Poetry

This poem is about feeling between two people. The poem is about expression of feeling and communication. The poem is more specifically about the inability to express thoughts and the pain this brings. The speaker says that he is "Penned up between the sea and sadness". This quote expresses the speakers inability to express himself through the word "penned". We understand his trapped feeling because he compares his feelings to being in a cage. He struggles but can not get out. The use of the word sadness illuminates that the inability to express his emotions causes grief and sadness. The pain associated with in-expression shows us the negatives of not showing your feelings.

We can see that the speaker is a male and who he is talking about is a woman. We find clues to this hypothesis in the way the poem is written. the way the speaker talks, he talks with a dominance and a possessive, masculine authority." I have gone marking the atlas of your body with crosses of fire." in this quote we can make a guess this is a man, through the way this is said. He says this with authority and dominance. He references himself., this shows that he is the dominant, that he is the important one. We can tell that he is talking about a woman because of the comparisons to a doll, "Sad and gentle doll". He compares her in a lifeless controllable thing. He talks like she is under him, that she is less than he is.

This poem was written so that the author could finally say the words that he once did not know how to express. I think that the narrator was personally connected to something similar to this. He wanted to express his emotion in a poem. He writes, "I have reached the most awesome and coldest summit". This quote shows the reader that he is writing about his own life because he compares his triumph to something like a goal. He finally reached this long term goal of expression of emotion. He shows this by saying he had reached the most awesome summit. The coldest part of the quote illuminates that this is a true life experience thought the emotion this word evokes. We can see that this is real because of the emotions.

This poem was written using imagery, particularly religious imagery. "Sing, burn, flee, like a belfry at the hands of a madman". Through the image of this crazy man in the tower we imagine a person secluded in a tall tower. The image highlights the way that not being able to express your feelings cuts you off from others. The imagery suggests the outcome of not being able to show your feelings.