It is a trust she also, confers upon her husband in lines 10-12
I love thee freely, as men strive for right
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
“…..and with my childhood’s faith
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints”
Bequeathing to him, the unquestioning love, loyalty and belief that she lost, as she grew from childhood to maturity.
Although it appears that her love towards her husband eclipses everything else, Elizabeth ends this poem with the acknowledgement that it’s God’s will if this perfect love continues after death. This recognition of God’s supremacy, typifies the fervent, Christian beliefs which colored and shaped her ideals of love.
This poem to me, symbolizes the purest form of love between husband and wife. Although you could argue that it is written from a selfish perspective, in that she only speaks of her love, her feelings-you have to bear in mind that in Victorian society, women lived their lives solely through their husbands. The middle-class ladies didn’t work, and didn’t have a life outside their homes. They dedicated all of their time, energies and passions into keeping their men happy and contented; and in return, were loved, pampered and protected from the harsh realities of life. Even though this idea of total subjection and passivity, wouldn’t have a hope of success in today’s society, the level of trust and commitment these two “Romantic Poets” apparently share, could be the ideal that all couples should aspire to.
In sharp contrast to Browning idealistic and spiritual love poetry of the 1800s, Seamus Heaney’s Twice Shy uses an altogether more contemporary and realistic style of prose too describe love in the 20th century. Heaney wrote Twice Shy for his wife Marie, and in it recalls his memories of their first date. Given that most men couldn’t remember what their wives wore yesterday, never mind on the first date, Marie must have made quite an impression on the young Heaney.
Her scarf a la Bardot,
In suede flats for the walk,
She came with me one evening
For air and friendly talk,
We crossed the quiet river,
Took the embankment walk.
The poet’s use of rhyme and rhythm sets the tone of his remembrances, giving the audience a glimpse of his safe, romantic sunset-lit walk. This relaxed mood changes dramatically in verse two.
Traffic holding its breath,
Sky a tense diaphragm:
Dusk hung like a backcloth
That shook where a swan swam,
Tremulous as a hawk
Hanging deadly, calm.
Here, Heaney’s use of personification builds tension and conveys the poet’s emotionally-charged expectations to his audience in dramatic contrast to verse one, and the cunningly placed caesura at the end of line two, has the reader in effect “holding their own breath” and therefore emphasizing the poets idea of, “Sky a tense diaphragm.”
The poet’s ability to create movement within his text is shown when he says;
Dusk hung like a backcloth
That shook where a swan swam.
Mushroom loves already
Had puffed and burst in hate
It is this ability which brings his work to life, enabling the reader to almost become an invisible participant in Heaney’s life experiences.
This poem can be interpreted in two ways. It can be accepted literally, as a highly descriptive and atmospheric poem that anyone who has ever been in love can identify with. Or because of Heaney’s exquisite mastery of the English language, can be taken as an emotive analogy, describing the emotional cost of failed love; with all the fears and doubts felt by those attempting to find love second time around laid bare.
Because the title chosen by the author was Twice Shy, and not, for example First Date. I believe that the poet deliberately worked this piece so the audience would question and find its inner depths, and maybe recognize themselves within it. This work thrills me, as it is the first time I have ever read poetry and have been moved, excited and inspired to discover the unspoken meaning behind another persons speech. Whilst Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem is recognized as a classic, Seamus Heaney’s sublime use of word, phrase and analogy, has enabled me to realize that poetry is an art form – one that I will no longer be afraid to immerse myself in, as I now realize I’m intelligent enough to understand it.
Jacqueline Ewing
07 April 2003
