Vita Sackville-West: Poetry

Vita Sackville-West: Poetry Analysis

“Moonlight”

Moonlight conveys hopefulness in the opaque night: “What time the meanest brick and stone/Take on a beauty not their own,/And past the flaw of builded wood/Shines the intention whole and good,/And all the little homes of man/Rise to a dimmer, nobler span;/When colour's absence gives escape/To the deeper spirit of the shape.” The dearth of the glistening moonlight would warranty that the night would be despondently disconsolate. Inasmuch as the moonlight is not as dazzling as sunlight, it attends the purpose of illuminating the night before it paves way for sunlight. Accordingly, the moonlight should not be underestimated for its comparative shadowiness.

“Days I enjoy”

“Days I enjoy” underscores the materiality of private space. The speaker asserts, “Days I enjoy are days when nothing happens,/When I have no engagements written on my block,/
When no one comes to disturb my inward peace,/When no one comes to take me away from myself/And turn me into a patchwork, a jig-saw puzzle,/A broken mirror that once gave a whole reflection.” The rendering of the speaker’s preferred days deduces that the speaker is introverted ; hence, does not appreciate outsiders who intruder into his/ her individual space. The speaker has a predisposition for seclusion for “The years are too strickly measured, and life too short/For me to afford such bits of myself to my friends./And what have I to give my friends in the last resort?” The reclusive speaker holds that being with friends often is analogous to the unnecessary depletion of one’s treasurable, irredeemable time; hence, it is not a valuable commitment.


"Evening"

Vita Sackville-West matches the evening to tranquil old age: “--Then, and then only, have I thought how sweet/Old age might sink upon a windy youth, /Quiet beneath the riding-light of truth,/Weathered through storms, and gracious in retreat.” The evening is unobtrusive allowing the old individual to take a break from the tumultuous youth that is comparable to the robust winds. The storms allude to the complications that are all-pervading during childhood and youth. Once the obstacles are overwhelmed, one moves to the soporific evening that the old age signifies. The storms during the old age are not as worrisome as those of the youth. The old age bestows elderly individuals a departure from the turbulent weather.

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