Sorry to bother all of you who take the time to read this request but I have an english assignment, and am having a hard time analyzing this poem The lady to her Guitar. I do not wish all who helps to analyize it for me (as I see in other topics) but just to give me a few pointers. And yes I have searched some of this stuff on google. If you guys could help me out that would be great. Thank you for your time.

For him who struck thy foreign string,
I ween this heart has ceased to care;
Then why dost thou such feelings bring
To my sad spirit--old Guitar?

It is as if the warm sunlight
In some deep glen should lingering stay, <-- These 4lines I do not get.
When clouds of storm, or shades of night,
Have wrapt the parent orb away.

It is as if the glassy brook
Should image still its willows fair,
Though years ago the woodman's stroke
Laid low in dust their Dryad-hair. <----- What is significance of Dryad hair.

Even so, Guitar, thy magic tone
Hath moved the tear and waked the sigh:
Hath bid the ancient torrent moan,
Although its very source is dry.

Coz, here goes some response to your two questions:

It is as if the warm sunlight
In some deep glen should lingering stay, <-- These 4lines I do not get.
When clouds of storm, or shades of night,
Have wrapt the parent orb away.

This stanza probably means that a ray of sunlight has overstayed its welcome. "Parent orb" meaning its parent "sun".

See the definition and accompanying encyclopedia entry for Dryad here:

[www.onelook.com]

Though years ago the woodman's stroke
Laid low in dust their Dryad-hair.

These lines probably allude to the fact that though the guitar is made from wood of dead trees, it brings to life the spirit of nature through its "voice".

This is not a definitive opinion, just one reader's take on the poem. I do hope it does shed some light on the possible meaning within the poem.


Les



Post Edited (10-06-04 00:32)

It did thanks alot. I wouldn't have thought of what you had said. Thanks again

I don't read into this poem quite what Les reads into it, but don't say that he's wrong. Interpretations are subjective to the reader. That's especially so in a poem like this, where much of the meaning isn't stated directly but is left to be inferred.

In my view the second stanza can only be explained in the context of the first.

From the first stanza it appears that the poem's persona once loved the man who used to play the guitar, but no longer has any loving feeling towards him. The reason for her change of heart is unstated, but the implication is that it was so dispiriting that it dried up her ability to love. It has made her sad in spirit. I take the adjective 'old' as meaning that she has not heard the guitar played for many years. She is therefore surprised to find that its sound heard again awakens feelings of love, even though she has none for the original player. It's as if love came without a lover. She asks why this is happening. I read that 'why?', not as a rebuke to the guitar for something unwelcome, but really as a 'how?' question. How can this be?

The second stanza doesn't offer an answer. It simply emphasizes, with an elaborate simile, how surprising it is for the persona to discover that she still has an inclination to love, notwithstanding that the man who first aroused her love no longer does so. She likens it to finding a piece of sunlight in some deep valley long after the sun has set or been hidden by storm clouds.

In the third stanza she likens it to finding a brook still reflecting beautiful willow trees that used to be along its banks, long after they have been cut down. Describing the drooping willow boughs as like hair is a straightforward enough simile. I think describing such hair as 'Dryad' simply attributes something of woodland magic to it. It implies that there was such magic in her lost first feelings of love.

The reference to magic is made explicit in the fourth stanza, though transferred there to the guitar. It's as if the magic of the guitar has awakened the Dryad magic within the spirit of the persona.

Sorry if this is more than you wanted in response to your request for just 'a few pointers'. I'm not sure I can say in in less words and still make sense!

Thanks alot for both of your posts, they helped me a lot in analyzing this poem.