I really enjoyed this poem. First off this guys name caught my attention along with the very simple title: "Song" by Sir John Suckling. I am still trying to understand how the title connects to the poem itself. My thought that makes the most sence is that maybe this Sir serenaded his lover with these words of questioning and confusion to music.
And I have never heard of the name Prithee. Weird. That name stuck out like a sore thumb the first few times I read it; for me it disrupted the flow. So I inserted the name Penny making the poem move with less disruption for me. I loved how it moved together in a stressed unstressed pattern and I felt that the repetition of his most important questions: "Prithee why so pale?" and "Prithee why so mute?" made his longing for answers more urgent creating a very confused and almost distraught tone for the poem.
Again, considering this poem rhymes, I thought it went okay with the theme and of course it would sound better rhyming if it were an actual song. This brings me to my thoughts on this theme.
I think we can all relate to my connection of the super pretty, talented and blessed girl that can't seem to grasp how lucky and beautiful she really is. She's hard on herself and simply won't realize how happy and satisfied she can feel. The vision of herself is so warped in her mind that she never sees the brightness to her life.
Sir John Suckling seems utterly confused at why his lover is "pale... mute [and] wan" when he obviously sees beauty and a prized life. He seems angry at the fact that the lover is so disatisfied and shamefull of herself dispite all that he has done for her.
I especially love the whole last stanza: "Quit, quit, for shame, this will not move,/ This cannot take her;/ If of her self she will not love,/ Nothing can make her,/ The Devil take her." It reminds me of the one phrase that goes something like, if you cannot love yourself first how can you love another. This Sir has probably tried all that he could to try to bring about enlightenment to the girl of her beauty that he knows is there. But now he can't take anymore of her sulking and depressing stanz, he has tried everything to show her what she really is but she won't absorb his words or actions. He is now declaring that he will leave her; he loves her, but needs to leave her.
The whole thing is pretty, depressing but I still liked it.
I completely agree with your thoughts on "Song".I too thought that Prithee was a girl who truly disliked herself; that she was unwilling and maybe even so caught up in self loathing that she couldn't see the good things in her life or about herself. She seemed blinded and at one point, even ungreatful because she just cannot identify anything remotely cheerful in her life. I can relate to this poem because of Prithee's deep depression and not appreciating anything about herself. He realizes, like you mentioned, that she must find someway out of this prison of depression she had made for herself. He later on sees that she will not and must go. If there wasn't any way for him to help her then there wasn't any reason he should have stayed. It is all very sad, but very true. This poem actually gave a little message to me; that you cannot help someone who does not want to be helped. I'm glad because this can apply to anyone's life. That last line was indeed powerful and meaningful. I didn't think of the moral you had when you read it, but yours is very true and vital. What I got was what I mentioned about how you cannot help someone who doesn't want to be helped and I like how both morals we rooted out of that last phrase apply to the poem.I really liked this poet's language and the flow. I thought it sounded similiar to a song as well. It was almost like a mixture because it was and then it wasn't. All together I thought it was nice, too. :D
ReplyDeleteI thought that Prithee was legitimately sick, with cancer or something really horrible, but this makes me think differently about it.
ReplyDeleteI thought that she was ill, and was just getting worse, and her "Lover" or whoever really cares wants her to get better. But then she gives up, and he(?) leaves her.
The "Lover" and "Sinner" part was a little difficult for me to understand. I still don't quite get what that means, but whatever it DOES mean, I think it fits in with the poem really well.