XIII Journal 1

1. This poem is about the despair that is inevitable in stifling emotions. A person, man, has a sexual experience with his love, then he goes into his way of lifting her spirits when she is sad. In the distance that the couple share, a sadnress lingers. He can't express himself and thus, even though he wants to, his inability of expression has negative consequences. Another way of viewing this poem is as a euphemism of sex.
2.The reader can assume that it is a man speaking to a women, as shown by the dominating positions the speaker takes over his love. This man is a sensitive but incapable lover. He lives in a mental solitude since his loss of his woman. The man is speaking to his woman, with his 'stories to tell yo u on the shore of evening".
3.The author writes this poem to warn of love from personal experience. The tone is reminiscent and almost regretful. He shows us what NOT to do. "only a few drops are left trembling." His examples of desire, shown through the imagery of the animals and water, set a path that he regrets having walked. The end of his painful relationship, the "close[s] like a nocturnal flower" is the final end of the nature imagery, and so the end of his advice. Through this poem, the author also illustrates the objectification of women, and the childish approach that men take towards women: to this man, women are for "marking" and are "toy doll[s]".
4.The overall 'glue' of the work is the letter 's'. It is always used when the woman is mentioned, but when he focuses solely on himself, he abandons 's'. Thus, this overwhelming odds of 's' vs. non's' complements his inability to decide. The author writes in a way that literally embodies the man's emotions and feelings towards her. "something ... something ... something ..." Every something is a piece of his inability to choose words to his feelings and thoughts. However, when he mentions his woman, he can immediately go to the word "doll". This comparison between "something" and "doll" emphasizes the objectification of women