ANALYSIS: TONIGHT I CAN WRITE (PABLO NERUDA)

Tonight I can write the saddest lines. // Write, for example, The night is
shattered / and the blue stars shiver in the distance. // The night wind revolves
in the sky and sings.
The poem starts with the single line Tonight I can write the saddest
lines. This line repeats itself throughout the poem and is its recurring
theme.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines. / I loved her, and sometimes she loved me
too. // Through nights like this one I held her in my arms / I kissed her again and
again under the endless sky. // She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too. /
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
There is a continuation of night imagery as the persona recalls how he and his
lover used to spend romantic nights under the endless sky. The fact that they
kiss again and again reinforce the idea of an endless sky and perhaps an
endless love. This is in contrast with reality a reality in which the personas
lover only loves him sometimes.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines. / To think that I do not have her. To feel
that I have lost her. // To hear the immense night, still more immense without
her. / And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture. // What does it
matter that my love could not keep her. / The night is shattered and she is not
with me.
The parallelism (repeated line structure) in the three lines immediately after
tonight i can write the saddest lines serve to reinforce the message that the
persona is no longer together with his lover he has lost her.
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance. / My soul is not
satisfied that it has lost her. This is all suggests something that is either plainly
stated or final. It could be that this is all he has to write. The persona hears
someone singing in the distance. This distant singing is undermined by the
dissatisfaction of losing her.
My sight searches for her as though to go to her./ My heart looks for her, and
she is not with me. // The same night whitening the same trees./ We, of that
time, are no longer the same. //
He searches for her with his sight and heart but to no avail. As the beauty of
night wanes, whitening the trees, the personas reality similarly becomes bleak
as he realises that the time that has passed can never be returned and that
they are no longer the same, or no longer one.
I no longer love her, thats certain, but how I loved her. / My voice tried to find
the wind to touch her hearing. // Anothers. She will be anothers. Like my kisses
before. / Her voice. Her bright body. Her inifinite eyes. //
The persona is certain that he no longer loves her, but mourns over how he
used to love her. His voice, looked for her. There is a change from present
tense in sight searches and heart looks to past tense in voice tried,
suggesting that he has accepted that his lover has moved on. His loss is
emphasised by the single worded phrase Another. He recounts all the things

that he has lost. The line Her voice. Her bright body. Her infinite eyes. contains
3 separate things and further emphasises the height of this loss.
I no longer love her, thats certain, but maybe I love her. /
Love is so short, forgetting is so long. // Because through nights like this one I
held her in my arms / my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.//
The persona repeats that he is certain that he no longer loves her. However
he contradicts himself by saying that maybe he still does. This indicates
uncertainty in his emotions.
An important message is stressed here, in the line love is so short, forgetting is
so long. The personas inability to forget his lover leads to his soul being not
satisfied at his loss and his continued search for her. He once again recalls the
nights that he held her in his arms and reiterates the fact that he is not satisfied
that he has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer / and these the last
verses that I write for her. //
The word last emphasises finality. This is the perhaps the personas way of
stating that the relationship is over. The final line of the poem provides closure
to the repeated tonight I will write the saddest lines. The long vowel sounds in
the last lines of the poem emphasises this sense of finality and closure.

ANALYSIS: FOR MY OLD AMAH (WONG PHUI NAM)

To most your dying seems distant / outside the railings of our concern. /
Only to you the fact was real / when the flame caught among the final brambles
/ of your pain. And lying there / in this cubicle, on your trestle / over the old
newspapers and spittoon, / your face bears the waste of terror / at the
crumbling of your bodys walls.
There is a sense that the old amah is trapped, as reflected by words such as
railings, caught, brambles, cubicle and walls. This could suggest that she is
unable to do anything about her piteous circumstances. The old amah is dying,
in pain and is in terror as she is aware of the fact that she is dying. The
caesura after pain and the continuity in the line and lying there in this cubicle
suggests that this suffering is continuous.
The moth fluttering against the electric bulb, / and on the walls the old
photographs, / do not know your going. I do not know / when it has wrenched
open the old wounds. / When branches snapped in the dark / you would have
had a god among the trees / who made us a journey of your going.
The old amah is alone in her suffering, as her dying seems distant and
only she can feel the pain. Everything else does not know her going.
The moth fluttering against the electric bulb can be seen as a
metaphor for most people to whom the old amahs dying seems
distant. In this sense, the moths are too preoccupied with the bulb to
realise the pain of the amah. The old photographs can be seen as a

symbol for old memories which have wrenched open the old wounds
of the old amah as she appears to have been forgotten.
The image of brambles progresses into branches and trees, a progression
resembling a journey. The persona becomes a part of the journey of the
amahs going. This suggests that while the amah has played a big part in the
personas life, the persona has become a part of the amahs life and has taken
up huge proportions of it. This implicates the persona in the amahs suffering.
Your palms crushed the childs tears from my face. / Now this room will become
your going, brutal / in the discarded combs, the biscuit tins / and neat piles of
your dresses.
Your palms crushed the childs tears from my face is an end-stopped line. The
line emphasises the significance of the amah to the persona. There is an irony in
the contrast between what the amah has given up for the persona, and the
brutal going that she receives in return for this. Discarded combs connotate
something that is unwanted or has been abandoned, and this is reflective of the
old amah who seems to have been forgotten and perhaps put away neatly like
the piles of her dresses.

ANALYSIS: WAYS OF LOVE BY CHUNG YEE CHONG

Ways of Love (Chung Yee Chong)
i
you came
like the rain
without warning
then you are the sun
burns me
consumes me
and i to marry your warmth
almost like a shadow?
ii
i stood
a woman apart
but you never walked
over
and i am still
standing
iii
you could have made
a most royal subject
worn your armour
and charged your steed
you could have swept me
off my feetinstead
you wore your heart

on a sleeve
and asked for love
i could not give
so i left you
a broken king
wounded your pride
when i could not queen
iv
between us
there are bridges of words
your eyes could never burnit isnt through
a lack of desire
to set up what is a fire
but where lips touch
and hands meet
can never hope to reach
the loneliness beneath
the loneliness beneath
v
touch is not allfeeling at home with it
ive grown numb
to its call
somehow
now
what hammers out
this perverse passion
to kill
to will
you in entirely
is love
is what its all about

Analysis of the Poem : Overall Message

The poem is quite ambiguous, especially towards the end. It does not seem to have a clear meaning
to it and it can be hard to work out what exactly the poet is on about. It can be argued that the fact
that the logic of the poem seems to fall apart towards the end of the poem is a criticism on the ways
of love which can sometimes not make any sense.
Analysis of the Poem : In Depth
(i)
you came / like the rain / without warning / then you are the sun / burns me / consumes me / and i to
marry your warmth / almost like a shadow?

You came. This is how the poem starts off. This first line is short, concise, and gives the impression
of definitiveness. This you that the persona speaks of is compared to both the rain and the sun.
There is a clear contrast between these two images. This suggests a sense of confusion or perhaps a
sense of conflict. This confusion or conflict contrasts with the earlier, more definitive you came.
The sun burns and consumes the persona. The irony in this is that love, much like the Sun, is
usually portrayed as something that is warm and comforting. However the fact that the Sun is
appears to be destroying the persona suggests that there is something very wrong with this
relationship and perhaps to a greater extent the ways of love as a whole.
The persona goes on to say and i to marry your warmth / almost like a shadow?. This is a rhetorical
question. The very idea of marrying her lovers warmth is ironic, as it was this warmth that burns
and consumes the persona in the first place. The persona feels like a shadow and this again, is an
example of contrast, this time between her and her lover, the sun.
(ii)
i stood / a woman
apart / but you never walked /
over/ and i am still /
standing
The persona, a woman, stood. However she stands apart, and her love interest never walked
over. The clear gaps between woman and apart, and walked and over as well as still and
standing emphasise the great distance between her and her love interest. She does not give up hope
and she is still standing by the end of it all. The polyptoton (use of simliar root words) of stood
and standing further suggests this.
(iii)
you could have made / a most royal subject / worn your armour / and charged your steed/ you could
have swept me / off my feet / instead / you wore your heart / on a sleeve / and asked for love / i
could not give /// so i left you / a broken king / wounded your pride / when i could not queen
The persona is presenting her lover as a knight of sorts, a royal subject with armour who charges
on his steed to sweep her off her feet. This is all that he could have been and yet is not. He wore his
heart on a sleeve and asked for things that the persona was not prepared to give up.
This part is broken into two stanzas, the second of which signifies a turning point. This is the part
where the persona tells us that she has left him. The somewhat broken grammar of the line when i
could not queen implies the break in their relationship or perhaps that the persona is heartbroken.
(iv)
between us / there are bridges of words / your eyes could never burn /// it isnt through / a lack of
desire / to set up what is a fire / but where lips touch / and hands meet / can never hope to reach ///
the loneliness beneath / the loneliness beneath
The first stanza (of this part of the poem) says between us / there are bridges of words / your eyes
could never burn. The persona comes off as being unforgiving. She and her love are now separated
by bridges that her lover, her sun, can never destroy. This has the implication that the persona is
vulnerable as she can be burned and consumed by her lover, whereas this bridge cannot.
It isnt through / a lack of desire / to set up what is a fire. It is not that she does not want to rekindle
the flames of their love. It is just that even their love (where lips touch / and hands meet) can never
hope to reach /// the loneliness beneath.
The fact the third stanza (the loneliness beneath / the loneliness beneath) is broken off from the
second stanza shows us just how impossible it is for this loneliness to be cured, and emphasises the

distance that their love can never hope to reach. The repetition of the loneliness beneath places
emphasis on this fact and at the same time shows us the depth of the personas sense of loneliness.
(v)
touch is not all / feeling at home with it / ive grown numb / to its call /
somehow /// now /
what hammers out / this perverse passion /
to kill /
to will /// you in entirely /// is love /
is what its all about
Touch is not all is a reference to the line where lips touch. The persona has grown numb to
touch. The indent before somehow suggests that somehow is said as an afterthought, and the
persona is not entirely convinced by her last statement or is perhaps at least a little confused by it.
Now signifies a critical moment in the poem. The poet is about to say something which is of great
significance. Hammers out is a powerful image, made even more so by the alliteration of p in
perverse passion. The plosive /p/ sound makes the image of hammering out all the more powerful.
The fact that to kill and to will are the only true rhyming lines in the poem is significant. Is the
poet trying to draw a parallel between the two?
The lines are getting shorter, The poem is making less sense. The sentence structure is breaking
apart. This could be a reflection of the personas state of mind, perhaps having been overtaken by this
perverse passion of hers.
An Analysis of the Poem "a Prayer for My Daughter" by William Butler Yeats Summary: A
Prayer for My Daughter written by William Butler Yeats.
"A Prayer for My Daughter" by William Butler Yeats A Prayer for My Daughter is a poem written by
William Butler Yeats in 1919. This poem is a pray-like poem. And it generally tells about the poet's
ideas about his daughter who is sleeping at the same time while the poem is being told. Throughout the
poem the Yeats reflects that how he wants his daughter's future should be.
1-WHAT DOES THIS POEM MEAN" The poet is watching his infant daughter sleep. In the first stanza he
starts with describing the setting of the poem. It is stormy outside, there is a kind of dark and gloomy weather
and he prays for her. And he says that he has gloom in his mind and we will understand that what gloom is
that in his mind.
In the second stanza the poet describes the things while he was praying for his daughter. He walks for an hour
and notices the "sea-wind scream upon the tower", "under the arches of the bridge", "in the elms above the
flooded stream." They probably represent the dreaming of the human beings and they are decisive. They are
all about the present things and they block people from thinking about the future events. The last four lines of
the second stanza clearly explain this idea: "Imagining in excited reverie That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum, Out of the murderous innocence of the sea."
In the third stanza he prays for her beauty, but not too much. He considers the beauty as a decisive element
for choosing the right person to marry. He emphasizes that too much beauty may cause her loose the "natural
kindness" thus that might prevent her from finding the "heart-revealing intimacy" and a true friend. Related
with the third stanza, the fourth stanza refers to Helen herself, who "being chosen found life flat and dull," and
also to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who chose her spouse the cripple, Hephaestus. Helen "had much
trouble from a fool", the fool is Menelaus, the husband of Helen, whom she deserted in favor of Paris.
Whereas Aphrodite suffered from "being fatherless", hence without a father to guide her, Yeats intends to be a
guiding father to his young daughter.

The fifth stanza describes the quality that Yeats came to see as at the very heart of civilized life: courtesy. By
courtesy he understands a means of being in the world that would protect the best of human dignity, art and
emotion. And in his prayer for his daughter he wishes that she will learn to survive with grace and dignity in a
world turned horrific. He explains that many men have hopelessly loved beautiful women, and they thought
that the women loved them as well but they did not. In the sixth stanza he hopes that his daughter will be a
"flourishing hidden tree", which is not rebel but kind and happy, but contains her happiness within a particular
place. And additionally he wants his daughter to be not argumentative and aggressive, or perhaps quite and
secure, "rooted in one dear perpetual place." When combined with the previous line, the last line clearly
defines his hope fro daughter to live in a victorious life "like a green laurel." And the linnet also represents
that he wants her thoughts to be a guide for a good life for her and her life to be in a good fate.
In the seventh stanza he tells about himself a little bit, and we can conclude that he also suffered from love
and beauty, but he also emphasize that hatred is drying and destructive. Thus he asserts that hatred is the worst
response one can have in the world. He hopes that his daughter will not have such strong opinions which are
the forms of hatred. Then he implies that "an intellectual hatred" is the worst of hatreds. In this stanza he uses
an image "Plenty's horn." It symbolizes the source of the rich gifts that will be given, served to his daughter.
This part of the poem also accuses "the loveliest woman", Maud Gonne, because of not using properly the
gifts given to her and he hopes that her daughter will use them well and wisely.
Ninth stanza serves the ideas of Yeats about hatred and recovering of the world. He supports that a woman can
heal herself by getting away from hatred and also the world can be purified by avoiding from hatred and
diversions. Thus we can recover the innocence and we can "be happy still." In the conclusion stanza he hopes
her daughter to be married in ceremony, of which source is the "horn" again. He uses the ceremony to
symbolize the richness of the horn and the power of the "laurel tree."