Extended commentary of ‘I look into My Glass’ by Thomas ...

Within the Title: Minimal information – takes initially line; one common feature. Topics: Time, The way that Time performs, Age (emotional) Overall Framework: Three English language quatrains, with an alternate rhyming scheme – this makes it more concentrated than a typical English language quatrain. This kind of “concentration” is known as a key characteristic; in the two literal and emotional feeling.

It is a extremely short composition, but details a series of deep emotional glare. Difficult language notes: 2. ‘Glass’ is an gothic (and now poetic) phrase for “mirror”. * The phrase “would God it came to pass” means “I wish that God acquired done ‘X'” or “had let ‘X’ happen”. In the poem, this individual wishes that God had let his heart die, in terms of psychological feeling, just like his human body had. 5. “Equanimity” means ‘of peaceful temperament’ – to be for peace spiritually, mentally etc . First Stanza Notes: Robust presents all of us with a physical establishment of his personality – “I look into my glass/ And view my personal wasting skin”.

This is the simply physical description/detail in the composition; consequently it truly is of great importance. Hardy uses his ‘wasting skin’ to relate to his heart – his emotional life. ‘”Would God that came to pass/ My heart had shrunk as slender! “‘. In short, the personality wishes that his thoughts, his passions, his really loves had ‘shrunken’ – or perhaps reduced in strength – at the same charge as his physical entity/appearance.

Hardy uses enjambment in the line ‘skin/ And say” to add emphasis, along with the presence of direct speech. Probably the enjambment retains the reader in suspense? Notice the reference to the Almighty – another note of emphasis.

Emphasis is very important in that concentrated composition. The reader will very quickly deduce the persona’s emotions. He wishes that his emotions could fade; perhaps he can’t face the pain of rejection? Whatever the case, it is implied that his emotional a lot more still greatly alive – it has but to wither. Second Stanza Notes: ‘For then, I, undistrest’ opens the second stanza.

This is a fancy line; ‘For then’ means ‘because’, due to the inverted commas around the ‘I’. ‘Undistrest’ is usually an archaic spelling of ‘un-distressed’ – meaning ‘not worried’. Be aware Hardy’s use of this phrase (diction). ‘Distress’ is an intrinsically unfavorable word but by putting a negative word it becomes great. However , arsenic intoxication two bad words inside the line demonstrates oddly in its meaning and the impression given. Robust does this to get a reason. “For then, We, undistressed/ By hearts expanded cold to me/ May lonely wait my limitless rest/ With equanimity. ” Very simply, Hardy’s persona is usually stating that, if his heart experienced shrunk, he’d be able to wait out his life ‘with equanimity’ – with a calm temperament.

Nevertheless , the presence of the ‘For then’ makes this stanza conditional, once again implying that the persona is definitely ‘without equanimity’ – he’s not remarkably happy. He could be losing mental contact with those whom he still cares for. The mental entities, different the physical ones referred to in the 1st stanza, will be once again shown by enjambment; “Undistressed/ By simply hearts expanded cold to me”. A few key techniques/ words with this stanza: 5. “Could depressed wait my own endless rest. ” – lonely, because of the ‘hearts cultivated cold to [him]’, naturally, but authorities query the meaning of ‘endless rest’. Truly does is label death?

The persona’s remaining life absolutely won’t end up being ‘endless’. What does Hardy indicate by this? May it simply be a pressured rhyme pertaining to ‘undistressed’? * “With equanimity” – Once again, perhaps this really is another pressured rhyme, yet the calm metre reflects the expressed ‘calmness’. However (this applies to the entirety from the stanza), the reader’s connection of innate ‘goodness’ with ‘calmness’ is definitely reversed by conditional character of the composition. Hardy’s personality wants to always be calm and still have his mental life wither, as to reduce the pain of loss – a complicated idea by itself – nevertheless this has not happened.

Third Stanza: Hardy arrives at the crux with the poem, with a comment on the cruel mother nature of Time. ‘Time’ is personified as an enemy with the human condition; it “Part steals, enables part abide”, apparently “to make [the persona] grieve”. Time gets rid of (‘part steals’) the persona’s physical real estate; his pores and skin wastes etc . but Time lets his emotional article topics remain in one piece – producing relationships more painful as they deteriorate in old age. Hardy end his poem together with the lines “And [Time] mixtures this vulnerable frame by eve/ With throbbings of noontide”. These are generally vitally important lines. Within these people, Hardy even comes close his persona’s life with a single day – diurnal images.

They will include a great deal of emotive imagery; ‘shakes’ and ‘with throbbings’. The latter reflects the throbbing of any heart. Robust, to explain the metaphor, states that his persona is usually reminded on the ‘eve’ (end) of his life by mental throbbing of his emotional level – his pinnacle of passion, to put it poetically. Critics have got called this a very psychologically overt ending, with a to some degree forced rhyme-scheme once again.

You decide.