What does it mean to "lie too near the sky"? Is the snow shrouding the "bare black places" a good thing or no? A shroud, after all, is for the dead . . . I'm going to be thinking about this poem for a good while; so glad you posted it!
It's a disturbing juxtaposition, isn't it? I think I'd take "too near the sky" as meaning too exposed — and thus too available for shrouding. But if we take "black" as racially charged, how are we to take "white" in the "white fleece shrouds"? The poem has, for me, an undercurrent of threat and unease that never explicitly surfaces.
Yes -- there are nuances that definitely disturb. "Fleece" is usually thought of as warm and comforting, but "shrouds" as for the dead . . . of course, snow just _is_ white, but is it comforting in its cover or oppressive/killing? I'd love to see in the poet's mind on this one.
It's an interesting pairing --- not altogether planned that way! I always like when our poem offerings chime together serendipitously (when all we were thinking was, "OK, what can we put in the calendar this month . . .").
The rescue of lost and forgotten books and writers is a noble enterprise. The Renaissance humanists "journey[ed] to remote abbey, priory, convent, and cathedral" (quoting John Willinsky) to rescue forgotten works of the classical past. Your care in finding and discussing interesting poems by now obscure English-language writers seems akin to their efforts.
I was paraphrasing this statement by D.S. Carnes-Ross because I couldn't find it: "To retrieve good writers from disparagement and neglect is the piety of humanism."
A great find! Thanks for making my morning.
What does it mean to "lie too near the sky"? Is the snow shrouding the "bare black places" a good thing or no? A shroud, after all, is for the dead . . . I'm going to be thinking about this poem for a good while; so glad you posted it!
It's a disturbing juxtaposition, isn't it? I think I'd take "too near the sky" as meaning too exposed — and thus too available for shrouding. But if we take "black" as racially charged, how are we to take "white" in the "white fleece shrouds"? The poem has, for me, an undercurrent of threat and unease that never explicitly surfaces.
Yes -- there are nuances that definitely disturb. "Fleece" is usually thought of as warm and comforting, but "shrouds" as for the dead . . . of course, snow just _is_ white, but is it comforting in its cover or oppressive/killing? I'd love to see in the poet's mind on this one.
I’m loving the contrast between this poem and yesterday’s!
It's an interesting pairing --- not altogether planned that way! I always like when our poem offerings chime together serendipitously (when all we were thinking was, "OK, what can we put in the calendar this month . . .").
A lovely, charged poem.
The rescue of lost and forgotten books and writers is a noble enterprise. The Renaissance humanists "journey[ed] to remote abbey, priory, convent, and cathedral" (quoting John Willinsky) to rescue forgotten works of the classical past. Your care in finding and discussing interesting poems by now obscure English-language writers seems akin to their efforts.
I don't think anyone could give us a finer compliment.
I was paraphrasing this statement by D.S. Carnes-Ross because I couldn't find it: "To retrieve good writers from disparagement and neglect is the piety of humanism."