Re: Off topic. Rilke query
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Mon, 15 Nov 1999 07:36:51 -0500 (EST)
In a message dated 11/15/99 5:48:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
holden@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in writes:
<< > "Even now she was no longer that blonde woman
> who'd sometimes echoed in the poet's poems,
> no longer the broad couch's scent and island,
> nor yonder man's possession any longer."
>
> means? I am specifically asking about the reference to the "broad
> couch's scent and island."
>>
I know nothing about Rilke or that poem, so (by extension) what those lines
may mean in any reliable sense. BUT, if I were going to simply look at the
image in the way it's been presented -- just an isolated look at the image --
I'd be tempted to look at it in somewhat sexual terms. The verse seems to
justify this, "Nor yonder man's possession. . ." and the fact that the woman
herself was the subject of the poetry.
Now speaking from my experience of women, couches, and sex (and a man's
perception of them), I would say the woman has been identified as an "island"
on the couch and a "scent" on the couch -- perhaps there's an "island" of her
scent on the couch somewhere, and the poet is speaking from a point of view
of her absence. Or, that she is "on the couch" at the moment and the poet
perceives the woman on the couch as an island of sorts -- something of an
isolated, perhaps even private spot to which he is attracted.
I guess the people who've read the whole poem need to go from there.
Jim