Up and about again for three months in the academic battlefield!
I cannot deny the fact that I had enough of the break. It's only Day 3 but all I ever look forward to is that 4-day break by the end of the month. Talk about positive thoughts.
I feel really bad for taking some time off my Filipino paper which is due this Friday and I am still working on the second page out of five. Oh well. #YOLO haha kidding. This is what happens when I run out of relevant thoughts. If I continue to work on that paper, oh no. I would be rambling about the most random stuff and poof! There goes my chance of redeeming a good grade for this semester.
You know what's weird? My Filipino paper's due this week but I found myself cramming to finish it. Meanwhile, there's my paper for Literature which is due God knows when (my professor never bothered telling us when she really wants it) but that's what I did over the break!
Compared to Fil, it proved to be easier, I swear. Our Lit prof wanted us to analyze one song and one classic poem of our choice and contrast and compare the images used throughout the different compositions.
What made it easier for me is that I only needed sawi vibes to get it done! Why? That's because I spent a lot of time searching for that poem and guess what I ultimately had my hands on? A poem about LOVE! Easy-peasy. This emotion is totally relatable. Robert Browning really captured it perfectly. Here it goes:
The Lost Mistress
All's over, then: does truth sound bitter
As one at first believes?
Hark, 'tis the sparrows' good-night twitter
About your cottage eaves!
And the leaf-buds on the vine are woolly,
I noticed that, to-day;
One day more bursts them open fully
---You know the red turns grey.
To-morrow we meet the same then, dearest?
May I take your hand in mine?
Mere friends are we,---well, friends the merest
Keep much that I resign:
For each glance of the eye so bright and black,
Though I keep with heart's endeavour,---
Your voice, when you wish the snowdrops back,
Though it stay in my soul for ever!---
Yet I will but say what mere friends say,
Or only a thought stronger;
I will hold your hand but as long as all may,
Or so very little longer!
I could not help but fangirl over this literary piece. Reading it the first time around didn't stir anything yet. However, reading it once more with fresh eyes completely opened me to all those feels. Yes, I emphasized some parts of the poem because it was too much to handle. <///3 Here we have a couple where the girl just finally called it quits. Then, we hear the guy's reaction to his sweetheart's decision. Rejection just slapped him hard on but he managed to keep his cool. See how he was stalling as if to deny that this was really happening? People who have experienced break-ups could totally relate to that.
The poem mentions the sparrow’s good-night twitter. The
use of this image is no coincidence. Sparrows usually stand for freedom and
true love while the night symbolizes the end of a day. The sparrow’s good-night twitter may signify the end of the connection
and love between them.
He
also notices that the leaf-buds on the
vine are woolly. These buds are already ready to burst open. This image also implies that this conversation
happened in springtime by nightfall. Also, by saying “one day more bursts them open fully,” he might mean that their
relationship could be something more. However, she chose to break it off and
call it quits. The persona also acknowledges that “… red turns grey,” as if to imply that it is inevitable for their
wistful feelings to end.
It was brave of him to maintain a positive outlook and believes that
they could still be mere friends.
Despite that painful loss, he knows that there is a need for him to pull
himself together. Unlike most people when the relationship ends, he still
imagines life without her as his lover. He doesn’t harbour any ill feelings
towards the girl and even asks her, “Tomorrow,
we meet the same then, dearest?”
Yet the poem doesn’t end there.
The persona knows that it is difficult to remain friends after a break-up. Isn’t
this the common notion for couples who part ways? The fourth stanza echoes the
doubts of turning romance into friendship. Here, the persona conveys a sense of
longing for their broken relationship (For
each glance… I keep with heart’s endeavour). However, he knows that he must
restrain himself for there are things that once lost which could never be found
again as there are things broken which could never be fixed once more.
He also tells her that her that
her voice “when you wish the snowdrops
back” will “stay in [his] soul
forever (lines 15-16).” Again, this
echoes his difficulty to let go of his beloved. However, readers must know that
snowdrops bloom very early in spring and wilt in the heat. (Steinbergs) Symbolically, the
snowdrops may represent their relationship, something blossomed earlier but met
an abrupt end as it reached its peak. Saying that his lover might wish the snowdrops back can mean that
she might regret her decision after all. This image is ambiguous as it could also
mean that like the snowdrops, their relationship was something that blossomed
after all. However, time did not permit it to be perennially in bloom.
In the last stanza, we see how
the persona finally reacts to the break-up. Like everyone else who had been
rejected, he could only accept his beloved’s decision. He will say what mere friends say. He would make
sure their connection is intact although it is painful to be stuck in what we
call in today’s terms as the “friend zone.”
SO. MUCH. FEELS. </////3
Okay. I spent 30 minutes blogging already. Time to go back to that Fil paper. Bring it on! Woohooooooo!
