Mystery in Words

1. One of my favorite poems that we have read this semester is When We Two Parted by Lord Byron. I really enjoyed reading the love poems this semester, but this one stood out to me the most. It is full of emotions that are just brought to the surface by reading his words. The speaker of this poem lost a loved one and is expressing how they feel about the situation. The third line that says “Half broken-hearted” could mean a lot of different things. I think it could mean that he knew that their love was coming to an end which left him half broken-hearted. It could also mean that the break was one sided, leaving him broken-hearted. The fifth line says, “Pale grew thy cheek and cold,” this line suggests that his lover has passed away, although it is never stated. Maybe he is saying that her cheek has grown cold because she is no longer there or because she does not love him anymore. In the forth stanza the first line says, “In secret we met” which to me suggests that his lover was a secret lover that no one knew he had. Maybe this is why he was left half-broken hearted because he knew in the end that it would not work out. The end of the poem goes on to talk about what he would do if they ever met again. The speaker says that he would greet their lover “With silence and tears.” To me this is saying that the situation is too hard for him to handle and he cannot face seeing his lover again. This poem is very easy for me to relate to because I know how it feels to lose someone close to me and have a broken heart. I love the words that he uses in this poem because it brings out so much emotion. I also love the mystery in the poem. He never comes out to say what really happened or who his lover was that he lost, but by not knowing any of that it is much easier to relate to.

I already wrote this so why not post it.

2. Ted Hughes’ account of what happened in the Garden of Eden, Theology, is nothing like what happened in Genesis. In the biblical version, Eve ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because the serpent convinced her to do so by promising her that she would become more like God. Eve listens to the serpent and eats the apple then shares it with Adam. In Hughes’ poem he tells the story completely different. He says that the serpent did not seduce Eve to eat the apple. In fact, Adam is the one who ate the apple. Then, Eve ate Adam. Lastly, the serpent ate Eve. After doing so the serpent goes back to sleep in the garden; also known as Paradise. This is the “dark intestine.” I think that Hughes uses that term to say that the truth is the people would have eaten the apple even if the serpent would not have seduced them to do so because that is just how humans are made. I think he created the poem so drastically different than the biblical story to make that point. Also, to show that the serpent will take advantage of any situation like that, thinking that he has tricked God in some way and that God does not know what is really going on. The end of the poem is a lot like the end of the story in Genesis. God is calling out for Adam and Eve to ask them what they had done and the serpent is laughing to himself.