Hello !

can anybody help me ? I need to know who wrote this :

The truth, which on my more possessive days
Lurks in the background, spoiling all the fun,
That I am not the only game he plays,
Neither am I the most important one,
I've always known .I knew before I fell
Into his plans.I knew because he said,
And flattered that he wanted me as well,
I didn't wish he wanted me instead
At that stage. Now I'm feeling discontent
And longing for a more familiar mess
Having been many people's main event,
People who've hurt me more and liked me less
Than he does also knowing that it's wrong
To think this way , not thinking it for long.

Thanks,
Alix

I'm not finding it online- where did you get it?

pam

Hi

It was given by a professor at the university as homework . We're supposed to analyse it.

Alix

We're supposed to analyse it.

Ok, that can be done. It's supposed to be a Shakespearean sonnet, but has several flaws, at least to my reading. The sentence structure seems disjointed to me. For example, the first one. It says in essence,

The truth ... I've always known. But there is a jumble of superfluous words thrown in merely as padding. The IP meter is bumpy as well. There is usually a 'turn' in the penultimate line of the Shakespearean, but none in the given work.

Worse yet, it's just another 'angst' poem, and the world has already been piled much too high and deep with them. I suspect it was written by your instructor at a very early age.

Hello Pam and Hugh


The person who wrote the poem is a British poet called Sophie Hannah.

Thanks anyway

Alix

This led me to look for some more of Hannah's work and I found this site [www.poemhunter.com] I particularly like this one:

Rondeau Redoublé


I know the rules and hear myself agree
Not to invest beyond this one night stand.
I know your patter: in, out, like the sea.
The sharp north wind must blow away the sand.

Soon my supply will meet your last demand
And you will have no further use for me.
I will not swim against the tide, to land.
I know the rules. I hear myself agree.

I've kept a stash of hours, just two or three
To smuggle off your coast like contraband.
We will both manage (you more easily)
Not to invest beyond this one night stand.

To narrow-minded friends I will expand
On cheap not being the same as duty free.
I'll say this was exactly what I planned.
I know your pattern: in, out, like the sea.

It's not as if we were designed to be
Strolling along the beach front, hand in hand.
Things change, of natural necessity.
The sharp north wind must blow away the sand

And every storm to rage, however grand,
Will end in pain and shipwreck and debris
And each time there's a voice I have to strand
On a bare rock, hardened against its plea;
I know the rules.

I am especially taken by the whole travel metaphor and especailly the aptness and cleverness of the line 'On cheap not being the same as duty free.'



Post Edited (05-25-05 02:35)

thanks marian. I love it! The metaphor is really well found!