Dichotomy is also plays a crucial role in Tollet’s poem. ‘Ask’ shows us that it is a request. The fact that the speaker places ‘truth’ before ‘love’ and wants to prove it, shows that she is trying to give a certainty to her love. The strength of the word ‘suffer’ also emphasizes her love for him. ‘All around my eyes I cast’ shows us the vast land she watches over for him, and gives a visual image of a woman squinting from a mountain top, looking for her man. ‘Chase’ and ‘race’ give a very action-filled, fast and quick effect to the poem, showing the masculinity of the man. The perhaps dormant savagery of man is implied through the word ‘rouse’, and its further implied that it is terrifying as the speaker claims that she is ‘undaunted’ by his fierce-ness. The ‘low sun’ despite having a slight despairing tone, has a touch of sanity, hope and clarity with its reference to ‘light’, thus implying that the love for her man withdraws all her sanity and clarity. It is a spontaneous, wild love for him. Yet it is contrasted with the ‘menacing’ despair, madness and feeling of unknown in a ‘half-year’s night’. The time is neither long nor short, and gives us the feeling that the speaker is very exasperated that her love has to always wander in order to reach him beneath the mountains. ‘Below’ implies that her lover does not show his affection openly or easily. ‘Dress’ has a slight insinuation of it being like a wound or injury, and shows the tenderness of the speaker.

Ultimately, it is about the role-reversal, the individual roles of man and woman and how important both are. This is ideally summed up in the last two lines. Whilst the man protects the woman from savage beasts and provides her with security and comfort, the woman can also do the same. She watches over him throughout the night, which further emphasizes her immense love for him to want to protect him as he protects her.

Despite the clichéd, over-exaggeration of the speaker regarding her love, it is somewhat sentimental and touching as one can clearly see that she does truly want her lover to accept her and acknowledge her. Tollet very aptly executes this intention through the clever use of imagery and various literary techniques, and implies little nuances through tone and rhythm.

I do feel a sort of pining-feeling now. Stupid poem. I'm not supposed to go drifting off to that horrible place now.

'coz here in my mind, you will stay here always.