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I have re-read Frost's "The Silken Tent" recently and I have a question about it. For those who don't remember, here it is:
The Silken Tent
She is as in a field of silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To every thing on earth the compass round,
And only by one's going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightlest bondage made aware.
Robert Frost
I believe that most readers, as I do, feel the poem is about the ease of love at its peak, its lightness of being, its looseness of structure when all is right. But what do we make of "the slightest bondage made aware" ??? Why a reference to bondage at all? Is this a hint that Frost plants to remind us of the addictiveness of love, the little clues of darkness when things start to go badly, its confines when all doesn't go well? Any thoughts about this?
The Silken Tent
She is as in a field of silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To every thing on earth the compass round,
And only by one's going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightlest bondage made aware.
Robert Frost
I believe that most readers, as I do, feel the poem is about the ease of love at its peak, its lightness of being, its looseness of structure when all is right. But what do we make of "the slightest bondage made aware" ??? Why a reference to bondage at all? Is this a hint that Frost plants to remind us of the addictiveness of love, the little clues of darkness when things start to go badly, its confines when all doesn't go well? Any thoughts about this?
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