Comments on: This makes little sense http://mindofwinter.org/2003/11/11/this-makes-little-sense/ A forum for discussing poems and poetry Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:43:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Michael http://mindofwinter.org/2003/11/11/this-makes-little-sense/#comment-8 Michael Sun, 16 Nov 2003 21:50:38 +0000 http://mindofwinter.org/2003/11/11/this-makes-little-sense/#comment-8 I don't know if Brontë's paean to the stars requires any fantasy. One needn't attribute to them any mystical qualities to prefer their light to the harsh, burning rays of the sun. The personification in the poem is remarkably spare, and aside from her heart throbbing with the stars' solemn "words of light," most of what she contrasts between the stars and sun is the intensity of the lights. I think your reading of Auden's last line is appropriate, but I don't think he's necessarily caught up in fantasy, either. Of course, I'm still thinking the stars are avatars of the less celestial objects of our admiration. I don’t know if Brontë’s paean to the stars requires any fantasy. One needn’t attribute to them any mystical qualities to prefer their light to the harsh, burning rays of the sun. The personification in the poem is remarkably spare, and aside from her heart throbbing with the stars’ solemn “words of light,” most of what she contrasts between the stars and sun is the intensity of the lights.

I think your reading of Auden’s last line is appropriate, but I don’t think he’s necessarily caught up in fantasy, either. Of course, I’m still thinking the stars are avatars of the less celestial objects of our admiration.

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