Both “Tears in Sleep” by Louise Bogan and “Shoeing the Currach” by Mary O’Malley are short, but intense poems. “Tears in Sleep” is one stanza that is composed of nine lines. “Shoeing the Currach” is three stanzas. The first stanza is five lines, the second stanza is five lines, and the third stanza is three lines; therefore, there are 13 lines total. While “Tears in Sleep” is about the main character crying in their sleep and feeling sadness while being alone at night, Shoeing the Currach is about a woman who becomes broken hearted after a man destroys her.
While both poems are focused on different subjects, the themes of both of these literary pieces eminate sadness. The second line of “Tears in Sleep” states “And I, in the cage of sleep, on a stranger’s breast,” (2) immediately shows sadness. The use of the word cage was done in order to show that the person the poem is about is feeling trapped in their sleep. The second part about sleeping on a strangers breast was to show an unfamiliarness and lonlieness.
The feelings of being lonely and trapped are used together in this line in order to show the theme of sadness because feeling either trapped, lonely, or both re feelings that most people do not find pleasant and can often be upsetting. Additionally, the lines of “Tears in Sleep:” “Shed tears, like a task not to be put away-/ In the false light, false grief in my happy bed,” (3-4) present the same anguished tone. Shedding tears is an immediate cue that the person who the poem about is feeling dismal. Like a task not to be put away” is an obscure idea to inform the reader that the subject of the poem is not only crying, but weeping uncontrollably with no signs of stopping. The theme only continues in these lines with the talk bout false grief in the persons happy bed. The author makes these comparisons to show that while being in bed is normally a content feeling or a relaxing time of the day, the dreams the person was having were evoking negative and unpleasant emotions of grief.
Furthermore, line five of “Tears in Sleep” shows sadness by using the powerful statement, “A labor of tears, set against joy’s undoing. (5) This line has a few key words that are very important. Both “labor” and “joy’s undoing” help exhibit the theme. The labor of tears shows that the cries coming from the erson were excessive. Since crying is often a sign of sorrow, this reinforces the extreme sobbing that was previously mentioned in line three, “Shed tears, like a task not to be put away. ” (3) The idea of joys undoing also shows sadness. Because joy is interused with the words great happiness and pleasure, when one thinks of joys undoing, they think of things such as sorrow and misery.
Supplementary to the rest of “Tears in Sleep,” lines eight and nine of the poem were extremely important in delivering the idea of the theme. The lines are “And pain’s derisive hand had iven me rest/From the night giving off flames, and the dark renewing. ” (8-9) Pain’s derisive hand was mentioned in order to show the reader that the subject was in pain and that the pain was mocking the subject in their time of despair. This showed sadness because it talked about how the subject of the poem was already feeling low, and pain itself was making them feel worse. From the night giving off flames, and the dark renewing” (9) showed that the night had burnt the reader out, and once again the lonliness of the dark challenged the subject. In comparison, “Shoeing the Currach” was a poem focused on different subject, but had the same theme: sadness.
The difference between “Shoeing the Currach” and “Tears in Sleep” is that while “Tears in Sleep” was entirely melancholy, “Shoeing the Currach” started out more positive and then ended finishing with a sad theme. Shoeing the Currach is a sadness based on heartbreak, but the poem does not start to show the somber tone unless the second stanza. Lines four through seven of “Shoeing the Currach” are where the tone starts to shift to a sadder theme. “She’d spin into his hands/And lightly he’d lift and turn her” (4-5) combined with the ines “That’s how it was with them/ Until the balance shifted” (6-7) gives the reader the idea that the poem is about two beings who are extremely close.
Because people typically keep their personal space, the woman spinning into the man’s hands while he lifted her off the ground shows that there was both a physical and emotional relationship between them. However, when the poem begins to talk about the balance shifting, the reader can feel a sense that something went wrong with the relationship between the two subjects of the poem. In addition to lines four through seven, line eight had ignifcance in showing that the theme was turning to sadness.
In line eight, the author stated, “The foot smashed down. ” (8) This line was a subtle way of showing that the relationship between the two subjects was about to also come crashing down because the word “crash” often ensues visions of loud noises and shattered pieces. Since failed relationships are often a source of distress and gloominess, this is where the theme really begins to become evident. Supplementary to the rest of “Shoeing the Currach,” line ten, “Now she’s torn and useless on the sand. ” (10) shows the reader he sad theme.
Although the words do not come out and specifically say that the female subject is sad, the poem uses colorful wording to describe the feeeling. By saying that the female is torn and useless, it is showing that her heart is cut and that she no longer feels like she has a purpose or desire to live. Both the feelings of heartbreak and hollowness are feelings that commonly induce sensations of depression. Lastly, lines eleven and twelve of “Shoeing the Currach” show the doleful theme as well. The lines go as follows: “Disgusted he walks away,/His big hands useless. 11-12) Line eleven, which speaks about disgust, shows sadness by itself.
Because the man is disgusted in this line, it shows that he is also repulsed by the woman now that she is battered. Since the ending of a relationship is hard, you can merely feel the space and lonliness between the subjects of the poem. Next, the it talks about the mans hands being useless. The uselessness of this shows sadness because it shows that the mans hands no longer serve a purpose. When something once held meaning but does not anymore, it is a lousy feeling and makes one mournful of what they have lost.
In brief, analyzing a single poem is much less challenging than analyzing and comparing two poems at the same time under one specific focus; however, it brings poems with very dissimilar subjects but very similar themes into great perspective. Another way these poems may be analyzed is through imagery. Because both poems were extremely descriptive, it would be easy interpret other themes, ideas, and even visual depicitons from them. Perhaps, looking at the poems individually has the potention to sway an analysis differently because the writer would not be comparing it to another piece of literature.