ACME
12-07-2010, 03:34 AM
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I Am Not Yours
by Sara Teasdale
I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.
You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.
Oh plunge me deep in love -- put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.
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http://www.saudienglish.net/vb/uploaded/81253_01278890481.jpg
Sara Teasdale
Sara Trevor Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1884, into an old, established, and devout family. She was homeschooled until she was nine and traveled frequently to Chicago, where she became part of the circle surrounding Poetry magazine and Harriet Monroe. Teasdale published Sonnets to Duse, and Other Poems, her first volume of verse, in 1907. Her second collection, Helen of Troy, and Other Poems, followed in 1911, and her third, Rivers to the Sea, in 1915.
In 1914 Teasdale married Ernst Filsinger; she had previously rejected a number of other suitors, including Vachel Lindsay. She moved with her new husband to New York City in 1916. In 1918, she won the Columbia University Poetry Society Prize (which became the Pulitzer Prize for poetry) and the Poetry Society of America Prize for Love Songs, which had appeared in 1917. She published three more volumes of poetry during her lifetime: Flame and Shadow (1920), Dark of the Moon (1926), and Stars To-night (1930). Teasdale's work had always been characterized by its simplicity and clarity, her use of classical forms, and her passionate and romantic subject matter. These later books trace her growing finesse and poetic subtlety. She divorced in 1929 and lived the rest of her life as a semi-invalid. Weakened after a difficult bout with pneumonia, Teasdale committed suicide in 1933 with an overdose of barbiturates. Her final collection, Strange Victory appeared posthumously that same year.
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Commentary
Sara Teasdale’s “I Am Not Yours” features three stanzas, each with the rime scheme ABCB. Its theme is deep, abiding love. The speaker exaggerates her desire to become one with her beloved.
First Quatrain: “I am not yours, not lost in you”
The speaker addresses her beloved in an unusual way by saying that she does not belong to him, and she is not lost in him. Lovers often exaggerate in art forms the degree to which they are part of their beloved, but she offers an original approach.
But that claim soon reverses itself when she asserts that although she is “not lost in [him],” she certainly wants to be. She then compares the state of being that she craves to “a candle lit at noon.” The light of a candle at noon would blend so equally with the natural sun light that it would hardly be visible.
She adds that she wishes for blending with her beloved as “a snowflake in the sea.” Of course, a snowflake in the sea would melt immediately, becoming one with the water. Despite the opening negative remark, the speaker has turned her claim around and even made it more intense than it would have been had she not begun by with the assertion, “I am not yours.”
Second Stanza: “You love me, and I find you still”
The second stanza affirms that the target of her affection returns her love, but her desire is for complete self-annihilation in her beloved, and even though he loves her, she is still an individual; she says, “I am I.” But as she has already demonstrated in the opening stanza, she wishes to be so consumed by her beloved that she desires to be “lost [in him] as light is lost in light.”
Third Stanza: “Oh plunge me deep in love—put out”
In the final stanza, the speaker is pleading for the realization of her desire to become totally merged with her beloved. She begs, “Oh plunge me deep in love.” She wishes to sink down into this affection so completely that she no longer needs the ability to see or hear. She thus asks that her “senses” be “swept by the tempest of your love.”
.
I hope you like it.
.
I Am Not Yours
by Sara Teasdale
I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.
You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.
Oh plunge me deep in love -- put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.
.
http://www.saudienglish.net/vb/uploaded/81253_01278890481.jpg
Sara Teasdale
Sara Trevor Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1884, into an old, established, and devout family. She was homeschooled until she was nine and traveled frequently to Chicago, where she became part of the circle surrounding Poetry magazine and Harriet Monroe. Teasdale published Sonnets to Duse, and Other Poems, her first volume of verse, in 1907. Her second collection, Helen of Troy, and Other Poems, followed in 1911, and her third, Rivers to the Sea, in 1915.
In 1914 Teasdale married Ernst Filsinger; she had previously rejected a number of other suitors, including Vachel Lindsay. She moved with her new husband to New York City in 1916. In 1918, she won the Columbia University Poetry Society Prize (which became the Pulitzer Prize for poetry) and the Poetry Society of America Prize for Love Songs, which had appeared in 1917. She published three more volumes of poetry during her lifetime: Flame and Shadow (1920), Dark of the Moon (1926), and Stars To-night (1930). Teasdale's work had always been characterized by its simplicity and clarity, her use of classical forms, and her passionate and romantic subject matter. These later books trace her growing finesse and poetic subtlety. She divorced in 1929 and lived the rest of her life as a semi-invalid. Weakened after a difficult bout with pneumonia, Teasdale committed suicide in 1933 with an overdose of barbiturates. Her final collection, Strange Victory appeared posthumously that same year.
.
Commentary
Sara Teasdale’s “I Am Not Yours” features three stanzas, each with the rime scheme ABCB. Its theme is deep, abiding love. The speaker exaggerates her desire to become one with her beloved.
First Quatrain: “I am not yours, not lost in you”
The speaker addresses her beloved in an unusual way by saying that she does not belong to him, and she is not lost in him. Lovers often exaggerate in art forms the degree to which they are part of their beloved, but she offers an original approach.
But that claim soon reverses itself when she asserts that although she is “not lost in [him],” she certainly wants to be. She then compares the state of being that she craves to “a candle lit at noon.” The light of a candle at noon would blend so equally with the natural sun light that it would hardly be visible.
She adds that she wishes for blending with her beloved as “a snowflake in the sea.” Of course, a snowflake in the sea would melt immediately, becoming one with the water. Despite the opening negative remark, the speaker has turned her claim around and even made it more intense than it would have been had she not begun by with the assertion, “I am not yours.”
Second Stanza: “You love me, and I find you still”
The second stanza affirms that the target of her affection returns her love, but her desire is for complete self-annihilation in her beloved, and even though he loves her, she is still an individual; she says, “I am I.” But as she has already demonstrated in the opening stanza, she wishes to be so consumed by her beloved that she desires to be “lost [in him] as light is lost in light.”
Third Stanza: “Oh plunge me deep in love—put out”
In the final stanza, the speaker is pleading for the realization of her desire to become totally merged with her beloved. She begs, “Oh plunge me deep in love.” She wishes to sink down into this affection so completely that she no longer needs the ability to see or hear. She thus asks that her “senses” be “swept by the tempest of your love.”
.
I hope you like it.
.