Life is a double edged sword. It can be a court jester, bringing funny bits of humor into our life. It can also be ruthless and cruel throwing obstacles and loss in our face. In the poem Tears, Idle Tears, Alfred Lord Tennyson explores the depth of emotion life can bring us and how painful loss can be.
When someone remembers the past it can be bittersweet. Things in our surroundings can remind us of someone we lost. His poem seems to deal primarily with the loss of someone special in his life. “Tears from the depth of some divine despair / Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, / In looking on the happy Autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.” (lines 2 – 5) The speaker is morning his loss. He is looking at how the world keeps spinning even after tragedy, and contemplating the days to come without that person. We are forced to move on with our lives. The days that are no more refers to the number of days we have to live without our loved one. “So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.” (line 15) This is a poem of grief. The emotion in this poem makes me feel like the speaker is consumed with grief.
Loss has touched my family. We lost my father-in-law four years ago. All of our lives have changed because of his death. Every holiday changed. I was amazed at how quickly we had to pick up where we left life. When someone dies in your life, you put life down ever so briefly to deal with the initial grief and subsequent arrangements. Almost immediately afterwards, life must resume. There are bills to pay, birthday parties, holidays, and family reunions to attend. We must face our grief and move on with our lives or we too shall perish.
Joan,
ReplyDeleteGood response to and engagement with Tennyson's poem about loss, and you effectively connect it to your own. OK commentary on the passage you quote.
As i reflect back on the loss in my life i see how it feels to grieve and how you sometimes think that you can't go on. Tennyson saw that the world was not standing still because of his loss but instead it was moving on. We all must grieve in our own way but at the same time we must choose to go on. I am sure the one that you are grieving for would not want you to stay in state of shock.
ReplyDeleteI like how you connect this poem to your pesonal experiences. I too understand the pain of loss and how it is hard to move forward during a time of grief. But the world does not stop so we must face our grief and move on with our lives.
ReplyDeleteI would have liked for you to quote more lines from the poem and elaborate on your thoughts toward them.