The Dark Shadow Shrine

embrace the darkness; that you may see the light nestled within it......

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Commentary on "The Porpoises"

I came across this reading of "The Porpoises" from the net which I think is useful....note the difference:

John Gurney’s poem has a melancholic tone, and I noticed it full of guilt for some reason (“I feel myself accused, and in my mind act out my reparation” TP 34-35), but in the Mountain Lion, even though there is a kind of melancholic tone, there is something else, which is not guilt, it’s an angry tone. Melancholy and angry tone (“And I think in the world beyond, how easily we might spare a million or two humans and never miss them.” ML 48-50). There is also some pity in both tones, and this makes me think of another difference there is between both poems. In The Porpoises the persona (which may or may not be D.H. feels sad about the pig-fish. Nevertheless, he also understands the human reasons for killing them, and anyways, they were bound to die. In Mountain Lion, instead, the persona (which in both cases is presented as the first person of the singular voice) feels pity about the lion that was killed, and doesn’t understand the “foolishness” of the Mexican haunters. He feels sorry for the lion, and makes it clear that he’d rather have one or two million people dead, than the yellow lioness. This shows a strong point of view. This shows that D.H.’s view of things differed John’s, as even though both feels something about the harmless animals, D.H. is really angry and annoyed with the lion’s assassination.

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