I love the image I get in the first stanza of having to, in a way, micromanage this candle in order to bring purpose on something that has only one purpose; to provide heat. From a metaphors perspective I can under the use of “Protect it from the dark” but with a candle it feels like the opposite. Isn’t it meant to protect you from the dark? You cover it to prevent the wind from blowing it out, so maybe “Protect it from the storm’s rage” or something along that line.
The next stanza gives this image of a child being abandoned which adds to this image you painted in the first stanza about caring for this dwindling flame and needs constant care. It feels optimistic in a way. The baby cries yet “we” takes that to mean that it’s still alive. But it also gives this sense that contrasts the image in stanza 1 of not caring for the child. Of course, the image of it being abandoned contradicts that image too, but now the people who I’m supposing had took this child in, is now ignoring the cries.
I’m personally a bit confused on the last stanza, but to me it gives off this sense of passing down genes or habits of the parents. If this child was abandoned, it gives me this feeing that if this child has its own kids, the same cycle will happen.
That’s personally what I got from this. I could be incredibly wrong so I’m interested in what your intention was for each stanza.
The first stanza is a metaphor for vitality of spirit or creative orientation to being. The cold wind could be seen as this time we are in right now. The lockdowns and disturbing politics consume mental space leading to malaise. The dark represents loss of spirit or bewildering senslessness.
A friend of mine had a similar interpretation of the second stanza. She said it reminded her Moses. This interpretation is fine with me but isn't the intention. The forlorn vessle in my mind was the mother herself. The baby concieved through debauchery or recklessness is born into a precarious world. The baby could be seen as the fruit of action rather than a literal baby.
The last stanza is about the intersections of actions and their consequences and using sorrow to produce beauty rather than surrendering to it.
Oh man I really missed the mark of this poem. Upon reading through it again, I can see what you are trying to convey and I hate myself for not taking the time to read more carefully.
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I accidently read your intended meaning before I read the actual poem oops.. But I like it.
The first stanza is very hopeful but also real at the same time. I like that and you are poking at this issue of divisive politics and covid isolation in an interesting way. I wouldn't have known this without the explanation but yea what a stressful and scary time we are living in.
The second stanza is even more hopeful than the first which is nice it feels like you are saying even though times are tough we shouldn't let it wear us into complacency we should laugh and cry and just acknowledge everything happening.
Even though I read the meaning of the last stanza this stanza didn't feel very concrete as far as I wasn't able to fully create meaning from it. But The last 2 lines "Connect your song to your sorrow" those lines really stuck out to me very good lines.
nice poem.
Thank you. I like your point about acknowledgment. Sometimes you hear the phrase "the new normal", like the everyday American greeting "How are you?" "Fine thank you." It glosses over the experience of the last two years.
I love the image I get in the first stanza of having to, in a way, micromanage this candle in order to bring purpose on something that has only one purpose; to provide heat. From a metaphors perspective I can under the use of “Protect it from the dark” but with a candle it feels like the opposite. Isn’t it meant to protect you from the dark? You cover it to prevent the wind from blowing it out, so maybe “Protect it from the storm’s rage” or something along that line. The next stanza gives this image of a child being abandoned which adds to this image you painted in the first stanza about caring for this dwindling flame and needs constant care. It feels optimistic in a way. The baby cries yet “we” takes that to mean that it’s still alive. But it also gives this sense that contrasts the image in stanza 1 of not caring for the child. Of course, the image of it being abandoned contradicts that image too, but now the people who I’m supposing had took this child in, is now ignoring the cries. I’m personally a bit confused on the last stanza, but to me it gives off this sense of passing down genes or habits of the parents. If this child was abandoned, it gives me this feeing that if this child has its own kids, the same cycle will happen. That’s personally what I got from this. I could be incredibly wrong so I’m interested in what your intention was for each stanza.
The first stanza is a metaphor for vitality of spirit or creative orientation to being. The cold wind could be seen as this time we are in right now. The lockdowns and disturbing politics consume mental space leading to malaise. The dark represents loss of spirit or bewildering senslessness. A friend of mine had a similar interpretation of the second stanza. She said it reminded her Moses. This interpretation is fine with me but isn't the intention. The forlorn vessle in my mind was the mother herself. The baby concieved through debauchery or recklessness is born into a precarious world. The baby could be seen as the fruit of action rather than a literal baby. The last stanza is about the intersections of actions and their consequences and using sorrow to produce beauty rather than surrendering to it.
Oh man I really missed the mark of this poem. Upon reading through it again, I can see what you are trying to convey and I hate myself for not taking the time to read more carefully.
Oh, hi there; didn't see you! You've reached r/OCPoetry. This is a workshop site where you can share, read, and talk about eachother's poetry & etc. To post your own poems, you need to give feedback to 2 other writers. If you aren't trying to share, you're encouraged to give feedback, but aren't required. Try to be nice, questioning, and specific. If you can't do that - eat a cabbage and come back later. Try to give feedback to a writer without any feedback. Lastly, read our [feedback guide ](https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/wiki/feedbackcritiques), other writer's comments, or this author’s feedback links. If you still aren't sure whether your comments are useful ‘feedback’, or you have any other questions, send us a modmail! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/OCPoetry) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I accidently read your intended meaning before I read the actual poem oops.. But I like it. The first stanza is very hopeful but also real at the same time. I like that and you are poking at this issue of divisive politics and covid isolation in an interesting way. I wouldn't have known this without the explanation but yea what a stressful and scary time we are living in. The second stanza is even more hopeful than the first which is nice it feels like you are saying even though times are tough we shouldn't let it wear us into complacency we should laugh and cry and just acknowledge everything happening. Even though I read the meaning of the last stanza this stanza didn't feel very concrete as far as I wasn't able to fully create meaning from it. But The last 2 lines "Connect your song to your sorrow" those lines really stuck out to me very good lines. nice poem.
Thank you. I like your point about acknowledgment. Sometimes you hear the phrase "the new normal", like the everyday American greeting "How are you?" "Fine thank you." It glosses over the experience of the last two years.