Posted by Erin on October 21, 19101 at 15:32:57:

In Reply to: Eyes That Last I saw In Tears posted by jon knutson on October 07, 19101 at 10:05:43:

: Need interpretation and critical ysis,
: particularly regarding "kingdoms of death."
: Thanks,

: Jon

My personal interpretation probably means nothing. I can't tell you about "death's dream kingdom," but I can give you my own interpretation, as any person's interpretation of any poem must inevitably be closely related to themselves.
I see it as the speaker having affected, or hurt someone in the past ("tears" obviously) and having since then felt bad for it. However, when they come upon the same person again, they find this person has quite recovered from what had before moved them to tears. There then arose in the speaker a certain sense of--well--nearly jealousy, resulting from having come upon this person who appears to be--though is likely not--flaunting the fact that the speaker had little affect on them at all. ("The eyes outlast a little while _ A little while outlast the tears _ And hold us in derision.")
It is one of the most hurtful things to a person, or maybe just a certain type of person, to feel that they have had little or no effect on others.
That, at least, is what I see in the poem.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Eyes That Last I saw In Tears Brian 15:44:17 6/07/102 (0)
• Re: Eyes That Last I saw In Tears Brian 15:44:05 6/07/102 (0)

Post a Followup