Poetry Blog

The Death of a Soldier
by Wallace Stevens, on page 334 poem #281

            This poem is short and concise, and its simplicity helps define the inevitability of the poem. It is about the death of a solider, but it does not lament or grieve over the death but simply states the finality of it. Wallace compares his death to fall with the repetition of the line "As in a season of autumn". The soldier falls in  autumn like leaves falling which is a nature image and shows that the death is slow, gradual, and trivial. By repeating this line, the comparison is emphasized. There is no fanfare in death, as Wallace shows in the line "Death is absolute and without memorial". When a soldier dies, it is concrete and cannot change, and the world does nothing to acknowledge it.

          The metaphor in the last two stanzas also creates the insignificance of the soldier's death. The death is compared to the stopping of the wind, yet the clouds keep moving regardless. This is showing how the war and life move on after one death, for it does not stop them. Wallace includes the line about clouds continuing "over the heavens" despite the wind being stopped. This could be a reference to religion and about how life continues on indifferent to human's ideas of death and the afterlife.  All of these techniques demonstrate the paltriness and inevitability of death.

        This poem is one that I like very much. The brevity and directness of this poem make it easy to read and comprehend. Yet beneath the four brief stanzas is a deep complexity about death and life. While I do not have any personal experience with the death of a soldier or war, I, like every other human being, know death and wonder about it. I like the way this poem deals with it. It poses no religious beliefs or angsty musings, but is rather simple.

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers
by Adrienne Rich, on page 324 poem #267

     In the poem "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers's", the themes of escape and domesticity are explored. In the first stanza, a lot of lush imagery is used. By stating that the tigers "prance across a screen" it is known that the tigers were sewn or painted. In this exotic image of the tigers, colors such as green and yellow are used to describe the jungle. These are exciting colors of life and happiness. The tigers "do not fear the men beneath the tree" and are certain in themselves. These free and dominant spirits are an escape for Aunt Jennifer. Because it is mentioned that they do not fear men, it can be inferred that Aunt Jennifer dreams she lives in a fantasy in which she has no fear of men and is allowed to do as she wishes.

      Later in the second stanza, after the rich fantasy, Aunt Jennifer is revealed to be restrained. By using an image of "fingers fluttering" that struggle to pull a small needle, it is shown that she is afraid and nervous. The shaking and weakness of hands and fingers are a sign of anxiety. Then there is the symbol of her wedding ring. The ring is described as heavy and massive, that weighs upon her. Of course the ring is not actually heavy, but it is a symbol for the burden of Aunt Jennifer's marriage with her husband. Clearly this marriage is one that restricts and scares her, so sewing majestic tigers is an escape from this restraint. The symbol is repeated in the third stanza when the Aunt is dead, "her terrified lands will lie/ Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by". Because it is her hands that were mastered, it is evident that this is a reference to the symbol of the wedding ring and all it represents. Jennifer was "mastered by" this ordeal that rings her fingers, so it was her terrible marriage that lead to her death. The poem ends on the note that her tigers will still be free, the fantasy she created to escape will still exist on the things she sewed.

       When I first read this poem, I really like it, and that feeling continued as I looked deeper at it. For one, there is the theme of the burdens of a stifling marriage, which deals with feminism. That is something I enjoy reading and discussing about. The end rhyme makes the poem pleasant to read, and the lush imagery is exciting. However, I took a double take in the second stanza with the introduction of the marriage and her nervousness. I like how the poem is haunting yet beautifully descriptive, and really emphasizes the theme of unhappy marriages and escape.