Life is a Work in Progress

To me, this title "In Progress" is something that anyone can relate to. The first two lines of the poem say, "Ten years ago it seemed impossible that she should ever grow so calm as this", I can relate to this, just as I'm sure most people can, because anyone who looks back ten years can see how they have changed over time. Life itself is a work in process, everyone grows, everyone changes, and everyone has to adapt to the different situations around them. The woman in the poem is "in progress" because she has changed through her life also, she has grown more calm as she gets older. The speaker expresses the fact that she would like to see "Her head shoot forth seven stars from where they lurk and her eyes lightnings and her shoulders wings". I interpreted this as one day they would like to see the woman actually have great emotions about something, since she is so "Mindful of drudging daily common things, patient at pastime, patient at her work". It's as if the woman has lost all of her spark as she has gotten older, she is just quiet and nonchalant about everything. I feel that this is the way a lot of people are in reality. There are many people I know that were pretty wild when they were younger but as they grew older they started to settle down.