Wind (Ted Hughes)
This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet
Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.
At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as
The coal-house door. Once I looked up -
Through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes
The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope,
The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace,
At any second to bang and vanish with a flap;
The wind flung a magpie away and a black-
Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly. The house
Rang like some fine green goblet in the note
That any second would shatter it. Now deep
In chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip
Our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought,
Or each other. We watch the fire blazing,
And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on,
Seeing the window tremble to come in,
Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.
Sample Commentary 1 -
In this poem Wind, Ted Hughes describes the effects of a violent storm on the surrounding environment and, more specifically, a house and its inhabitants. The purpose of Hughes’ poem is perhaps to explore the theme of turbulence within in a relationship. He does so with the use of imagery and metaphorical language, particularly the utilization of the house and wind as extended metaphors to symbolize this relationship and this conflict. The careful construction of the stanzas, contrasting enjambment with caesura, allow readings of the poem to subtly mimic the subject matter of the storm and Hughes’ use of poetic devices, such as personification, pathetic fallacy and hyperbole, aid the creation of an unsettled and tumultuous atmosphere, relating to both the literal and figurative meanings of the poem.
Hughes’ use of metaphors and imagery, which are often intertwined in the poem, serve to aid the reader’s understanding of the possible theme of turbulence within a relationship. The title of the poem, Wind, coupled with the first two lines, ‘This house has been far out at sea all night, / The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills’, begin the extended metaphor. The ‘wind’ is a metonymy for a storm, and thus represents the conflict or turmoil, while the ‘house’ is often the symbol of domesticity and marriage, denoting the relationship, perhaps a martial one. The speaker states that the house, or the relationship, ‘has been far out at sea all night’. This image represents the worst or most tense part of the conflict, just as storms are often at their most severe at night and at sea. It is also possible that Hughes uses the peculiarity of this image, a ‘house’ being ‘at sea’, to show the disorder and confusion caused by disputes such as this one. Similarly, this indication of chaos can also be found in the second stanza, in which the speaker notes, ‘then under an orange sky / The hills had new places’. The movement of hills, which are seemingly immoveable entities, exemplifies the extent of the disruption and upheaval caused by the storm, mirroring, thematically, the effects of the conflict on the relationship. Stanza four shows the violence of the storm: ‘The wind flung a magpie away and a black- / Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly’. This could be representative of the physical or emotional violence of an argument, but it could also symbolize how the effects of such a conflict cannot be experienced in isolation and extend to other aspects of one’s life, as the magpie and gull are unrelated to the house specifically, but share location and are still affected by the storm.
Hughes’ construction of the poem subtly echoes the subject matter of the storm, particularly with the use of enjambment and caesura and the lack of a defined metrical pattern or rhyming scheme. ‘At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as / The coal-house door. Once I looked up -’. It is possible that Hughes employs enjambment so frequently throughout the poem to create a sense of continuity and ceaselessness. This mimics the incessant and relentless feeling a storm can have whilst one is experiencing it. The storm only seems to rest when Hughes end-stops the last line of the poem: ‘Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.’ The punctuation used throughout the poem serves a different purpose to that which is used in the last line, as it forms caesura. ‘That any second would shatter it. Now deep / In chairs, in front of the great fire’. The pauses in the middle of lines further aid how the poem’s structure reflects a storm: they force an almost ‘broken’ or ‘choppy’ reading, which resembles the turbulent attributes of such weather. Similarly, Hughes’ use of free verse creates a feeling of irregularity. ‘We watch the fire blazing, / And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on, / Seeing the window tremble to come in’. With no set metrical pattern or rhyming scheme, the poem seems unrestricted, which corresponds with the disorder and volatility of a storm, and thus a conflict.
Hughes’ use of poetic devices, in particular personification, pathetic fallacy and hyperbole, further add to the creation of a tumultuous atmosphere, pertaining both to the literal and figurative interpretations of the poem. The speaker frequently personifies natural entities, such as the wind being described as ‘Flexing like the lens of a mad eye’, ‘The fields quivering’ and ‘stones [crying] out’. This creates an image of the environment in the wake of the storm. The choice of words, ‘quivering’ and ‘[crying]’, show fear and upset, and thus indicate the disruption and destructiveness of the storm, or metaphorically, of the conflict on its environment. Hughes uses pathetic fallacy throughout the poem to create ambiance by personifying aspects of the natural setting to reflect the speaker’s emotions. When describing the storm, Hughes uses language such as, ‘booming hills’, ‘fields quivering’ and the ‘skyline [...] [grimacing]’. If the poem does symbolize the relationship, the sentiments of these verbs are applicable to the speaker during the conflict: the feelings of anger (‘booming’, ‘[grimacing]’) and the intensity of emotion (‘quivering’). In the last stanza, seemingly when the storm has ceased, the speaker notes ‘Hearing the stones cry out’. As per the metaphorical interpretation of the poem, this could signify the speaker’s possible sadness at the tumultuous relationship. Similarly, Hughes uses emphatic language throughout the six stanzas, creating a hyperbolic poem to accentuate the theme to readers. ‘Winds stampeding the fields under the window’, ‘the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes’ and ‘The house / Rang like some fine green goblet in the note / That any second would shatter it’, are examples of such language. This poetic device intensifies the characteristics and effects of the storm, or figuratively the conflict, such as the violence (‘stampeding’, ‘dented the balls of my eyes’) and the fragility (‘That any second would shatter it’), highlighting the tumultuous nature of the poem’s subject.
Ted Hughes’ poem Wind is one laden with effectual literary devices, which coalesce to convey the poignant theme of a turbulent relationship. The extended metaphor of the house and the wind embody the theme, and portray it through a series of symbolic images of the natural setting. The structure of the poem creates a distinct atmosphere mimicking the nature of a storm: the enjambment creates a feeling of ceaselessness and continuity, while the caesura contrasts it to make readings of the poem seem ‘choppy’ and the use of free verse creates a sense of irregularity, mirroring the volatility of a storm. Hughes’ use of personification, pathetic fallacy and hyperbole intensify the emotions of the poem and accentuate the theme of a turbulent relationship to readers. In these ways, among others, Hughes creates a touching poem, as he poetically represents an emotional theme, that many will be familiar with, by the beauty, as well as the cruelty, of a storm.
Aunt Helen (T.S. Eliot)
Miss Helen Slingsby was my maiden aunt,
And lived in a small house near a fashionable square
Cared for by servants to the number of four.
Now when she died there was silence in heaven
And silence at her end of the street.
The shutters were drawn and the undertaker wiped his feet --
He was aware that this sort of thing had occurred before.
The dogs were handsomely provided for,
But shortly afterwards the parrot died too.
The Dresden clock continued ticking on the mantelpiece,
And the footman sat upon the dining-table
Holding the second housemaid on his knees --
Who had always been so careful while her mistress lived.
Sample Commentary 2 -
In the poem Aunt Helen, T.S. Eliot depicts the empty life and meaningless death of his ‘maiden’ aunt. He uses symbolism to highlight her need for luxury and change in atmosphere to convey the collapse of her forced etiquette. The poet describes the effect of her demise on her minimal relations with her servants, neighbours and family alongside her valued pets. He stresses how life continues with the ticking of ‘the Dresden clock’, contrasting her death to the flourishing lives of those around her.
Eliot begins the poem in the first person, introducing ‘Aunt Helen’ as a strict ‘maiden’ through the voice of her nephew. The poet hints that the relatives had an unaffectionate relationship as the aunt’s stern manners required her nephew to call her by the title of ‘Miss Helen Slingsby’. The snobby nature of the lady is further emphasised by the fact that ‘she was cared for by servants to the number of four’, well able to afford a ‘footman’ and more than one housemaids. The formal yet convoluted wording of this quotation from line three could also suggest that the aunt spoke in this posh demeanour giving the impression that the speaker is mocking her way of speaking. This degree of formality in diction continues as the nephew reveals that after the death of his aunt ‘the dogs were handsomely provided for’. It seems that the inheritance went to the canines rather than the family suggesting that ‘Aunt Helen’ was secluded in her ‘small house’ where the only real relationship she had was with her animals, especially her parrot. Her attachment to the parrot was so strong that the bird died ‘shortly’ after her, being perhaps completely dependent on the care of his now deceased owner. The bird could symbolise the aunt’s love for splendour and maybe even material things, as she also owned an extravagant ‘Dresden Clock’, placing significant value on the decor of her interior. There is a satirical aspect to the death of the bird, ridiculing the isolated life of the aunt as parrots ape what they see. Eliot’s use of formal syntax and symbolism characterise ‘Aunt Helen’ as a snobby lady who disregards relations to family and friends for luxury and etiquette.
Aunt Helen’s indifference towards her family and the fellow residents of her street leads to their indifference towards her death. This idea is portrayed by a peaceful atmosphere in the lines four and five, enforced through sibilance and repetition of the word ‘silence’. The ‘silence in heaven’ and ‘at her end of the street’ represents the lack of lamenting for the loss of her life and the fact that no family members were present to greet her in the afterlife. Moreover, as the poem progresses the unfortunate downfall of the aunt’s enforced etiquette is conveyed by Eliot’s use of an irregular rhyming scheme, ABCDEECCFGHGI. This rhyming scheme is analogous to the collapse of order in her home. The woman’s dismissal of the relations between her servants leads to her ignorance of the obvious attraction between the footman and one of the maids ‘who had always been so careful while her mistress lived’. The two engage in an inappropriate sexual act ‘upon the dining-table’ disrespecting their former employer. This image creates an atmosphere of disorder in the house alongside catharsis, something ‘Aunt Helen’ would have surely disapproved of. Eliot gives the impression that the only form of contact the aunt had with her housekeepers was to give them orders, unknowingly suppressing their passion through her strict code of conduct. The image also supports the claim that her death had no effect on her family, neighbours and now even her servants for whom life goes on. Her valuable ‘Dresden Clock’ also continues ‘ticking on the mantlepiece’ symbolising the continuation of life and how even the little luxuries she offered herself are unaffected by her demise. Through the change in atmosphere and the symbolism of the clock, Eliot creates a sense of unfulfillment in the aunt’s life, as if everything she valued was worthless. This leads to a theme of meaninglessness of human life.
Eliot’s theme of the insignificance of human life reverberates throughout the entire poem. Although Aunt Helen had the luxury she desired, she had no family relations or friendships and hence nobody to lament her death, apart from the grief-stricken parrot that ironically also dies. When the undertaker arrives in her house he is ‘aware that this sort of thing’ has ‘occurred before’. Eliot distinguishes this sentence in the poem through the use of caesura in the line before, a pause in the reading of the poem indicating its significance to the theme. The undertaker equates the woman’s cadaver to all the other bodies he has prepared for funeral and her death seems trivial. Life for him goes on as he performs his job, another satirical notion as his profession deals with people whose lives have just ended. Eliot tentatively uses the mortician as a symbol for the fact that when ‘Aunt Helen’ died she left no trace on an emotional and hereditary level. Her death was not grieved by anyone as ‘there was silence at her end of the street’. The dogs do not even understand that they have inherited her money in order to be ‘handsomely provided for’. Their life after her death will be just as luscious as before when she lived. It is therefore evident that Aunt Helen’s existence was meaningless, a theme which Eliot illustrates through the use of symbolism with the undertaker and the image of the canines. His structuring of the poem into five short sentences could be interpreted as several epitaphs for Aunt Helen’s tomb. This not only emphasises her death but also ridicules it as the poem ultimately depicts her hollow life.
Eliot leaves no question as to the fact that ‘Aunt Helen’ was a spinster. Her inability to communicate affectionately alongside her severe yet ostentatious personality left her secluded in the comfort of her home. The woman strove for grandeur, speaking in a highly formal way represented by the complex wording of the poem yet Eliot hints that she never managed to be upper class. The speaker reveals that her house was ‘little’ and it was ‘near a fashionable square’, not in it. Hence, the woman died unfulfilled, having lived an empty life. Eliot juxtaposes her insignificant death to the flourishing of the lives of the undertaker going to work and the servants engrossed in passion as the footman holds ‘the second housemaid upon his knees’. This turns the poem into a satire, gently mocking the life and death of ‘Miss Helen Slingsby’.
Behaviour of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden (Keith Douglas)
As a white stone draws down the fish
she on the seafloor of the afternoon
draws down men's glances and their cruel wish
for love. Slyly her red lip on the spoon
slips-in a morsel of ice-cream; her hands
white as a milky stone, white submarine
fronds, sink with spread fingers, lean
along the table, carmined at the ends.
A cotton magnate, an important fish
with great eyepouches and a golden mouth
through the frail reefs of furniture swims out
and idling, suspended, stays to watch.
A crustacean old man clamped to his chair
sits coldly near her and might see
her charms through fissures where the eyes should be
or else his teeth are parted in a stare.
Captain on leave, a lean dark mackerel
lies in the offing, turns himself and looks
through currents of sound. The flat-eyed flatfish sucks
on a straw, staring from its repose, laxly.
And gallants in shoals swim up and lag,
circling and passing near the white attraction;
sometimes pausing, opening a conversation:
fish pause so to nibble or tug.
Now the ice-cream is finished,
is paid for. The fish swim off on business:
and she sits alone at the table, a white stone
useless except to a collector, a rich man.
Sample Commentary 3 -
Keith Douglas’s “The Behaviour of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden” is a poem describing an extended metaphor comparing a beautiful woman (presumably in an Egyptian tea garden, as suggested by the title) to an attractive white stone and the men who see her to passing fish. The usage of extremely rich, provocative, and highly metaphoric language in this poem enhances the quality and affect of the poem.
The poem opens by setting the scene – it establishes the white stone on the seafloor, the woman in the afternoon who catches men’s attentions. As fish are drawn to a white, luminescent stone, so are men attracted to this woman. It should be noted that the only instance in which a stanza does not end with a period is the first, and the second stanza is a continuation of the description of this woman. By combining provocative and marine terms and adjectives, Douglas simultaneously transmits the appeal of the woman while maintain the underwater-like impressions of the poem. Words like “red lip”, “milky”, “sink”, and “carmined” have a connotation of luxurious feminity designed to appeal to men, and the image created by the “slyly red lip on the spoon” and pronounced by the new stanza which “slips in a morsel of ice cream” further serves to establish the woman’s sexual appeal. However, Douglas maintains the constant connection to the sea by describing the woman’s hand as a stone with submarine frond-like fingers.
The third stanza sets up the action in this poem; it describes a fish, the first man that is introduced – he “swims out” to watch. This particular “fish” has the least human characteristics of all the “fish” described in the poem. This further helps Douglas set him apart as an observer. The following stanzas describe other fish with human traits and actions, or men with fish-like actions and characteristics. The “crustacean old man” who is “clamped to his chair” like a clam or an oyster, the “captain on leave, a lean dark mackerel”, the “flateyed flatfish [who] sucks on a straw”, and “gallants in shoals [that] swim up and lag...opening a conversation”. Douglas describes all of these other fish with language that creates an active interaction between the woman (the stone) and the men (the fish). The old man sits next to her; the captain turns to look at her; the man sitting in his place is content to stay there sucking on his straw and staring at her; groups of brave young men try to interact with her, “circling and passing near the white attraction.” The close descriptions of the men and the woman and the intertwinement of their descriptions, along with references to marine terms, serve to set up and maintain the aquatic atmosphere throughout the entirety of the poem.
The emphasis placed on the importance of the woman’s action of eating ice-cream is further emphasized in the final stanza, when the ice-cream has been finished. While she is eating, she has a human-like quality which makes her approachable. However, once she has finished, she is more like the non-responsive and non-interactive white stone that is beautiful, but useless. The eating of the ice-cream serves to humanize the woman and to allow the interaction (or attempts at such) between her and the men. Once she has finished the ice-cream, she returns to being a non-interactive, beautiful object that is “useless except to a collector, a rich man.”
It is interesting to see the combination of the appeal of the woman with the marine/aquatic atmosphere of the poem. While Douglas describes human actions, he does so using adjectives and terms used in marine terminology. This serves to have an overall effect of submerged passion, even an almost scientific look at love. The constant maintenance of the aquatic metaphor makes the reader’s ability to connect with and empathize with the characters and their interaction within the poem limited. However, perhaps this is the desired effect – a highly artistically way of presenting what might otherwise be considered a mundane situation in order to elevate the situation while at the same time preventing emotion attachment to or empathy with the characters in the poem.
This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet
Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.
At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as
The coal-house door. Once I looked up -
Through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes
The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope,
The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace,
At any second to bang and vanish with a flap;
The wind flung a magpie away and a black-
Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly. The house
Rang like some fine green goblet in the note
That any second would shatter it. Now deep
In chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip
Our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought,
Or each other. We watch the fire blazing,
And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on,
Seeing the window tremble to come in,
Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.
Sample Commentary 1 -
In this poem Wind, Ted Hughes describes the effects of a violent storm on the surrounding environment and, more specifically, a house and its inhabitants. The purpose of Hughes’ poem is perhaps to explore the theme of turbulence within in a relationship. He does so with the use of imagery and metaphorical language, particularly the utilization of the house and wind as extended metaphors to symbolize this relationship and this conflict. The careful construction of the stanzas, contrasting enjambment with caesura, allow readings of the poem to subtly mimic the subject matter of the storm and Hughes’ use of poetic devices, such as personification, pathetic fallacy and hyperbole, aid the creation of an unsettled and tumultuous atmosphere, relating to both the literal and figurative meanings of the poem.
Hughes’ use of metaphors and imagery, which are often intertwined in the poem, serve to aid the reader’s understanding of the possible theme of turbulence within a relationship. The title of the poem, Wind, coupled with the first two lines, ‘This house has been far out at sea all night, / The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills’, begin the extended metaphor. The ‘wind’ is a metonymy for a storm, and thus represents the conflict or turmoil, while the ‘house’ is often the symbol of domesticity and marriage, denoting the relationship, perhaps a martial one. The speaker states that the house, or the relationship, ‘has been far out at sea all night’. This image represents the worst or most tense part of the conflict, just as storms are often at their most severe at night and at sea. It is also possible that Hughes uses the peculiarity of this image, a ‘house’ being ‘at sea’, to show the disorder and confusion caused by disputes such as this one. Similarly, this indication of chaos can also be found in the second stanza, in which the speaker notes, ‘then under an orange sky / The hills had new places’. The movement of hills, which are seemingly immoveable entities, exemplifies the extent of the disruption and upheaval caused by the storm, mirroring, thematically, the effects of the conflict on the relationship. Stanza four shows the violence of the storm: ‘The wind flung a magpie away and a black- / Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly’. This could be representative of the physical or emotional violence of an argument, but it could also symbolize how the effects of such a conflict cannot be experienced in isolation and extend to other aspects of one’s life, as the magpie and gull are unrelated to the house specifically, but share location and are still affected by the storm.
Hughes’ construction of the poem subtly echoes the subject matter of the storm, particularly with the use of enjambment and caesura and the lack of a defined metrical pattern or rhyming scheme. ‘At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as / The coal-house door. Once I looked up -’. It is possible that Hughes employs enjambment so frequently throughout the poem to create a sense of continuity and ceaselessness. This mimics the incessant and relentless feeling a storm can have whilst one is experiencing it. The storm only seems to rest when Hughes end-stops the last line of the poem: ‘Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.’ The punctuation used throughout the poem serves a different purpose to that which is used in the last line, as it forms caesura. ‘That any second would shatter it. Now deep / In chairs, in front of the great fire’. The pauses in the middle of lines further aid how the poem’s structure reflects a storm: they force an almost ‘broken’ or ‘choppy’ reading, which resembles the turbulent attributes of such weather. Similarly, Hughes’ use of free verse creates a feeling of irregularity. ‘We watch the fire blazing, / And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on, / Seeing the window tremble to come in’. With no set metrical pattern or rhyming scheme, the poem seems unrestricted, which corresponds with the disorder and volatility of a storm, and thus a conflict.
Hughes’ use of poetic devices, in particular personification, pathetic fallacy and hyperbole, further add to the creation of a tumultuous atmosphere, pertaining both to the literal and figurative interpretations of the poem. The speaker frequently personifies natural entities, such as the wind being described as ‘Flexing like the lens of a mad eye’, ‘The fields quivering’ and ‘stones [crying] out’. This creates an image of the environment in the wake of the storm. The choice of words, ‘quivering’ and ‘[crying]’, show fear and upset, and thus indicate the disruption and destructiveness of the storm, or metaphorically, of the conflict on its environment. Hughes uses pathetic fallacy throughout the poem to create ambiance by personifying aspects of the natural setting to reflect the speaker’s emotions. When describing the storm, Hughes uses language such as, ‘booming hills’, ‘fields quivering’ and the ‘skyline [...] [grimacing]’. If the poem does symbolize the relationship, the sentiments of these verbs are applicable to the speaker during the conflict: the feelings of anger (‘booming’, ‘[grimacing]’) and the intensity of emotion (‘quivering’). In the last stanza, seemingly when the storm has ceased, the speaker notes ‘Hearing the stones cry out’. As per the metaphorical interpretation of the poem, this could signify the speaker’s possible sadness at the tumultuous relationship. Similarly, Hughes uses emphatic language throughout the six stanzas, creating a hyperbolic poem to accentuate the theme to readers. ‘Winds stampeding the fields under the window’, ‘the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes’ and ‘The house / Rang like some fine green goblet in the note / That any second would shatter it’, are examples of such language. This poetic device intensifies the characteristics and effects of the storm, or figuratively the conflict, such as the violence (‘stampeding’, ‘dented the balls of my eyes’) and the fragility (‘That any second would shatter it’), highlighting the tumultuous nature of the poem’s subject.
Ted Hughes’ poem Wind is one laden with effectual literary devices, which coalesce to convey the poignant theme of a turbulent relationship. The extended metaphor of the house and the wind embody the theme, and portray it through a series of symbolic images of the natural setting. The structure of the poem creates a distinct atmosphere mimicking the nature of a storm: the enjambment creates a feeling of ceaselessness and continuity, while the caesura contrasts it to make readings of the poem seem ‘choppy’ and the use of free verse creates a sense of irregularity, mirroring the volatility of a storm. Hughes’ use of personification, pathetic fallacy and hyperbole intensify the emotions of the poem and accentuate the theme of a turbulent relationship to readers. In these ways, among others, Hughes creates a touching poem, as he poetically represents an emotional theme, that many will be familiar with, by the beauty, as well as the cruelty, of a storm.
Aunt Helen (T.S. Eliot)
Miss Helen Slingsby was my maiden aunt,
And lived in a small house near a fashionable square
Cared for by servants to the number of four.
Now when she died there was silence in heaven
And silence at her end of the street.
The shutters were drawn and the undertaker wiped his feet --
He was aware that this sort of thing had occurred before.
The dogs were handsomely provided for,
But shortly afterwards the parrot died too.
The Dresden clock continued ticking on the mantelpiece,
And the footman sat upon the dining-table
Holding the second housemaid on his knees --
Who had always been so careful while her mistress lived.
Sample Commentary 2 -
In the poem Aunt Helen, T.S. Eliot depicts the empty life and meaningless death of his ‘maiden’ aunt. He uses symbolism to highlight her need for luxury and change in atmosphere to convey the collapse of her forced etiquette. The poet describes the effect of her demise on her minimal relations with her servants, neighbours and family alongside her valued pets. He stresses how life continues with the ticking of ‘the Dresden clock’, contrasting her death to the flourishing lives of those around her.
Eliot begins the poem in the first person, introducing ‘Aunt Helen’ as a strict ‘maiden’ through the voice of her nephew. The poet hints that the relatives had an unaffectionate relationship as the aunt’s stern manners required her nephew to call her by the title of ‘Miss Helen Slingsby’. The snobby nature of the lady is further emphasised by the fact that ‘she was cared for by servants to the number of four’, well able to afford a ‘footman’ and more than one housemaids. The formal yet convoluted wording of this quotation from line three could also suggest that the aunt spoke in this posh demeanour giving the impression that the speaker is mocking her way of speaking. This degree of formality in diction continues as the nephew reveals that after the death of his aunt ‘the dogs were handsomely provided for’. It seems that the inheritance went to the canines rather than the family suggesting that ‘Aunt Helen’ was secluded in her ‘small house’ where the only real relationship she had was with her animals, especially her parrot. Her attachment to the parrot was so strong that the bird died ‘shortly’ after her, being perhaps completely dependent on the care of his now deceased owner. The bird could symbolise the aunt’s love for splendour and maybe even material things, as she also owned an extravagant ‘Dresden Clock’, placing significant value on the decor of her interior. There is a satirical aspect to the death of the bird, ridiculing the isolated life of the aunt as parrots ape what they see. Eliot’s use of formal syntax and symbolism characterise ‘Aunt Helen’ as a snobby lady who disregards relations to family and friends for luxury and etiquette.
Aunt Helen’s indifference towards her family and the fellow residents of her street leads to their indifference towards her death. This idea is portrayed by a peaceful atmosphere in the lines four and five, enforced through sibilance and repetition of the word ‘silence’. The ‘silence in heaven’ and ‘at her end of the street’ represents the lack of lamenting for the loss of her life and the fact that no family members were present to greet her in the afterlife. Moreover, as the poem progresses the unfortunate downfall of the aunt’s enforced etiquette is conveyed by Eliot’s use of an irregular rhyming scheme, ABCDEECCFGHGI. This rhyming scheme is analogous to the collapse of order in her home. The woman’s dismissal of the relations between her servants leads to her ignorance of the obvious attraction between the footman and one of the maids ‘who had always been so careful while her mistress lived’. The two engage in an inappropriate sexual act ‘upon the dining-table’ disrespecting their former employer. This image creates an atmosphere of disorder in the house alongside catharsis, something ‘Aunt Helen’ would have surely disapproved of. Eliot gives the impression that the only form of contact the aunt had with her housekeepers was to give them orders, unknowingly suppressing their passion through her strict code of conduct. The image also supports the claim that her death had no effect on her family, neighbours and now even her servants for whom life goes on. Her valuable ‘Dresden Clock’ also continues ‘ticking on the mantlepiece’ symbolising the continuation of life and how even the little luxuries she offered herself are unaffected by her demise. Through the change in atmosphere and the symbolism of the clock, Eliot creates a sense of unfulfillment in the aunt’s life, as if everything she valued was worthless. This leads to a theme of meaninglessness of human life.
Eliot’s theme of the insignificance of human life reverberates throughout the entire poem. Although Aunt Helen had the luxury she desired, she had no family relations or friendships and hence nobody to lament her death, apart from the grief-stricken parrot that ironically also dies. When the undertaker arrives in her house he is ‘aware that this sort of thing’ has ‘occurred before’. Eliot distinguishes this sentence in the poem through the use of caesura in the line before, a pause in the reading of the poem indicating its significance to the theme. The undertaker equates the woman’s cadaver to all the other bodies he has prepared for funeral and her death seems trivial. Life for him goes on as he performs his job, another satirical notion as his profession deals with people whose lives have just ended. Eliot tentatively uses the mortician as a symbol for the fact that when ‘Aunt Helen’ died she left no trace on an emotional and hereditary level. Her death was not grieved by anyone as ‘there was silence at her end of the street’. The dogs do not even understand that they have inherited her money in order to be ‘handsomely provided for’. Their life after her death will be just as luscious as before when she lived. It is therefore evident that Aunt Helen’s existence was meaningless, a theme which Eliot illustrates through the use of symbolism with the undertaker and the image of the canines. His structuring of the poem into five short sentences could be interpreted as several epitaphs for Aunt Helen’s tomb. This not only emphasises her death but also ridicules it as the poem ultimately depicts her hollow life.
Eliot leaves no question as to the fact that ‘Aunt Helen’ was a spinster. Her inability to communicate affectionately alongside her severe yet ostentatious personality left her secluded in the comfort of her home. The woman strove for grandeur, speaking in a highly formal way represented by the complex wording of the poem yet Eliot hints that she never managed to be upper class. The speaker reveals that her house was ‘little’ and it was ‘near a fashionable square’, not in it. Hence, the woman died unfulfilled, having lived an empty life. Eliot juxtaposes her insignificant death to the flourishing of the lives of the undertaker going to work and the servants engrossed in passion as the footman holds ‘the second housemaid upon his knees’. This turns the poem into a satire, gently mocking the life and death of ‘Miss Helen Slingsby’.
Behaviour of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden (Keith Douglas)
As a white stone draws down the fish
she on the seafloor of the afternoon
draws down men's glances and their cruel wish
for love. Slyly her red lip on the spoon
slips-in a morsel of ice-cream; her hands
white as a milky stone, white submarine
fronds, sink with spread fingers, lean
along the table, carmined at the ends.
A cotton magnate, an important fish
with great eyepouches and a golden mouth
through the frail reefs of furniture swims out
and idling, suspended, stays to watch.
A crustacean old man clamped to his chair
sits coldly near her and might see
her charms through fissures where the eyes should be
or else his teeth are parted in a stare.
Captain on leave, a lean dark mackerel
lies in the offing, turns himself and looks
through currents of sound. The flat-eyed flatfish sucks
on a straw, staring from its repose, laxly.
And gallants in shoals swim up and lag,
circling and passing near the white attraction;
sometimes pausing, opening a conversation:
fish pause so to nibble or tug.
Now the ice-cream is finished,
is paid for. The fish swim off on business:
and she sits alone at the table, a white stone
useless except to a collector, a rich man.
Sample Commentary 3 -
Keith Douglas’s “The Behaviour of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden” is a poem describing an extended metaphor comparing a beautiful woman (presumably in an Egyptian tea garden, as suggested by the title) to an attractive white stone and the men who see her to passing fish. The usage of extremely rich, provocative, and highly metaphoric language in this poem enhances the quality and affect of the poem.
The poem opens by setting the scene – it establishes the white stone on the seafloor, the woman in the afternoon who catches men’s attentions. As fish are drawn to a white, luminescent stone, so are men attracted to this woman. It should be noted that the only instance in which a stanza does not end with a period is the first, and the second stanza is a continuation of the description of this woman. By combining provocative and marine terms and adjectives, Douglas simultaneously transmits the appeal of the woman while maintain the underwater-like impressions of the poem. Words like “red lip”, “milky”, “sink”, and “carmined” have a connotation of luxurious feminity designed to appeal to men, and the image created by the “slyly red lip on the spoon” and pronounced by the new stanza which “slips in a morsel of ice cream” further serves to establish the woman’s sexual appeal. However, Douglas maintains the constant connection to the sea by describing the woman’s hand as a stone with submarine frond-like fingers.
The third stanza sets up the action in this poem; it describes a fish, the first man that is introduced – he “swims out” to watch. This particular “fish” has the least human characteristics of all the “fish” described in the poem. This further helps Douglas set him apart as an observer. The following stanzas describe other fish with human traits and actions, or men with fish-like actions and characteristics. The “crustacean old man” who is “clamped to his chair” like a clam or an oyster, the “captain on leave, a lean dark mackerel”, the “flateyed flatfish [who] sucks on a straw”, and “gallants in shoals [that] swim up and lag...opening a conversation”. Douglas describes all of these other fish with language that creates an active interaction between the woman (the stone) and the men (the fish). The old man sits next to her; the captain turns to look at her; the man sitting in his place is content to stay there sucking on his straw and staring at her; groups of brave young men try to interact with her, “circling and passing near the white attraction.” The close descriptions of the men and the woman and the intertwinement of their descriptions, along with references to marine terms, serve to set up and maintain the aquatic atmosphere throughout the entirety of the poem.
The emphasis placed on the importance of the woman’s action of eating ice-cream is further emphasized in the final stanza, when the ice-cream has been finished. While she is eating, she has a human-like quality which makes her approachable. However, once she has finished, she is more like the non-responsive and non-interactive white stone that is beautiful, but useless. The eating of the ice-cream serves to humanize the woman and to allow the interaction (or attempts at such) between her and the men. Once she has finished the ice-cream, she returns to being a non-interactive, beautiful object that is “useless except to a collector, a rich man.”
It is interesting to see the combination of the appeal of the woman with the marine/aquatic atmosphere of the poem. While Douglas describes human actions, he does so using adjectives and terms used in marine terminology. This serves to have an overall effect of submerged passion, even an almost scientific look at love. The constant maintenance of the aquatic metaphor makes the reader’s ability to connect with and empathize with the characters and their interaction within the poem limited. However, perhaps this is the desired effect – a highly artistically way of presenting what might otherwise be considered a mundane situation in order to elevate the situation while at the same time preventing emotion attachment to or empathy with the characters in the poem.