Walter de la Mare has something negative to say about a certain girl. His poem, "Slim Cunning Hands," contains four lines that slowly reveal the speaker's view of a woman he is talking about. The object of the speaker is dead and lying in her grave. At first glance, since the poem is quite short, it would seem that that is all the poem is essentially about. Yet the speaker wishes the reader to know that the lady hasn't really lived a saint-like life (though he does not elaborate as to what she did). The first line describes the woman's hands how they are "cunning." The word "cunning" conjures up this image of a thief slowly trying to break his way into a house. One has to be sneaky and stealthy in order to obtain their coveted prize. They also have to be deceptive and calculating. The second line speaks of her grave and how she "loved too wildly lies." Instead of saying "she loved lies too wildly" he says it in a different way. I learned from the textbook's examples that poets don't change word order just for the heck of it. If the speaker loved "too wildly" her deceits, then she must've have gotten out of control when it came to pulling people on a leash. The third line implies that her falsity was so profound that not even the grave could express it: "How false she was, no granite could declare." "Granite" is a type of rock that is used to make tombstones (I believe). The last line states: "Nor all earth's flowers, how fair." How is it that flowers symbolize deceit? We normally associate flowers with innocence. Mare is stating that flowers can be a symbol of deception; the woman probably put up a sweet front in order to lure others into her traps. The speaker may even be going beyond this revelation by saying that the beautiful things in life are deceitful themselves.
Works Cited: de la Mare, Walter. "Slim Cunning Hands." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. 10th ed. New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011. 548-549
This poem was a wonderful example of creating a world in just a few lines. Death consuming the pain that is often too enveloping in life. The book mentions that it pales in comparison, but certain acts are hard to forgive. I liked your comparison of the flowers to deception, and ultimately arriving that beauty and deception often go together. Death is so final, and the speaker has so much pain that no one will answer for. Putting myself in that position, staring at the grave, I can feel the loss and anger welling up, and I like that both of those emotions go with the individuals death and deceit.
This poem was a wonderful example of creating a world in just a few lines. Death consuming the pain that is often too enveloping in life. The book mentions that it pales in comparison, but certain acts are hard to forgive. I liked your comparison of the flowers to deception, and ultimately arriving that beauty and deception often go together. Death is so final, and the speaker has so much pain that no one will answer for. Putting myself in that position, staring at the grave, I can feel the loss and anger welling up, and I like that both of those emotions go with the individuals death and deceit.
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