Meaning of this poem?

[travispickle]

Hello all,

I need to figure out how to do a formalist analysis of this poem or I will be boiled in oil! I'm looking for things like meaning, tone, theme, symbols, etc. Please help...

WHILE yet we wait for spring, and from the dry
And blackening east that so embitters March,
Well-housed must watch grey fields and meadows parch,
And driven dust and withering snowflake fly;
Already in glimpses of the tarnish'd sky
The sun is warm and beckons to the larch,
And where the covert hazels interarch
Their tassell'd twigs, fair beds of primrose lie. Beneath the crisp and wintry carpet hid
A million buds but stay their blossoming;
And trustful birds have built their nests amid
The shuddering boughs, and only wait to sing
Till one soft shower from the south shall bid,
And hither tempt the pilgrim steps of spring.


Robert Bridges

[poetinahat]

Er, are you asking people to do an assignment for you?

[CACTUSWENDY]

Welcome to AW. Hope you enjoy your stay with us.

How do you like your popcorn?

I agree with Poetinahat......lol.

What does it say to you?

[Medievalist]

Er, are you asking people to do an assignment for you?

Pretty much, yep.

Here's a little help (http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/english10a/explicate.html).

[Feiss]

I think it's a portrait of post USSR Russia, the struggles of an embittered March, the dearth of a Russian Spring. The "well-housed" Kremlin and KGB must wait for the snow to melt, then they will overtake the East and a new revolution shall happen. Even the author's name is significant "bridges", the bridge between the past and future mother Russia

[Priene]

I think it's a portrait of post USSR Russia, the struggles of an embittered March, the dearth of a Russian Spring. The "well-housed" Kremlin and KGB must wait for the snow to melt, then they will overtake the East and a new revolution shall happen. Even the author's name is significant "bridges", the bridge between the past and future mother Russia

I've always seen it as an examination of a Mycenaean warrior's shame at having survived his king's death. In this interpretation spring is Troy, the tarnish'd sky is Helen's boudoir and the shuddering boughs are Odysseus's embarrassment at finding Circe has stolen his underwear.

[poetinahat]

I think it might be about last-semester midterms when Senioritis is setting in.

[P.H.Delarran]

it's obviously about pickles.

[dgrintalis]

You all have it wrong. Come now, it's obvious. It's about recovering from a hangover.

[ddgryphon]

it's obviously about pickles.


Or cigars. It's almost always about pickles or cigars--except when it's about trains and tunnels.

[Poetoffire]

I'm pretty sure the deepest analysis of this poem is that "the dry" is grade reports, "embittered March" stands for an angry student, "blackening east" is what happens when the student is caught cheating by asking for help on a writing forum. "Convert hazels interarch" stands for all the people who are not duped by the posting on a poetry board and refuse to help you.

[Medievalist]

"Convert hazels interarch" stands for all the people who are not duped by the posting on a poetry board and refuse to help you.

Hey! I offered useful practical advice!

[Feiss]

I've always seen it as an examination of a Mycenaean warrior's shame at having survived his king's death. In this interpretation spring is Troy, the tarnish'd sky is Helen's boudoir and the shuddering boughs are Odysseus's embarrassment at finding Circe has stolen his underwear.


You're insane, totally insane, nothing by Robert Bridges has been seen as a warrior's shame since 1997. PLEASE update your historical interpretations of nature poetry. PLEASE. Any community college course will do. For God's sake, you've totally ignored the heart wrenching symbolism of "trustful birds", and what about the significance of "pilgrim steps" relating to the hesitant steps that post Cold War USSR has taken toward capitalism and the "temptation" and ultimate downfall the steps represent!!!???

[Feiss]

it's obviously about pickles.

Good lord, anything is about pickles at some point. The pickle of a struggling people, the vineagar broth of a country they're left with, the population trodden and bobbing atop the bureaucracy like warty cucumbers.

[Joycecwilliams]

It is about sexual awakening..

[Wayne K]

it's obviously about pickles.
with whiskey breath.

[kdnxdr]

Travis just might be in a pickle.

[Medievalist]

Travis just might be in a pickle.

Travis?

Travis Tea the famous author of the brilliant theoretical novel Atlanta Nights?

ZOMG I'm so excited!

[scarletpeaches]

Lisa just said "ZOMG."

I shall now kill myself.

[Medievalist]

Lisa just said "ZOMG."

I shall now kill myself.

Oh dear. Shall I edit?

[scarletpeaches]

Nah, I've decided not to kill myself. It's more fun living, and laughing at you turning girly.

I bet you twirled your hair round one finger before posting that.